Actors' restraint

[bbm_stitchbuffyfan]

So, I'm sure that a lot of you know that, allegedly, Ang Lee told his actors to restrain in this movie. You probably noticed while watching the movie.

Now here is what I would like to know: why do you think he wanted it that way?
It sure keeps the performances and the film itself from going anywhere near over-the-top. And which scenes do you think Jake, Heath, Anne, or Michelle restrained in? (I can think of at least one or two examples for each.)

Thoughts/comments?

www.jlodown.com

[YaadPyar]

Restrained for two reasons:

1.  Because the cultural mileu of the time and place is a restrained one.  Folks in the rural west are taciturn and stoic, not prone to talking about feelings or experiences.  The characters had to be true to that reality, and so talking for the sake of conveying anything non-essential had to be kept to an absolute minimum.  Otherwise the audience loses the honesty of the experience.

2.  Ang Lee seems very intersted in the audience being fully engaged in the emotional experience of the characters, and wants the viewer's to be placed squarely in the middle of the story.  For this reason, the actors must never so fully experience and express their emotional nature that nothing is left for the audience to feel.  Melodrama can create emotional experience, but not the kind that lingers or lives on.  With the very restrained performances in BBM, the audience finished the story and felt the emotions of the characters fully, and far beyond the theater experience. 

I think that's why we walked out feeling something, but needing days, weeks or even months to understand it - just as it took Ennis so long to understand what he felt. 

[silkncense]

Yaadpyar -

Great post.  And the directing is then also true to the authors vision:  "It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it through his or her life experience, prejudices, world view and thoughts." -- Annie Proulx

[opinionista]

Because the cultural mileu of the time and place is a restrained one.  Folks in the rural west are taciturn and stoic, not prone to talking about feelings or experiences. 

Jake Gyllenhaal said in a interview he had a lot of trouble with this. That he is a very expressive person who like to talk about almost everything and the fact that Ang Lee wanted him to restrain himself, made the experience harder for him that it was for Heath, for example. He says Heath is less expressive than he is. 

However, I think the fact that he is so expressive was what made him play Jack so well. I don't know him and have never seen him in person, but he strikes me as someone who makes a lot of eye contact. And in my opinion that characteristic of his played an important role in his performance as Jack. At the confrontation scene, for instance, when Ennis is telling Jack about wanting to kill him for having been to Mexico, Jack is quietly listening. But the expression on his face tells much more that words would. You can tell by his eyes how much Ennis' words are hurting Jack. Jake managed to convey so much feelings through his eyes, that it made me wonder if Jake himself felt hurt by those words.

[bbm_stitchbuffyfan]

Some excellent replies!

It's truly astonishing how even the directing of this film echoes the writing style of the original story. Ang Lee really is a genius. Like yaadpyar was explaining, I agree that it helped us feel the characters' emotions and that is what I think worked so, so brilliantly.

I can see Jake Gyllenhaal being a very expressive person but I am not trying to be presumptuous or anything, considering I've only seen him in interviews. Next time I watch the movie, I'll look at his eyes when Ennis threatens him about Mexico. I agree that Jake used his eyes to an excellent benefit in his performance; he made some expressions that were just amazing.

www.jlodown.com

[Toast]

I think the restraint is what gave us the feeling that we wanted more of every scene. 

We were conttinually dragging our feelings into the next scene.

The feeling created is one of incompleteness of our experience.

Just like the incompleteness of the lives we were watching.

Amazing effect.  Less is so much more in this film.

[serious crayons]

Ang Lee seems very intersted in the audience being fully engaged in the emotional experience of the characters, and wants the viewer's to be placed squarely in the middle of the story.  For this reason, the actors must never so fully experience and express their emotional nature that nothing is left for the audience to feel.

Well put, Celeste! And you too, Toast!

The emotional restraint draws viewers into the characters' heads. Because we have to figure out what they're thinking rather than being told what to think we develop more empathy for them. And we get to be moved by the events of the story rather than the actors' emoting. Also, the restraint helps maintain the momentum of emotion. For instance, you might assume that after Ennis read the final postcard, or got off the phone with Lureen, he would be distraught, perhaps collapsing with grief. But showing that would undermine the power of the scenes to follow at the Twist home and then in his trailer. Instead, Ennis exhibits a bit more emotion each time, as the scenes get progressively sadder and sadder and finally almost unbearably poignant and sad.

Whenever anybody who hasn't seen the movie asks me why I think it's so good, I say something to the effect of, It's a really powerful story told with incredible subtlety and restraint. Of course there are a million other things I could praise about it. But to me, it's that stark contrast above all else that makes the film so moving.

[amh]

Other posters have mentioned Jake's acting when he is *quiet* during the lake confrontation scene, which is true.  But I also think he showed restraint when he finally lets it all out at Ennis during this scene too. 

Sure, he's emotional, and the most emotional he's ever been with Ennis.  But he still delivers this emotional outburst *just* far enough without going overboard.  Particularly when he delivers the final "I wish I knew how to quit you" line.  It bothers me so much that this line has been parodied and made a joke of.  Because the way Jake delivers that line to me is *just perfect*, and one of the most emotional, heart-wrenching moments of the film, a pivotal turning point that causes Ennis to finally break down, and with Jack's delivery of that line the emotional pain he's carrying seemlessly shifts from Jack onto Ennis.

I love Heath and his performance.  But as I type this again I am reminded how completely *underrated* I think Jake is throughout this film.  His acting is just as astonishing. 

[YaadPyar]

I am reminded how completely *underrated* I think Jake is throughout this film.  His acting is just as astonishing. 

Agreed!  Jack seems very much more expressive than Ennis, but think of all the things Jack never says - he walks away from Ennis just as Ennis walks away from him, with a look back, and hope for the future, but nevertheless, he also walks away with hardly a word.  Heath can't be brilliant without Jake, and vice versa!

Compared probably to most anyone in our own lives, these two characters conceal more from each other than they ever reveal through words, which is essential to the tragedy of the story.  All them things we never know - never come to know...   

[bbm_stitchbuffyfan]

Compared probably to most anyone in our own lives, these two characters conceal more from each other than they ever reveal through words, which is essential to the tragedy of the story. 

I don't know about that. I always saw Ennis being able to confide in Jack. There are some things Jack couldn't say to Ennis but I think he felt at ease with him and he was obviously elated when in Ennis' presence, unless something was terribly wrong (see: lakeside confrontation). And I agree, I think Jake's performance is very underrated and I thought he was just about perfect in the part.