Shot-by-Shot: Wild at Heart
By Nathan Williams

What are the possibilities of widescreen composition?  Snakes and funerals, obviously; and giant cartoon armies crossing deserts, but what else? While full frame is perfectly capable of the medium two-shot, the 2:35:1 ratio brings the gift of the double close-up, two actors either facing each other or next to each other, both in intimate close-ups without the need to cut. Interestingly, many of the masters of the close-up (Bergman, Ozu, Dreyer) never indulged in the wider ratio. Indeed, most filmmakers who prefer the wider ratio are not particular fans of the close-up and only rarely exercise the freedom for the close two-shot.

A notable exception is the current reigning American talent, David Lynch. Lynch demands an intimacy with his characters, no matter how bizarre or repulsive, and frequently uses the unique properties of the wider ratio to further these ends. Our scene this month from Wild at Heart is one such example.

Late in the 1990 masterpiece, our heroes, Sailor and Lula, are temporarily stranded in the desolate town of Big Tuna, Texas. Lula has just revealed she is pregnant and Sailor is burdened with trying to find some money to continue their cross-country journey and avoiding the rumored bounty on his head. In a cruel twist of fate, they inadvertently meet the hit man—and former Marine—Bobby Peru. With Sailor out repairing the car, Bobby stops by to look for him and stays for a chat with Lula.

SHOT 1A


Lula reclines in a wide-angle full shot, her lipstick and red shoes standing out strikingly in the brown décor.

SHOT 1B


Hearing a knock at the door, she rises. The camera pans with her but lags somewhat, letting her move across the frame.

SHOT 1C


She opens the door and Bobby Peru enters. Her position in the frame is, perhaps counter-intuitively, one of weakness. Generally, the more space behind a character, the weaker they seem, and Lula has more than half the frame at her back.

Bobby asks to use the toilet, makes a crude joke and then…

SHOT 1D


…walks to the bathroom. “Ya'll take a listen, you'll hear the deep sound comin' down from Bobby Peru.” Lula retreats to the dresser and leaves the door ajar, a strong suggestion for Bobby to leave. In the widescreen composition, the audience attention is split between the two characters, with neither given obvious priority. Bobby is facing away from camera, but his action is more interesting than Lula’s stationary fretting.

SHOT 2A


Lynch wisely cuts in closer on Lula, cementing our association with her and her anxiety about being alone with the dangerous Bobby. Seemingly she is returned to a position of relative strength—the space behind her being decreased and no longer empty.

SHOT 2B


This sense of security is short-lived, as Bobby emerges from the bathroom and we see him in the mirror behind her (a difficult bit of staging and camera placement that telegraphs intention). The sense of Bobby as a threat is all-too-clear now.

SHOT 3


Interestingly, mid-dialogue, Lynch cuts back to the wide shot. Perhaps this is to re-establish the geography of the room, which has been confused by the mirror shot. Despite his reputation as a wild man, Lynch is almost always a stickler for screen direction. It re-emphasizes the open door and Bobby’s place on the other side of it, a chance that he may still depart. His provocative sexual advances, however, suggest otherwise.

SHOT 4A


Back to the mirror shot. Bobby lurches forward and closes the door with a loud bang. His likelihood of departure and Lula’s chance of flight are gone.

SHOT 4B


In the same close-shot, Bobby enters her personal space, describing his jack-rabbit-like sexual ability. “Get out,” she says coldly. He ignores her, “Your pussy wet?” She doesn’t answer, so he reaches down to find out for himself. On the motion, Lynch cuts to…

SHOT 5


…the wide shot again. Lula hops back meekly. Bobby takes this as a sign to continue. “You jump back slow, means something, don’t it?...Means you want Bobby Peru to open you like a Christmas present.”

SHOT 6A


As his aggression builds, Lynch cuts in to a medium two-shot from the same exact camera position (seemingly they left the camera where it was and just switched to a longer lens). The choice of cutting to this closer shot rather than moving (or zooming) in is an interesting one. One possible reason is that the scene (and unscripted one) was so spontaneous as to make the time-consuming setting up of dolly tracks. But this is more likely a matter of style. A slow dolly in as tension increases can be relatively seamless. Lynch’s cuts along this axis are always noticeable and—with only one or two exceptions—quite jarring.

“You know I mean business when it comes to fucking.” She tries to push him away: “Get out.”

SHOT 6B


He grabs her head and Lynch cuts in again, this time with a loud, abstract noise behind it to emphasize.

SHOT 7A


She resists for a moment…

SHOT 7B


But realizes it is useless. We are finally back to the lens length of shot 4, but at the current intensity, and the gradual progression from the wide shot, it feels much closer. This only serves to make the later extreme close-ups feel disturbingly intimate.

Bobby describes what he can do to her, but all he wants is to hear her say, “Fuck me.” She refuses.

SHOT 8A


Shockingly we cut in before his violent action. Another loud noise emphasizes the cut. And then he shakes her violently. “Say it! I’ll tear your fucking heart out, girl!”

This shot is notable for being significantly closer, but close to the same lens length, meaning that the camera was physically moved between the shots. The camera is probably at the same height as it was before, but we now start to get the distinct feeling of looking up at Bobby and Lula.

SHOT 8B


Bobby repeats his demand. “Say ‘fuck me’, then I’ll leave.” His own voice gradually moves from a shout to a whisper as he repeats, “Say it,” hypnotically. Lula slowly calms, eyes closed.

SHOT 9


Without either outside noise or action, Lynch cuts in. Strangely his most seamless cut of the sequence is to the most repulsive image: Bobby’s gruesome mouth juxtaposed with Lula’s lovely face.

SHOT 10A


As he repeats his demand in quiet, insistent whisper, his USMC-tatted hand slowly moves along her body.

SHOT 10B


…as the camera gracefully tilts…

SHOT 10C


…to follow. Her labored breathing slowly evolves from one of fear to that of a different feeling.

SHOT 11


Lynch cuts back to a slightly wider version of shot 9, allowing us to see Bobby’s probing eyes and Lula’s closed ones. The low angle, while not increasing their size in the frame at all, makes them feel bigger, and in this instance, closer somehow. Lynch cleverly stages this in front of the window to prevent the low-angle shot from feeling claustrophobic at all. The emphasis is singularly on Lula slowly succumbing to Bobby’s unique power of suggestion.

SHOT 12


Her hand stretches out in a manner previously established in the film as signaling extreme sexual excitement. Yet somehow, in this slow seduction, this does not shock us.

SHOT 13


Back to the closer mouth shot. Bobby senses impending victory but repeats his call. Lula slowly forms the words in her mouth and a tiny whisper is heard. “Fuck me.”

SHOT 14A


Lynch quickly pulls the rug out from under us, cutting back to a the medium close-up of shot 4 as Bobby leaps back out of frame.

SHOT 14B


Lula stands alone, shocked at what has transpired not in the room, but in her head.

SHOT 15


Almost a completely different character (and somewhat further from the lens than Lula) Bobby laughs goofily at his conquest. “Someday, honey, I will. But I’ve got to get goin’!” It is notably Bobby’s only shot by himself in the scene.

The sequence is a highly instructive one. Lynch has used a large number of shots for a short dialogue exchange, but nothing resembling traditional coverage. Instead, using the inherent strengths of the format, he has created a series of closer and closer two-shots, bringing the characters closer together, and, simultaneously, the audience closer to the characters. Bobby’s seduction of Lula is a seduction of the audience, and few viewers escape unmoved. Lynch also demonstrates the ability within a single sequence to make a cut extremely noticeable or to slip it into the rhythm of the scene in a manner Hawks would be proud of. A triumph of direction.