You know those scenes in select movies that haunt you long after the movie ends? Not horror scenes, or gruesome violence or even memorable intensity, but the emotionally charged scenes where cinematography and minor nuances of characters deliver the perfect combination to create a deeper meaning beyond the script. These are the scenes that haunt us long after the movie ends. These are the scenes that somehow come to the forefront of our consciousness in everyday life. And while trying to explain the loneliness, love, sadness, fear, anger or any range of emotions exhibited by the characters at that point, you’re left exacerbated: “You just have to see it for yourself.” Here are five haunting scenes from movies you’ve never seen and it’s a tragedy you haven’t:
The Seventh Seal (1957), Sweden
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Atonius Block (Max von Sydow), along with his squire (Gunnar Björnstrand), come across a young woman about to be burned at the stake for “commerce with the devil.” Block leans in to the woman and asks to meet the devil so he can ask Satan about God. She responds, “You can see him anytime. Look into my eyes.” Block responds, “I see terror. Nothing else.” She then says that he is always with her and the fire won’t hurt. Block asks her if she heard the devil say it, to which she simply responds “I know! I know! You must see him too. The priests could see him. The soldiers too.” The soldiers drag the woman away and tire her to a ladder before resting the ladder against a tree as they build the fire. The squire comes up behind Block and asks, “What does she see? Who will look after that child? The angels? God? Satan? Emptiness?” The camera shows the woman filled with dread looking down at Block. “Look at her eyes!” the squire continues, “Her poor mind is making a discovery! Emptiness! We are helpless. We see what she sees and her terror is ours.” Block starts crying and the squire walks away. The camera moves back to the woman, clenching her teeth with eyes wide as smoke obscures our vision. Block and the squire leave and the woman faints.
On Amazon:
The Seventh Seal (The Criterion Collection)
Peppermint Candy (1999), South Korea
Directed by Lee Chang-dong
Young-ho (Kyung-gu Sol) is a cop working on quelling student organizers protesting against the government. One lead sends him to the city of Kunsan, a medium-sized city in western South Korea. His coworkers ask him if he knows anyone in the city and he replies that his first love lived in Kunsan. The coworkers laugh and say “when he wants to get a girl, he tells her about his first love.” They then suggest that he sleep at a motel since he worked late the night before. He wanders inside a restaurant and the waitress serves him drinks and socializes since the rain scared away all her other customers. She asks him why he is visiting Kunsan, to which he evades by saying “I heard my first love lives in Kunsan ... I didn’t come here to see her. I just wanted to come here. Since it’s where she lives. I want to walk on the same street where she walks and see the same ocean ... the rain that’s falling on me is falling on her.” The waitress laughs and sees this as pickup line, so she cuts to the chase and asks “shall I be the woman that you’re looking for tonight?” We then see them both lying naked in bed, away from each other. He lights up a cigarette. Witnessing his disinterest, the woman starts crying and tells him to call her by the name of the woman he’s trying to find. She instructs him to say something to his lost love and rolls over to hold him. He says his first love’s name, repeats it searching for words, but breaks down crying. “I know how you’re feeling” the waitress weeps on his shoulder, “you don’t need to say a word. I’ve always wanted you to be happy. If you cry, I become sad too.” Brilliantly, the waitress expresses her feelings in this scene, but with Young-ho’s face obscured by darkness, the audience understands this is what he wanted to say.
On Amazon:
Peppermint Candy
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), USA
Directed by Tommy Lee Jones
Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) stands above Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), looking down. Following the journey of Perkins kidnapping Norton, their shared exhaustion is manifested oppositely: Perkins looks depressed, defeated and sternly inconsolable; Norton is relaxed, but his face is cracked, dirty and rough. Perkins offers one of his horses to Norton and calls him “son.” Melancholic music begins as Perkins slowly rides off. Norton, believing himself free from his captor, sits up and longingly watches before calling out “You gonna be all right?” His blistered lips, a reminder of the experience, quiver slightly and he seems uncertain what he should do. Despite his ordeal, he wants to follow Norton. The magic, for the audience, is that we do too.
On Amazon:
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Jesus’ Son (1999), USA
Directed by Alison Maclean
FH (Billy Crudup) arrives at this house where Dundun (Michael Shannon) has shot McInnes (John Ventimiglia). FH asks why nobody has taken McInnes to the hospital and then offers to do it himself. Dundun looks reluctant, but the following scene finds him in the passenger seat with FH driving and McInnes in the back. Dundun asks “promise not to tell them anything?” McInnes dies in the backseat. Dundun suggests they throw McInnes out of the car and FH agrees. And here comes the incredibly short but powerful shot: the camera, at the front of the car watching the inside, identifies both men possessing the exact same facial expression and looking at the road in silence. Prior to this moment, they never looked at the same spot – FH was looking to the right while Dundun looked forward, then they would switch. That short moment tells the audience the differences between them can only be measured in centimeters and not miles. Moments later, Dundun pulls FH out of the car to beat him up - FH narrates that he thinks Dundun is trying to keep him quiet and “would you believe me if I said that there was kindness in his heart? His left hand didn’t know what his right hand was doing.” Then we shift to seeing Dundun lazily playing the piano as FH comments that if someone took a soldering iron and scrambled our brains, we might turn “into someone like that.” Dundun stops playing and turns to the camera before the scene ends.
On Amazon:
Jesus' Son
The Lives of Others (2006), Germany
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) witnesses Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), his girlfriend, exiting an expensive car outside their shared apartment. Unaware that he saw her, she rushes to the bathroom and curls in the tub with the shower running, takes a pill, then shivers up in bed. Dreyman enters and tries to talk to her and she pleads to be held. Dreyman holds her for a short time before the camera moves to Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) sitting in his chair, emulating the couple’s cuddling position, wearing his headphones in the attic above their apartment. At this moment, Wiesler wants nothing more than to experience the intimacy of Dreyman and Sieland. Wiesler is positioned slightly to the left in the frame as the empty room takes up more of the frame. The night shift listener enters and his footsteps echo in the attic. Wiesler snaps back to attention, comments that his replacement is late again, and takes off. These two effects demonstrate Wiesler’s loneliness, solitude and estrangement from normalcy.
On Amazon:
The Lives of Others
The Seventh Seal (1957), Sweden
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Atonius Block (Max von Sydow), along with his squire (Gunnar Björnstrand), come across a young woman about to be burned at the stake for “commerce with the devil.” Block leans in to the woman and asks to meet the devil so he can ask Satan about God. She responds, “You can see him anytime. Look into my eyes.” Block responds, “I see terror. Nothing else.” She then says that he is always with her and the fire won’t hurt. Block asks her if she heard the devil say it, to which she simply responds “I know! I know! You must see him too. The priests could see him. The soldiers too.” The soldiers drag the woman away and tire her to a ladder before resting the ladder against a tree as they build the fire. The squire comes up behind Block and asks, “What does she see? Who will look after that child? The angels? God? Satan? Emptiness?” The camera shows the woman filled with dread looking down at Block. “Look at her eyes!” the squire continues, “Her poor mind is making a discovery! Emptiness! We are helpless. We see what she sees and her terror is ours.” Block starts crying and the squire walks away. The camera moves back to the woman, clenching her teeth with eyes wide as smoke obscures our vision. Block and the squire leave and the woman faints.
On Amazon:
The Seventh Seal (The Criterion Collection)
Peppermint Candy (1999), South Korea
Directed by Lee Chang-dong
Young-ho (Kyung-gu Sol) is a cop working on quelling student organizers protesting against the government. One lead sends him to the city of Kunsan, a medium-sized city in western South Korea. His coworkers ask him if he knows anyone in the city and he replies that his first love lived in Kunsan. The coworkers laugh and say “when he wants to get a girl, he tells her about his first love.” They then suggest that he sleep at a motel since he worked late the night before. He wanders inside a restaurant and the waitress serves him drinks and socializes since the rain scared away all her other customers. She asks him why he is visiting Kunsan, to which he evades by saying “I heard my first love lives in Kunsan ... I didn’t come here to see her. I just wanted to come here. Since it’s where she lives. I want to walk on the same street where she walks and see the same ocean ... the rain that’s falling on me is falling on her.” The waitress laughs and sees this as pickup line, so she cuts to the chase and asks “shall I be the woman that you’re looking for tonight?” We then see them both lying naked in bed, away from each other. He lights up a cigarette. Witnessing his disinterest, the woman starts crying and tells him to call her by the name of the woman he’s trying to find. She instructs him to say something to his lost love and rolls over to hold him. He says his first love’s name, repeats it searching for words, but breaks down crying. “I know how you’re feeling” the waitress weeps on his shoulder, “you don’t need to say a word. I’ve always wanted you to be happy. If you cry, I become sad too.” Brilliantly, the waitress expresses her feelings in this scene, but with Young-ho’s face obscured by darkness, the audience understands this is what he wanted to say.
On Amazon:
Peppermint Candy
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), USA
Directed by Tommy Lee Jones
Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) stands above Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), looking down. Following the journey of Perkins kidnapping Norton, their shared exhaustion is manifested oppositely: Perkins looks depressed, defeated and sternly inconsolable; Norton is relaxed, but his face is cracked, dirty and rough. Perkins offers one of his horses to Norton and calls him “son.” Melancholic music begins as Perkins slowly rides off. Norton, believing himself free from his captor, sits up and longingly watches before calling out “You gonna be all right?” His blistered lips, a reminder of the experience, quiver slightly and he seems uncertain what he should do. Despite his ordeal, he wants to follow Norton. The magic, for the audience, is that we do too.
On Amazon:
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Jesus’ Son (1999), USA
Directed by Alison Maclean
FH (Billy Crudup) arrives at this house where Dundun (Michael Shannon) has shot McInnes (John Ventimiglia). FH asks why nobody has taken McInnes to the hospital and then offers to do it himself. Dundun looks reluctant, but the following scene finds him in the passenger seat with FH driving and McInnes in the back. Dundun asks “promise not to tell them anything?” McInnes dies in the backseat. Dundun suggests they throw McInnes out of the car and FH agrees. And here comes the incredibly short but powerful shot: the camera, at the front of the car watching the inside, identifies both men possessing the exact same facial expression and looking at the road in silence. Prior to this moment, they never looked at the same spot – FH was looking to the right while Dundun looked forward, then they would switch. That short moment tells the audience the differences between them can only be measured in centimeters and not miles. Moments later, Dundun pulls FH out of the car to beat him up - FH narrates that he thinks Dundun is trying to keep him quiet and “would you believe me if I said that there was kindness in his heart? His left hand didn’t know what his right hand was doing.” Then we shift to seeing Dundun lazily playing the piano as FH comments that if someone took a soldering iron and scrambled our brains, we might turn “into someone like that.” Dundun stops playing and turns to the camera before the scene ends.
On Amazon:
Jesus' Son
The Lives of Others (2006), Germany
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) witnesses Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck), his girlfriend, exiting an expensive car outside their shared apartment. Unaware that he saw her, she rushes to the bathroom and curls in the tub with the shower running, takes a pill, then shivers up in bed. Dreyman enters and tries to talk to her and she pleads to be held. Dreyman holds her for a short time before the camera moves to Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) sitting in his chair, emulating the couple’s cuddling position, wearing his headphones in the attic above their apartment. At this moment, Wiesler wants nothing more than to experience the intimacy of Dreyman and Sieland. Wiesler is positioned slightly to the left in the frame as the empty room takes up more of the frame. The night shift listener enters and his footsteps echo in the attic. Wiesler snaps back to attention, comments that his replacement is late again, and takes off. These two effects demonstrate Wiesler’s loneliness, solitude and estrangement from normalcy.
On Amazon:
The Lives of Others
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