PARTISAN
REVIEW
1t7
in the conversation and wished to end it, Lena passes the comb
roughly through Martin's hair. He gnmaces.
MARTIN:
That's enough!
He sits up on his line. The camera dollies back fast as he gets
to his feet and with both hands pulls Lena up beside him. What we
have now is a medium shot of Lena and Martin, both seen in pro–
file, facing each other. They don't speak for a second. The atmo–
sphere is charged. Martin
runs
his fingers through his hair, making
it messy again.
LENA:
Let me cut it for you.
(Or:
Where are the scissors?)
MARTIN:
No.
The camera pans to follow Martin as he goes to the fireplace;
he is now farther from the camera than before, putting him in full
shot. Without apparent hesitation, Martin pulls out a small burning
stick and sets fire to his hair. We hear the sound (off) of Karen's
scream. The camera dollies in closer as Martin quickly puts out the
flames with his hands.
MARTIN:
Now it's shorter.
Long shot, which includes all three. Karen is only partly shown
- . her head and left shoulder - in the front of the shot, and she's a
little out of focus. Martin and Lena occupy the midground, in sharp
focus. Probably they are once again in profile, echoing the earlier
two-shot just before Martin burned his hair. This shot should give
the impression of two strongly different spatial planes, and drama–
tically sum up Karen's ambiguous role in this situation - part in–
truder, part arbiter, part voyeur - as well as her own psychological
intermittences, produced by her conflicting reactions of distaste, de–
tachment, fascination.
LENA:
Is it a contest then?
MARTIN:
I hope not. I'd like to stop you.
LENA:
Why? Because one of us has to lose.
Martin shakes his head.
MARTIN:
We've already lost.
LENA:
Not enough. Just enough to keep one of us from wmnmg.
(pause )
