The film follows three travelers journey to a hidden almost mythical beach near Koh Samui in Thailand. The film is shot in ways that portray the beaches and water landscapes as heavenly. The water sparkles in every shot with a light clear blue color that almost seems impossible. The beaches go on for miles with endless sand, palm trees, and sun. Throughout the entire film, I wanted to be on those beaches,laying in the sand, bathing in the sun. It completely makes the viewer fall in love with the scenery, which works well with the storyline because even on a hidden beach in what seems like paradise, the minds of humans can ruin it all. A few notable scenes that Khondji shot that are absolutely beautiful both take place at the same location, but one is during the daytime, and one is at night.
This is the beach that is featured in the film. The scene that shows the viewer the first view of the beach is a wide angled point of view shot with Leonardo DiCaprio's character 'Richard'. As Moby's "Porcelain" plays, the audience watches 'Richard' gape in awe at the stunning beauty of the beach. The next shot which shows the viewer the full landscape of the beach, the water, and the beautiful massive rocks in the background that enclose the entire piece of land. The cinematography in the scene is incredible. The viewer actually believes that what is being shown is the most beautiful place on Earth.
The night scene at the same location is even better than the daytime scene. Richard and Francoise sneak away from the village and into the moonlit calm water at the main beach and make love. The moonlight cascades across the water and illuminates the two characters as they embrace. The way the scene is shot promotes the seclusion that the beach has from the rest of the world, and in Richard's case, the rest of the beach community because Francoise already has a boyfriend, Etienne.
The two scenes are incredibly beautiful as is the entire film and Darius Khondji's work as the cinematographer is majorly responsible.
The first time I saw this movie in a class setting we all had the debated if the night scene you mention looked fake or not... Urban people decides it was fake looking, while country people decided it looked realistic... why do you think?
ReplyDeleteI would say that it was real. Growing up my family use to go to my aunt's summer cottage in Northern Ontario and the full moon on the lake at night had a similar look to the water in the night scene from the film. It obviously wasn't nearly as beautiful but I've seen first hand how much the moon can illuminate a water landscape.
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