Brokeback Mountain Forum @ ennisjack.com
The Movie & Story => Characters, Quotes & Scenes => Topic started by: tpe on Jan 05, 2006, 10:09 AM
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One of the most enigmatic lines in the screenplay elaborates on the following section of the short story describing the 'embrace from behind':
"Stars bit through the wavy heat layers above the fire. Ennis's breath came slow and quiet, he hummed, rocked a little in the sparklight and Jack leaned against the steady heartbeat..."
In the screenplay, Ennis whispers to Jack a rusty but still useable phrase from his childhood memories:
Ennis to Jack: 'Come on, you're sleepin on your feet like a horse [as my mother used to say] ...and sing to me...' {Ennis then hums a half-forgotten song in Jack's ears...}
Before reading the screenplay, I had already watched the movie a couple of times. During those couple of times, I had a vague sense that Ennis was whispering something to Jack, but could not really make out what this was all about.
This quiet whispering, at the very dead center of the entire 'embrace from behind' scene, struck me as perfectly beautiful and peaceful, without fully understanding what that part was all about.
In fact, I have doubts that Ennis/Ledger ever did say the words 'and sing to me'. If he did, it was so quiet that most viewers (myself included) probably did not catch it.
Upon reading the screenplay later, I was floored to realize that the middle of this entire scene was a sort of lover's lullaby!
I can't describe how this impressed and moved me.
Just wanted to share this with everyone...
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Thank you...i'll pay extra attention when i watch it tomorrow!!!
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You must be so excited, I am so happy for you.
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You must be so excited, I am so happy for you.
I am !!! I was reading all the posts...and all the questions and ideas....my head is full of things to see and watch out for!
But my first viewing will be a peaceful one, at last i get to see my BBM and I'll keep the heavy stuff for next viewings...because believe me there will be more viewings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Youre wise to just let it flow the first time. And then think more later in later viewings.
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Yeah, it was pretty cute :'( and when Ennis left, you saw Jack beautiful eyes?
and yes.. it was a sort of lover lullaby :-[
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Thanks so much for starting this thread! I had been thinking of this scene over and over in my head and wanted so badly to know the words that passed between them. This was a pivotal moment of such naive vulnerability between the men.....and it makes it my favorite moment of the film. I think what makes it even more powerful is that this scene is actually a flashback in Jack's mind if I remember correctly. We all know how things that are monumentally important to us get filed away in the brain for later reminiscing.....I believe Jack had this flashback after their big fight/collapsing scene together....when he was trying to recall the tenderness between them, and I am sure that this memory was one of the most compelling.
Thanks again! All I could remember from the scene was the mentioning of the "sleeping on your feet like a horse" line, and I don't remember anything coming after that. I think this clip can be viewed from one of the links given on this site...I watched it again a few days ago at my computer.
Victor
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Thanks so much for starting this thread! I had been thinking of this scene over and over in my head and wanted so badly to know the words that passed between them. This was a pivotal moment of such naive vulnerability between the men.....and it makes it my favorite moment of the film. I think what makes it even more powerful is that this scene is actually a flashback in Jack's mind if I remember correctly. We all know how things that are monumentally important to us get filed away in the brain for later reminiscing.....I believe Jack had this flashback after their big fight/collapsing scene together....when he was trying to recall the tenderness between them, and I am sure that this memory was one of the most compelling.
Thanks again! All I could remember from the scene was the mentioning of the "sleeping on your feet like a horse" line, and I don't remember anything coming after that. I think this clip can be viewed from one of the links given on this site...I watched it again a few days ago at my computer.
Victor
Thanks Victor for sharing this. It is reassuring to me that I'm certainly not the only one who is haunted by this beautiful scene. In my opinion, it is also the best realization in the entire film of any single scene from the original story. The music, lighting, scenery, and above all, the acting shows economy/restraint, and a beatific sense of what love and affection can be. It is the cinematic embodiment of a love that is both understated and distilled/concentrated. I hope you don't consider these sentiments excessive. I mean every word here.
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Annie Proulx said she listened to "Spiritual" by Pat Matheny when she wrote that part, and so I downloaded it on itunes
and it's lovely. It does fit, it's so peaceful and soothing.
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Youre wise to just let it flow the first time. And then think more later in later viewings.
I second this advice. :D
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One thing that just occurred to me is that in the flashback scene in the movie, it is clearly daytime when Ennis embraces Jack from behind. In the short story it is around the campfire, so it would be nighttime, with the "sparklights" and all. Can you think of why they chose to do this scene during the daytime instead?
Victor
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Well filming in Alberta's mountains, it was probably easier doing it in daylight, no need to bring all the spots? However, there is one night scene of the guys getting drunk around the firecamp that leads to their first sexual encounter in the tent. And the following night... go figure.
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One thing that just occurred to me is that in the flashback scene in the movie, it is clearly daytime when Ennis embraces Jack from behind. In the short story it is around the campfire, so it would be nighttime, with the "sparklights" and all. Can you think of why they chose to do this scene during the daytime instead?
Victor
Could the campfire be in the early morning when they just got up? Perhaps the campfire was used to make them warm?
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One thing that just occurred to me is that in the flashback scene in the movie, it is clearly daytime when Ennis embraces Jack from behind. In the short story it is around the campfire, so it would be nighttime, with the "sparklights" and all. Can you think of why they chose to do this scene during the daytime instead?
Victor
The scene was set in the early evening since it shows Ennis about to leave to guard the sheep for the night. Also, his parting words to Jack in this scene was 'See you in the morning.', which I think slightly differs from the original story (I believe the original story makes Ennis say 'See you tomorrow.')
Also, chameau is right. The scene was supposedly set in high summer, and one would expect the days to be longer.
I got a chance to see the movie again yesterday and I can confirm that Ennis/Ledger does say ever so softly to Jack/Gyllenhaal the words '...And sing to me... He says it ever so softly, and you can actually hear the faint melody he hums after this phrase, almost hidden by the background of the accompanying strings of the soundtrack that seem to echo the 'lullaby' most beautifully...
Another beautiful detail. As Ennis/Ledger hums his half-forgotten melody, Jack/Gyllenhaal droops his head to rest against Ennis' embracing arm. The scene shown above as the forum banner is the shot immediately following this, but still shows Jack/Gyllenhaal with head lowered, as if using Ennis' arm as a pillow.
This is an excellent example of Gyllenhaal's sensitive acting throughout the movie.
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tpe just said everything I was going to post (and more). I think it appropriate to place here, for those of you who have not read the story (I HIGHLY encourage you to do so!) Jack's thoughts on this moment:
First, this is what ". . .Jack remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor understand . . . "
Then the following: "Later, that dozy embrace solidified in his memory as the single moment of artless, charmed happiness in their separate and difficult lives. Nothing marred it, even the knowledge that Ennis would not then embrace him face to face because he did not want to see nor feel that it was Jack he held."
Pretty amazing lines of prose. Without question the emotional center of the story - the passion of the sex on one side of this moment (Proulx also describes this embrace as satisfying some shared and sexless hunger), the grief of Jack's death and their consequent permanent separation on the other; and even in Jack's mind, as wonderful and beautiful as the moment was, still tinged for us (but not for Jack) with the sadness of Ennis' resistance to their relationship.
BTW, "The Wings" just came on my iTunes as I type this, and it's gonna make me cry . . .
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want a tissue?? ;D
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BTW, "The Wings" just came on my iTunes as I type this, and it's gonna make me cry . . .
You know, it's wierd... the song on the soundtrack that everyone seems to respond emotionally to is The Wings. Althought I find it incredibly sad, the song that really does it for me is Brokeback 1, the opening guitar riffs at the beginning of the movie. Whenever I listen to it I feel like every part of me has collectively held it's breath. Theres just something about those first few bars that captures the lonlely starkness of the movie perfectly...
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Saw it again today and payed more attention to the scene. It brought tears to me. This flashback scene is brilliant. :'(
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I'm pretty much a hopeless case. I saw the movie for the sixth time today with 4 friends and have not tired of it one bit.
Thanks everyone for the great comments. I love reading all the posts and see how this scene really touches and moves all of us in the most subtle and unassuming way that I could imagine possible.
There are a number of thoughts I would want to touch upon later regarding this scene. There's so much in it, but it's not very easy to collect one's thoughts and express it in just the right words...
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I'm pretty much a hopeless case. I saw the movie for the sixth time today with 4 friends and have not tired of it one bit.
Thanks everyone for the great comments. I love reading all the posts and see how this scene really touches and moves all of us in the most subtle and unassuming way that I could imagine possible.
There are a number of thoughts I would want to touch upon later regarding this scene. There's so much in it, but it's not very easy to collect one's thoughts and express it in just the right words...
Oh yes do...the more the better...it's threads like this one that make this board so interesting
;D
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Oh yes do...the more the better...it's threads like this one that make this board so interesting
;D
Thanks for the encouragement! I really can't get enough of this one scene. I think everyone who has seen it understands just how difficult it is to choose the right words and do it justice.
Poets would be more 'up to the challenge', I'm sure.
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Poets would be more 'up to the challenge', I'm sure.
You did a great job! And it is one of my favourite scenes too!
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If we check the short story, the last words in Jack's remembrance are worth meditating on. It is a fitting coda to Jack's love and patience:
'Let be. Let be.'
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If we check the short story, the last words in Jack's remembrance are worth meditating on. It is a fitting coda to Jack's love and patience:
'Let be. Let be.'
I've just re-read that scene..listening to The Wings...now i'm crying :'(
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I saw it again today and it was hard to see this scene right after the fight, I was bracing myself for it to be sad in contrast and it was
and then showing Jack's face all sad and bitter after being so content...
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Just came home from seeing the movie the 2nd time, and I found another scene incredibly touching. Again, it was one of these transition scenes....from a moment of frantic energy to one of transcendent placidity. This happens when Alma calls Ennis on the so called "fishing trips" after the Thanksgiving dinner....and in Ennis' rage he walks in front of a big truck and gets into a really ugly fight with the truck's driver....at the end of this scene, Ennis is getting the shit beat out of him over and over on the pavement....HORRIBLE! Then the music starts (one of the Brokeback signature pieces), and then the screen is transformed to some of the most peaceful and idyllic scenes of Ennis and Jack riding their horses amongst these incredible backdrops....my favorite with them riding silently (backs to camera) along a tranquil lake.
This juxtaposition of Ennis' frenzied desperate violence against their placid and tender horse riding scenes made for the most heart-tugging experience possible. I was literally jarred by this horrible chaos of fighting that Ennis falls into in his desperation, and these riding scenes were an amazing tonic! I mean, how could you better demonstrate the opposite potentials in their lives together/apart?
Victor
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Victor is right. This movie gains by the wealth of scenes exhibiting powerful contrasts.
Aside from those already mentioned, one scene that actually tears many of my friends apart is the one where Ennis and Jack leave for their first 'fishing trip'. We see Alma carrying Jr. and crying as she sees Ennis, in a cloud of irrepressible happiness, driving away with Jack.
In this scene, one cannot help but feel deeply for Alma's realization that she has 'lost' her husband; but we cannot help but feel elated by the happiness of the lovers.
Happiness? The term fails to do justice to the beginning of subsequent scene. Let me paraphrase:
See anthing up there in heaven?
Just sending up a prayer of thanks....
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You know, It can be this way, always...
This is pure happiness. In all subsequent scenes, one will not find happiness without pathos.
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Victor, something to mention which bothered me. The story implies that Ennis WON the fight, not got the tar beaten out of him, which appears to be the case on screen. I'm interested in everyone's thoughts about the fight on film and why Ennis got beat down. What did that show us?
tpe, I am more and more attracted to the "sending up a prayer of thanks" bit because for me it replaces many lines of dialog in the story which demonstrate Ennis' affection for Jack - and all in character with "film Ennis" who expresses emotions ONLY through violence or (rarely) humor. Thus, when he jokes about the harmonica in this scene, he, Jack and the rest of us know what he's really thankful for - finding Jack again . . .
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Victor, something to mention which bothered me. The story implies that Ennis WON the fight, not got the tar beaten out of him, which appears to be the case on screen. I'm interested in everyone's thoughts about the fight on film and why Ennis got beat down. What did that show us?
tpe, I am more and more attracted to the "sending up a prayer of thanks" bit because for me it replaces many lines of dialog in the story which demonstrate Ennis' affection for Jack - and all in character with "film Ennis" who expresses emotions ONLY through violence or (rarely) humor. Thus, when he jokes about the harmonica in this scene, he, Jack and the rest of us know what he's really thankful for - finding Jack again . . .
Hello borger1582.
The screenplay mentions that Ennis attacks the driver, even though the driver was much bigger than he is. It only highlights Ennis' shame, his rage, and his inability to see things clearly. There is something futile with Ennis trying to beat up someone bigger and stronger than himself. He is wrestling with himself here. He is shamed and angry when Alma finally faces up to him regarding his relationship with Jack. He can't face this out in the open, but it is futile for him to try to beat it down into submission and obscurity.
Frankly, the sending up of 'a prayer of thanks' is probably that part of the movie that I feel so happy for Ennis and Jack. A married friend of mine found this disturbing, because she points out that I am happy for the two, even though Ennis has clearly betrayed Alma in the process. My answer: name me a tragic love story that did not involve some form of betrayal or infidelity.
Tragedy in the legendary heterosexual love stories are usually far from decorous.
Do we not love Romeo and Juliet for betraying their families? Do we not feel for Tristan and Isolde in their betrayal of duty? How about Pelleas and Melisande?
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The story implies that Ennis WON the fight, not got the tar beaten out of him, which appears to be the case on screen. I'm interested in everyone's thoughts about the fight on film and why Ennis got beat down. What did that show us?
The short story does say that Ennis won the fight...after watching the movie for the third time, i do believe that i saw Ennis crying..when the other guy was punching him! Not of pain, but of frustration. That argument with Alma brought back a lot of anger. Then if you remember, when Ennis and Jack meet up again, Ennis asks if Jack feels that people know about him, if people look at him differently. I think it is not only his frustration, it is his paranoia, since he thinks about Jack all the time, he probably thinks that everybody else can see through him!
tpe, I am more and more attracted to the "sending up a prayer of thanks" bit because for me it replaces many lines of dialog in the story which demonstrate Ennis' affection for Jack - and all in character with "film Ennis" who expresses emotions ONLY through violence or (rarely) humor. Thus, when he jokes about the harmonica in this scene, he, Jack and the rest of us know what he's really thankful for - finding Jack again.
I believe that Heath shows a lot of Ennis' emotions through looks and little smiles...not words, but still there! That "sending up a prayer of thanks" scene is great, and humour does hide his real feelings...but why not saying that he was thankful to be with Jack again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Why God why...everytime, I'm hoping to hear a different answer! :-[
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I believe that Heath shows a lot of Ennis' emotions through looks and little smiles...not words, but still there! That "sending up a prayer of thanks" scene is great, and humour does hide his real feelings...but why not saying that he was thankful to be with Jack again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Why God why...everytime, I'm hoping to hear a different answer! :-[
Froggy. Sometimes, I also get irritated with Ennis' inability to express his feelings out in the open. He leaves so many important things unsaid. But that kiss Ennis gave Jack after 4 years -- Jack certainly could not have doubted. It really speaks louder than words.
Jack appreciated the moment: '...it could be like this...always.'
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But that kiss Ennis gave Jack after 4 years -- Jack certainly could not have doubted. It really speaks louder than words.
That kiss...i could hear Faith Hill singing that Kiss song when reading your reply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hehehehe!
Anyway, it's four years of frustration! four years of wanting, of unfinished business too...in one long, hard, passionate kiss *sigh*
It could have been like this...but then again it was 1963! :-[
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Then if you remember, when Ennis and Jack meet up again, Ennis asks if Jack feels that people know about him, if people look at him differently. I think it is not only his frustration, it is his paranoia, since he thinks about Jack all the time, he probably thinks that everybody else can see through him!
Froggy, wonderfully put! I found that Ennis' paranoia was coloring the way he saw the world, and its reaction to him....much like the way depression can color the way people see the world (not that I can vouch for that personally! ;) )
V
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Aside from those already mentioned, one scene that actually tears many of my friends apart is the one where Ennis and Jack leave for their first 'fishing trip'. We see Alma carrying Jr. and crying as she sees Ennis, in a cloud of irrepressible happiness, driving away with Jack.
In this scene, one cannot help but feel deeply for Alma's realization that she has 'lost' her husband; but we cannot help but feel elated by the happiness of the lovers.
Thanks tpe....great comments! I must say after the 2nd viewing, I found my heart reaching out to the wives plight, rather than just Ennis and Jack's drama. Alma was simply caught up in a bad situation with the best of intentions.....a situation that Ennis himself rightly admits to Jack, when Jack makes a crack about the "life that you and Alma got".
V
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I must say after the 2nd viewing, I found my heart reaching out to the wives plight, rather than just Ennis and Jack's drama. Alma was simply caught up in a bad situation with the best of intentions.....a situation that Ennis himself rightly admits to Jack, when Jack makes a crack about the "life that you and Alma got".
V
Victor, I also can't help feeling that Ennis and Jack are also caught in a situation/state that neither of them can control nore give up entirely.
I myself wonder about Jack's comment about Alma and Ennis having a life. I guess one can think of it as stemming from jealousy. But that comment struck me as a bit too knowing. I really was not prepared for it the first time.
Incidentally, this entire exchange originally was part of the 'Motel Siesta' scene, and I believe its transfer from the motel scene to the first 'fishing trip' did not make Proulx happy at the start, when she first got wind of the change. She later admitted that she was wrong and that the change worked on film.
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Incidentally, this entire exchange originally was part of the 'Motel Siesta' scene, and I believe its transfer from the motel scene to the first 'fishing trip' did not make Proulx happy at the start, when she first got wind of the change. She later admitted that she was wrong and that the change worked on film.
Wow i did not know that..thankx for sharing ;)
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[Wow i did not know that..thankx for sharing ;)
You're welcome, Froggy. :)
For those who have not read the story, I'm appending here the relevant passages from the Motel Siesta scene inthe original story that got moved to the first fishing trip. I got his from the online site posted by Froggy: http://pviktor.co.uk/p_viktor_/files/brokeback_mountain.pdf
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"You won't catch me again," said Jack. "Listen. I'm thinkin, tell you what, if you and me had a little ranch together, little cow and calf operation, your horses, it'd be some sweet life. Like I said, I'm gettin out a rodeo. I ain't no broke-dick rider but I don't got the bucks a ride out this slump I'm in and I don't got the bones a keep gettin wrecked. I got it figured, got this plan, Ennis, how we can do it, you and me. Lureen's old man, you bet he'd give me a bunch if I'd get lost. Already more or less said it -- "
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. It ain't goin a be that way. We can't. I'm stuck with what I got, caught in my own loop. Can't get out of it. Jack, I don't want a be like them guys you see around sometimes. And I don't want a be dead. There was these two old guys ranched together down home, Earl and Rich -- Dad would pass a remark when he seen them. They was a joke even though they was pretty tough old birds. I was what, nine years old and they found Earl dead in a irrigation ditch. They'd took a tire iron to him, spurred him up, drug him around by his d**k until it pulled off, just bloody pulp. What the tire iron done looked like pieces a burned tomatoes all over him, nose tore down from skiddin on gravel."
"You seen that?"
"Dad made sure I seen it. Took me to see it. Me and K.E. Dad laughed about it. Hell, for all I know he done the job. If he was alive and was to put his head in that door right now you bet he'd go get his tire iron. Two guys livin together? No. All I can see is we get together once in a while way the hell out in the back a nowhere -- "
"How much is once in a while?" said Jack. "Once in a while ever four fu**in years?"
"No," said Ennis, forbearing to ask whose fault that was. "I goddamn hate it that you're goin a drive away in the mornin and I'm goin back to work. But if you can't fix it you got a stand it," he said. "Shit. I been lookin at people on the street. This happen a other people? What the hell do they do?"
"It don't happen in Wyomin and if it does I don't know what they do, maybe go to Denver," said Jack, sitting up, turning away from him, "and I don't give a flyin f***. Son of a bitch, Ennis, take a couple days off. Right now. Get us out a here. Throw your stuff in the back a my truck and let's get up in the mountains. Couple a days. Call Alma up and tell her you're goin. Come on, Ennis, you just shot my airplane out a the sky -- give me somethin a go on. This ain't no little thing that's happenin here."
The hollow ringing began again in the next room, and as if he were answering it, Ennis picked up the phone on the bedside table, dialed his own number.
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I watched the whole thing again today - must be for the twelfth time, but from the first time that flashback, specailly the part where Ennis stands behind Jack with his arms round him, made me think of Milton's " Calm of mind, all passion spent". They look entirely at ease together, relaxed and as though they've just shared something beautiful. I find that last line "See you in the morning" almost unwatchably sad, because there won't ever be another morning for them after Ennis drives away. And waking up next to someone after a night together is somehow more intimate than sex, specially the sort of sex where you have to rush off afterwards because you should never have been there in the first place. So this scene to me says that they're committed and this isn't just sexual and transitory.
However, the short story presents it differently and says that though Jack remembered this moment as the one uncomplicatedly happy time they'd known, nevertheless he thought Ennis had held him from behind because he didnlt want to see nor feel it was Jack he held Iin other words he realised even then that Ennis couldn't acknowledge the nature of his feelings or relationship with Jack.
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The poignancy of this scene is underlined by the fact, I think, that we also see Ennis playing the protector to Jack (as people have pointed out elsewhere, he often does this). Thus he shares some family history with him, holds him, urges him to sleep (i.e., take care of himself), and reassures him about their future contact. So while it is unbearably painful to realize that they won't be together again, we also see the many needs Jack had--for a real family, for instance--that Ennis did in a small way fulfill. :(
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There is something about a lullaby that is timeless and most sacred. The tradition since time immemorial has been between mother and child. Very rarely has it been used in the context of star-crossed lovers.
Ennis's lullaby is at the center of this scene, which is at the center of the entire film. It is the heart of hearts -- center of centers -- core of cores. As the Poet Rilke had envisioned:
Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet--
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.
Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,
a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.
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Truly -- most truly -- their love shall endure (even if only in most tenuous memory): until all the stars are dead.
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welshwitch,shieldmaid, tpe:
This "triptych" of posts is perhaps the most beautiful expression of this incredibly beautiful scene/passage that I have yet seen on this forum. Bless you and thank you for sharing this.
david
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Hush a-bye, don't you cry;
Go to sleepy little baby.
When you wake, you shall have
All the pretty little horses.
Blacks and bays, dapples and grays;
All the pretty little horses
Blacks and bays, dapples and grays;
Coach and six-a little horses.
Hush a-bye, don't you cry;
Go to sleepy little baby.
When you wake, you'll have sweet cake,
And all the pretty little horses.
A brown and gray,
A black and bay,
Coach and six-a little horses
A black and bay,
A brown and a gray,
Coach and six-a little horses....
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Thanks david and edgar.
I have always wondered what forgotten song Ennis must have sung.
The fact that we shall never know moves me so.