My Cinephilia Moment In The Pianist: Opinion Essay

In this essay, I will be exploring my cinephilia moment. I will be talking about a scene that has left an interest in me from the movie “The Pianist” by Roman Polanski as well as breaking down the scene in greater detail to explore further what made that scene stand out. Firstly let me explain what cinephilia means.

Cinephilia is different terminology for expression of enthusiasm in/about the film. (1) “The Pianist” is about a Polish Jewish musician that is stuck in the destruction of their history during World War II. In this film, numerous different scenes have left an impact on me. However, the scene I have chosen for my cinephilia moment has left the biggest impression on me. I believe that the “Chopin Ballade in G Minor” Scene is done most professionally throughout this film. At this point in the movie Wladyslaw (the main character) is on the verge of dying, and now the audience can only assume the worst will happen. The way the scene is planned out works correctly to play with your emotions. Wladyslaw is hiding out in the ruins of the houses in Warsaw, out of nowhere antagonist character of a German soldier comes into the frame. This creates the tension within the scene. We see Wladyslaw sitting by the piano, and the German soldier stands aside him and the piano. The surroundings are all grey and covered in dust, and this paints the picture for the audience how his life turned upside down.

From the begging of the movie we are introduced to the main character playing the piano, and in this shot we see the piano as well, and we can see a difference of how Wladyslaw is approaching it. The framing of the German soldier is planned correctly, he is put on the far right side of the screen, and this made me interested in this shot as we don’t need to see him all and his face for him to still show his authority over Wladyslaw. In this situation, the mise en scène of the lighting help to explain that there is still a bit of hope that this will turn into something genuine rather than for the worst. The ruined curtains shine a bit of light on the piano and the characters, this funny enough shines a bit of light on the situation.

Without a doubt, we can see how the light is unfolding the story further on, lets a breath of fresh air, on these terrible events that kept happening to Wladyslaw. From the loss of all of his family members, friends, city, rich history and passion for music. (3) The passion plays a significant role in this scene, that why it stuck with me so much throughout the whole movie as I do have a love of my own towards something, and as well as me the audience that watches this can connect in this way with the character. In the film, Wladyslaw had to prove himself to the German Solider, and we clearly can see how Wladyslaw isn’t sure if he should play the piano, he isn’t sure if he can. (2) The way his hands are ruined after all his hard work and trying to survive in the ruins of a Warsaw segregation centre. In this scene, we can clearly see how his hand don’t feel like his own. The body language the actor is displaying works great with the mise-en-scène and the framing of the shot and the history behind the film that came from the autobiography ‘The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945,’. (4). The actor Adrian Brody had to make sure that he will play out the emotion with a thought of how it would be to have lost everything and be hated for just being human. This scene showed this and the passion in greater depth. Adrian is rubbing his hands together, for me this showed him thinking about the old times. This can refer to a deeper connection of doubting in himself. However, when he finally looks up and places his hand on the keyboard, we can see the change of emotions that are going to happen. I believe this is a cliffhanger moment when we finally know how a lot can change, but there are some things no one can change about a person.

The way the framing doesn’t change too much throughout the first 45 seconds, it pans to the right a bit to further unfold Wladyslaw, but still leaves the German soldier in the far right corner. We again cannot see the soldiers face in too much depth till the next shot of the close up of the Nazi soldier face. A great significance to this shot that became my cinephilia moment is the further use of props for the mise-en-scène. We can see how everything is ruined as I mentioned before, but the piano is kept in good condition, this for me proves once again how the war changed many things and will keep adjusting, but some things will stay be the same. The film had to be historically correct equally well to portray the storyline. The World War II happen between 1 Sep 1939 – 2 Sep 1945. (5) In the scene by the piano, we can see the soldiers hat on the piano, the mise-en-scène with hat presents many things. The hat down for someone means a sign of respect. In this scene, the hat on the piano has unique meaning as he is Jewish and it was the German soldiers because of whom he has lost everything.

Roman Polanski, the director, loves to play with this kind of scenarios in this film as he knows there are humans and humans whose job, especially during these years, don’t define them. This connects to the world issues we are facing now days as well. Yes, there is no World War 3 going on, but we are still meeting people defining people by their race, gender or religon. This is important as the film came out in ‘2002’, but then the audience again can connect to it in some way or another. In conclusion, my cinephilia moment is found in ‘Chopin Ballade in G Minor Scene’- The Pianist as of the mise-en-scène of the room and the props used in the scene throughout the 4 minutes and 26 seconds of that scene. The way Adrian shows emotions through his body language of using slow moves and then the pace of his music changes and confidence in himself grows. The camera movements are slow, and there are no fast cuts between each shot but the pace increases just by Adrain playing, this makes the shots underline the emotions for the audience, and it emphasises the history of Jewish people in Poland during World War II.