Clenched fist

[Ellemeno]

I'm sure there is a good thread to stick this in.  Please tell me which.

I was over on Striped Wall, lingering on views, and was knocked over by the contrast between these two shots, taken just a few seconds apart.  The first is right before Cassie says, "Ennis, girls don't fall in love with fun."  The second is right after she says it.  It's the moment when light begins to dawn on Ennis that a) he is actually queer, and b) what he and Jack have is real love.  Look at the difference in his mouth.  In the first, he is being what Heath Ledger has called the "closed fist."  In the second...well, just look.  What a contrast!

Click on each image to enlarge (and then even click on that larger one for an even larger one):





I'm not sure yet, because I haven't really checked for this, but is it possible we don't see "closed fist" mouth again, after this moment?  Even when getting the awful news from Lureen on the phone.  Even when sitting with Mr. Twist.

[Penthesilea]

Clarissa, we can't see the pics. As far as I know, pics from stripedwall can't be inserted by putting the link of the adress between  [img]adress of the pic[/ing]. You have to save them on your computer and attach them to your post.

I just went over to stripedwall and looked for myself. I think I know which two pics you mean. But I don't want to mess up your thread (in case I'm wrong) by posting the wrong pics, so I just leave it to you.

[Mikaela]

Looking forward to studying the pics. This is worth re-watching the DVD for (I'm almost afraid to do that now for fear it doesn't impact me as much as before) - but from memory I think you may well be right Clarissa. What about when Ennis collects his mail and gets the "deceased" notification..... - exactly how does his mouth look just before he reads the card?

The description of Ennis's taciturn ways, of that tightly closed mouth, of speaking being almost painful to him, and the words having to "punch their way out" has been used not only several times by Heath L. but also by others in cast and crew in describing Ennis. I think I've heard Ang Lee use it, I know I've heard Anne Hathaway use it - and I'm pretty sure Jake must have used it too. (Eeep! Memory seems to be failing me. All interviews not as crystal clear as once they were!  ) It's always been my impression though that this *originally* was Heath's impression of Ennis,- that the whole closed fist thing was his creation originally, in describing Ennis to himself and becoming Ennis. Am I right in this, or did that description, that impression originate with the director? Or the scriptwriters even?

[Ellemeno]

Huzzah!  Images are now there.  I used the new free file sharing service Phillip told us about in User Services http://72.232.132.224/forum/index.php/topic,7054.0.html.

It worked great.

[Ellemeno]

What about when Ennis collects his mail and gets the "deceased" notification..... - exactly how does his mouth look just before he reads the card?

Click on the image to enlarge (and then click on that larger one for an even larger one):



I would say this might be a grimace to cope with the sun, maybe, but not closed fist mouth.  I've always gotten the sense from Ennis, as he walks out of the post office, that there is a lightness to him, a spring to his step we have never seen before.  It lasts a couple of seconds... 

Oh, but interesting - he's going out on the pavement, and does not look like he's paranoid that "they all know too."  Such a narrow window of self-acceptance + happiness (from the moment he had his realization during the apple pie to the moment he reads the deceased post card).  And in that narrow window, Jack never gets to experience this free-er Ennis.


Good questions about where that concept orginated, I don't know.  I think I can remember each of those people you listed talking about it too (although maybe not Jake, but defintely Heath, Ang, and Anne).

[Ellemeno]

Barbara, you are somethin'.    And I'm going to go back and change the name of the thread to "clenched fist."  Thanks.

[Brown Eyes]

Heya,

Clarissa, that's an amazing observation (the contrast between the two expressions in the pics from the first post).  Even if there are more "clenched fist" moments after that.... The difference you note in his emotions (as possibly expressed through facial expression) in that one Cassie scene is probably really important.  The facial expression and perhaps the change in his tone, etc. are really the only clues we have that Ennis might be having a revelation about himself and/ or about his relationship with Jack.  As always, it leaves a lot of room for ambiguity... tons really.  But, his shift in demeanor rings as very significant the more this scene is contemplated.

[Ellemeno]

Some ?clenched fist? moments after the diner scene...

Hi Barbara, we certainly don't have to agree on what exemplifies "clenched fist,"  but, respectfully, those shots you chose don't fit the category for me.  I mean, yes, Ennis is coping with strong feelings, and keeping them in with the help of his mouth muscles, but I don't see any conflicted inner-drected or outer-directed rage or self-loathing in any of them - even right after finding out about Randall. 

[Scott6373]

What I find most amazing in these pictures (the originally posted ones, is that in the first one, Ennis looks like a forty year old Ennis, and if you look closely at the second one, there is youth in his face.  An innocence if you will, much like the face of Ennis at the beginning of the film.  If this was a planned change in lighting or camera angle, then Lee is more brilliant that we may ever know, if not, then proof that Ledger was robbed is once again there for us to see.