Scene Analysis

The scene in A Star is Born (1937) that stuck out to me was the scene where Norman was “saying his goodbye” to Esther and later walked into the ocean. There are a few reasons why I found this scene to be an interesting and essential part to the film. Although this scene does not explicitly say anything or make it obvious what is going to happen, it creates an all-around curiously somber feeling where you can infer what is going to happen, but you are never told or cannot visually see it, until the later scene.

This feeling is created because of the editing. Although the dialogue that makes you aware, the issue starts in the previous scene, but you can watch this scene and see where it is going. The dialogue begins with Norman being loving and trying to act like everything is normal and he is going to the ocean. You can almost feel the pain in his eyes as he hugs Esther and looks out at the ocean. That is when you become aware that something is going to happen. Before he heads out, he says, “Do you mind if I just take one more look?” a common phrase that occurs throughout the movie. The music playing in the background conveys the feeling that something is going to happen. Norman pauses in the middle of the line and fidgets with his hands as he says it. All of these components mix together to put the pieces together. Finally, as the movie cuts to him walking down the beach, without showing his face, and leads to him walking out into the water, diving in, and his robe being washed away, as the music intensifies, you become aware that he has just killed himself. I feel like without all of the editing and carefully detailed dialogue and music, it would not be very clear what has happened until the following scene.

Another aspect that I found interesting is that at this time, mental health and suicide were topics that were taboo and seldom talked about or acknowledged. I appreciated how a movie from this time touched on the topic, yet never officially says it as the next scene indicates that he “perished in an accident.” I think this is a topic that is pretty advanced for the time that this movie came out, yet it was still depicted in a way that the topic was not avoided, but also not explicitly stated, and the editing, music, and dialogue allowed the scene to show just that.