Someone to Watch Over Me by Ridley Scott

Someone to Watch Over Me: Opening Sequence -- The Two Parties

In the opening sequences of Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) two parties are depicted in which two different classes of people are shown at two very different social engagements. The first party consists of working class people -- mostly police officers and their wives (family and friends): it is a large but intimate gathering for a birthday celebration of the main character -- who is also being promoted to a new district in Manhattan. The party is set in the main character's home and his wife is hostess: the guests drink, eat, dance, talk, laugh and have a genuinely good time. The second party is set at an expensive hotel in the city, where valets and attendants guard the doors, press photographers flash bright bulbs at the attendees (who are dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns), and the lighting is so poor inside that guests can hardly be seen by the viewer -- or heard by one another (the husband of one woman has to repeat himself over the loud thumping music). There is none of the familial joy or intimacy seen in the first people here in this second: instead, there are several individuals who express misgivings, jealousy, anger, and frustration in their faces as they attempt to suppress or act out on impulses bubbling below the surface. This paper will compare these two parties and discuss why they are juxtaposed back-to-back at the outset of Scott's film.

After a sweeping view of New York City at night, blue skyscrapers lit up by electric light, while the music that modifies the scene consists of a slow, nightclub type of song sung by a crooner -- the film settles over a view of the New York City suburbs -- and cuts to the interior of a small home, where guests are pouring in through the front door, some in civilian dress, others in their police uniform. The halls and rooms are densely packed, and many hugs, kisses and smiles are seen. The home is not brightly lit but there is far more light in the house than in the hotel where the charity event is hosted in the following scene. A fire blazes in the home's hearth, questions such as, "Where's the booze?" are clearly heard, and exchanges between men and women, women and women, and men and men are plentiful and good humored.

At the second party, the only light comes by way of a constantly flashing strobe light that mimics the continuous popping of the camera bulbs and the pulse of the loud music played at the event -- music which drowns out most exchanges. The one man and woman who do manage to communicate with more than a few words do so by separating themselves slightly from the herd; the other exchange comes outside the doors of the party, where a valet turns away an uninvited guest. At this party, not everyone is welcome or particularly happy to be there -- and it shows on the faces. At the house party, no one is turned away and the setting promotes human interaction. The event seems to promote the possibility for ulterior motives and for hidden desires to surface as the guests disappear among anonymous strangers. The class depicted in the second party appears to be far less intimately connected than the class shown in the first party.

The shots are composed similarly with several close-ups of the characters in both settings as they enter, talk (or attempt to talk), and take in their surroundings. The main difference in the shots is the lighting, the sound, and the composition: the second party feels more oppressive -- the shots are filled with flashing light, people looking about like they do not know where to go, pushing their way through crowds like cattle on their way to some necessary but possibly ignoble end. The attendees are dressed as though the event were a grand celebration but their faces and behaviors betray something less than grand in their hearts.

The second party sequence begins immediately as the host and hostess of the first party climb into their beds. The cut signifies that while the working class goes home to rest up for the coming day, the upper class has no concept of time or order: their party is just getting started (assuming the scenes are linear) and they, like vampires of the night, do not take rest when the ordinary, common folk do. The flashing strobe light gives the shots a decadent feel, like the machinations of this class take place mostly in the dark, with only glimpses into their actions allowed for the viewer. While the shots in the first party are focused and provide a clear sense of who is who and what is what (characters are introduced by name and background is provided quickly and coherently without exposition), the second party's characters remain mainly anonymous. We are made aware that the main couple of the scene is husband and wife and we are led to believe that at least one other man has more than a passing interest in the wife. The skulking figure who is turned away from the party does not have his identity divulged, but his face, the fact that he is turned away, and the fact that he sneaks in the back door, suggests that he is up to something sinister. Thus the way in which the second party's shots are composed give the viewer the feeling that the world of the upper class is fraught with tension, deception and the possibility of violence.

In conclusion, the two parties depicted at the beginning of Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me reveal two worlds that are about to come together: with the hero's promotion to the Manhattan district, he is set to enter into the world of the elites. That world, as the second party suggests, is a dangerous place where things may not be what they seem. The common man introduced to the viewer in the opening sequence may face seduction, violence, and the test of his common man principles: such is what the juxtaposition of these two parties invites the viewer to imagine will happen.

References

Scott, R. (1987). Someone to Watch Over Me. LA: Columbia Pictures.