Blanche is in the midst of a reality-fantasy moment late at night when nobody's home. She's adorned herself with an old white gown and the rhinestone tiara,with the polka music playing quietly in her mind. Then Stanley's voice is heard almost out of nowhere, and says "Hi, Blanche". She pauses and gazes around the room until he can be seen entering the house. It isn't a big moment, but it doesn't need to be. Kazan's film is filled to the brim with small nuances of subtlety and complexity, that provides layers and layers of fresh, imaginative interpretation. Here, we hear the voice which shatters that moment for Blanche and causes a weirdly distilled silence in the darkness before switching back to harsh reality. Stanley's voice almost seems to be in her mind and intruding her false notions; dominating her even when he isn't even in the shot. It's the kind of technique that couldn't really be done on stage with the same kind of surreal, unsettling impact.
After Blanche tries to set Stella straight and begs her not to "hang back with the brutes!", they two embrace in a sisterly, loving kind of bond before we hear Stanley casually entering in the other room. The camera catches each of their frightened reactions, before they both quietly gaze at each other in a heated moment of silent tension.
Stanley's shadow appears in the background, as the sister's embrace slowly crumbles when Stan calls for his wife. Again, the mere presence of Stanley throws them both back into a scared and uncertain state with each possibly thinking about the reality of the intellectual and emotionally charged love-hate triangle they are desperately caught in. Maybe we catch Stella acting "out of character" in the sense where she's contemplating the horrifying truth, or maybe not. It's a testament to the actors and director that such conundrums, while lucid and sharp, aren't spelled out for us. That's what makes the film so richly satisfying.
In the last scene, Blanche is in a corner, literally and mentally. She is told she has to leave, and it seems to her that she's trapped, but then Stanley suggests that she take the Chinese lamp shade and he holds it out for her to take. This one moment that hits the peak of Blanche's breakdown and shatters it all, always gives me goosebumps. It's a combo of the acting and staging of the scene, that gets under my skin. In that one moment, I feel Blanche more than I have ever before in the movie, and I suppose that set up is the point of it. Alone, scared, trembling and mumbling, with everyone else "against" her and Stanley's simple but somehow vicious and dominating gesture makes this moment resonate with a haunting edge. But it's strange how I also feel for Stanley throughout the film, even though this devastating last blow turns it all to Blanche.
What do you think of these different picks? Agree? Disagree?
