Freeze Frame: THE THIRD MAN

Today’s image is the final shot from THE THIRD MAN, so be forewarned – spoilers abound.

As we get to the end of any tough situation, there are a lot of emotions pulling is in different directions. We might find ourselves wanting to turtle and shut off the world. We might find ourselves filled with clemency, looking to set right what me might have done wrong. We might also find ourselves filled with defiance…wanting to hold our head up in a fit of pride, if only to show the world that it hasn’t beat us.

There’s a lot of all of that going on in this iconic final shot from Carol Reed’s classic.

Holly and Anna are departing Harry Lime’s funeral. For Anna, it’s the second time she’s had to being herself to terms with Lime’s death…stew on that for a moment. Imagine everything that you go through when you lose someone close to you. It’s awful, a rudderless moment in your life unlikely to be matched. Now imagine going through it twice for the same person. Thinking of it that way, it’s almost amazing Anna is even able to stand up straight in this scene.

And yet that’s exactly what she does.

She walks with her head high, her back arrow-straight. She has been knocked around, but she is not about to let the world see her weep, and she certainly won’t let the man responsible see that. She walks as proudly as the trees that line the path, mimicking their posture and their permanence.

Holly, meanwhile, at first exasperated by the whole situation surrounding his friend, comes to his senses and worries for the woman who has survived him. Something in that defiant walk suggests the slope she’s about to slide down. Perhaps it clicks with Holly that she has just buried Like for the second time. Holly has rigorously denounced Lime’s misdeeds, and even killed Lime as he tried to flee, but in this moment he understands that Anna had precious little to do with it. Her only crime was loving someone so morally compromised.

So he halts his exit from Vienna, hoping to offer out his hand. Anna, meanwhile, is having none of it. As the leaves fall around her, she keeps walking…head held high. For quite a while actually as this shot begins when Anna is a long way back on the path, and holds until she walks clear past the camera (not so much as acknowledging Holly as she passes of course).

That’s what makes stories like THE THIRD MAN so wonderful; the way they are populated with such complicated characters. We spend our time with good people who do bad things, and bad people who do good things. The book doesn’t close on all of them, but we are forced to put the book down and make sense of it all. We might find ourselves wanting to walk away with our dignity intact, like Anna. We could likewise want to get over ourselves and offer out our hand, like Holly. Thing is, no matter where we get to, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the world will be waiting for us when we get there.

One last note about this shot that I love – a technical note. The Criterion Edition of this film has a great commentary track by directors Steven Soderbergh and Tony Gilroy. During the commentary, they point out the leaves are falling in a way that doesn’t suggest they have been disturbed by passing cars. They wondered aloud how it was that actress Alida Valli would reset herself for any subsequent takes of the iconic shot. Their guess, since there’s nothing to suggest she was driven back to the other end of the path, was that she had to hoof it all the way back for any further takes needed.

Just thinking about that seems exhausting.

 

Here’s three more from THE THIRD MAN for the road…

 

This series of posts is inspired by the “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” series at The Film Experience. Do check out all of the awesome entires in their series so far