Scene in Cinema: Found Scene

SCENE LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QHVB_n6N8

Slapstick, facade, animals, animated foreign non-American characters and chaos. These are some of the signature ingredients found in the recipe for Blake Edward’s cult classic film “The Party” (1968), starring his longtime collaborator and British comic legend, Peter Sellers. A true auteur, Blake Edwards who’s credited as the writer, director and producer of the film, presents us with his homage to classic slapstick traditions from the silent era of cinema.

Early into the film, Edwards introduces the films protagonist; Hurundi V. Bakshi (Sellers), an accident-prone Indian actor, who constantly manages to cause problems despite his good intentions. As he inadvertently manages to detonate explosives on set of a film production, seconds before it’s scheduled for detonation, Bakshi is not only fired but also chased off set by the director. Instead of being blacklisted from Hollywood, he is put down on the guest list, receiving an invitation to a lavish Hollywood party by mistake. Throughout the remainder of the film, Bakshi systematically creates mayhem resulting in the destruction of a house, loss of ones sanity and a clean elephant, by the conclusion of the party and the film in its entirety.

During the scene where Peter Sellers’ character walks around aimlessly in the mansion observing the party guests, he maintains the social awkwardness of Bakshi. This is expressed not only through the performances and positioning of all the actors, but additionally the specific way the camera is used to capture the scene

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The moment where Bakshi leaves the couch and walks over to some of the party guests, a medium long shot is used to show Bakshi’s positioning; in contrast to the others. While the trio, standing above him on the stairs, are drinking smoking and laughing; Bakshi, alone, is standing ground level and below the group. From the following close-ups, not only is Bakshi’s shots separated between the frames with only himself in shot, he is looked down upon the partygoers on the stairs who are all in the same frame. This makes him seem rather socially inferior and distant to everyone else.

When Bakshi progresses to disrupt the congressman’s anecdote, the long and lingering camera coverage is used to maintain a slow temporal pace. In addition to the contrasting shots between Bakshi and everyone else, the lingering shots creates the cringe humor to settle in, as a result of the lack of time passing from the moment Bakshi opens his mouth, verbally exemplifying his lack of comprehension due to the cultural barrier he faces. Thus effectively portraying Seller’s character as the ultimate awkward “foreigner”.