Casablanca Close-Up (“Play it, Sam” Sequence)

Overview:

In this sequence, Rick sits alone in his cafe at night, drinking in the dark. Sam begs him to leave, but Rick refuses to, waiting for Ilsa to return. Sam decides to stay, and upon being told to by Rick plays As Time Goes By. This evokes a flashback from Rick, which shows that he and Ilsa used to live in Paris together near the start of the war, and were deeply in love. However, as the Germans marched into Paris, they fled, which plans to leave together. However, Rick is abandoned at the train station, receiving a note from Sam written by Ilsa apologising, saying that she cannot leave with him. We cut back to the present, in the cafe, and see how grief stricken Rick is over the loss. Ilsa then enters and pleads Rick for help, but is met with butter indifference from him.

Key Elements:

Cinematography –

The sequence begins with a mid shot of Rick, him pouring a drink to immediately establish that he is drunk. This mid shot shows that he is the centre of this scene, and dolly’s out to reveal Sam walking through to discover Rick. Rick is shown in dim light, his face only shown by a dim key light. This reflects his dark and depressed mood, and shrouds his character in mystery as-well as making him appear more rugged and weathered to us. Later on, we see the extreme contrast between him and Ilsa, whop wears bright clothes, has smooth, light skin, and is shipowners in deep focus with much light shining on her. When Sam and Rick talk to each other, both are shown in a two shot. When Rick ins monopolising to himself, it is through a close up to signify his emotions and bring the audience physically, and therefore emotionally closer to him.

In the Paris flashback, a projection is used behind the actors as the film was actually shot on location. During this flashback, there are many more close ups of Ilsa than there are of Rick. This brings our attention to her, putting us in Rick’s position of looking back on the past, thinking of her, and brings our attention to her glamorous presentation as-well. The lighting on her is done to make her seem much more elegant and beautiful, delicate and fragile than Rick. When she is distraught at having to leave Paris, we see a close up of her, not Rick, to keep our focus on her emotions, her presentation, and the meaning of her words and her eyes, made eye-catching by the catchlights in them, establishing an emotional connection withy the audience.

During this sequence, certain things that were mentioned already in the film have significance, such as As Time Goes by, the Labelle Aurore cafe, and “Here’s looking at you, kid”.

When Ilsa enters the cafe, a literal blast of light comes in with her two instantly bring our attention to her, show her innocence compared to Rick, and make her appear more angel-like. She is also centre-frame, making her entrance even more dramatic. As she speaks to Rick, she is shown in light, symbolising her purity and his lack of it.

Editing –

We cut to a close up of Rick as Sam stars playing, because the film wants to focus our attention in on whoever is speaking or most important in a moment, which here is Rick. This highlights his significance to the story, and shows us his facial expressions to make his emotions clearer and thereby establish an emotional connection with the audience.

In a moment that deviates from the Classical Hollywood Style, the scene fades to reveal a flashback to Paris, breaking the linear narrative for a scene. We dolly closer to Rick here to show that he is thinking of it, looking back on the past. Throughout the happy moments of this flashback sequence, the camera cross-fades between shots to evolve the feeling of happiness, and show how much Ilsa and Rick enjoyed their time together. Real war footage is used in this flashback to immerse us in the war and set the film, in a real setting and time, and making the events shown contemporary. An actual sign is used to show that they are entering Paris, allowing the audience to make the connection between the German’s entering and Rick and Ilsa being there.

Sound –

The music soars into a crescendo as the flashback stars, paying the French National Anthem to evoke themes/feelings of patriotism and establish the new setting of the story for the audience. The music reflects how the film wants the audience to feel, so when Rick and Ilsa are happy together the music is upbeat and lively. When Rick sees the note left by Ilsa, the music soars up into a dramatic and sad crescendo. As he leaves the station with Sam, it drops to a horn-based, angry and tragic moment. This is finally done as Ilsa leaves Rick’s cafe in tears and Rick drives through himself, and a more tragic and pessimistic As Time Goes By plays.

Mise-En-Scen –

Sam wears much darker clothes compared to Rick, to show that Rick is a more important character here. In the Paris flashback, the film shows us that the characters are in Paris through the music, set design, and the stereotypical French items in frame, such as berets, striped shirts and strings of garlic.

As Rick stands at the train station, he is presented in a trance coat and hat, a classic film-noir outfits used as a reference to his other film noir roles and to make him seem more masculine. In contrast, Ilsa’s outfit as she speaks to Rick in his cafe, in the present, is carefully done and made to make her look delicate and beautiful.

Performance –

Context:

Ricks ability to unrealistically tell how far away the approaching tanks are sacrificed realism for the provision of context to the audience. This is also seen in how exposition heavy the script is to reveal important contextual information to the audience.

Representations and Aesthetics:

Auteur: