This week’s post runs through the elements of Act III, with links to expanded breakdowns of those elements! THE THREE-PART ACT THREE: Act III is very often divided into two major sequences, and a third, shorter, but important sequence or scene: 1. Getting there (
Hi Alex. I didn't remember that I'd made this list, so started another. It was almost exactly the same. Some feel very personal, though the director chose the ending so probably they wanted me to feel that way. Some are always reactions, some more singular.
1. Satyricon - I saw this several times. The first time the friend that I saw it with was returning after watching it on acid and I was totally horrified that he'd do that to himself. I loved the movie but it was weird and often horrifying. Then one time I saw it on a pot brownie I think, and it got to the end and I realized I was supposed to get on the boat and sail away with the (very flawed) protagonist. So I did. It was sublime. I don't know that I could repeat that, but I understand the film in terms of it.
2. La Strada - one of the most devastating tragedies I've ever seen. The protagonist discovers his soul and it destroys him.
3. Children of Paradise - Baptise lost in a carnival sea of other Pierrots. Humanity on its endless quest for love.
4. Performance - I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together. Woo! See you in the next life.
5. The Ladykillers - All's right with the world.
6. From Noon Till Three - All's wrong with the world, but madness is an escape. This is actually a classic ending trope, isn't it?
7. Lone Star - really complex movie comes to this moment of very simple emotional acceptance. And goodie, it's a taboo.
8. Diary of a Country Priest - I came out of the film converted to whatever it was. I said Catholicism but it was soulfulness, belief in saintliness?
9. The English Patient - Sort of similiar. Time, death, tragedy triumph but life is still unbearably beautiful. There may even be peace.
10. Notting Hill - He's perfect for her because he's all wrong. He makes a (charming) fool of himself and doesn't care and floats within her world because he gives her a greater reality.
Lots more of course. I considered Phaedra, since there's a 5 minute tragic set piece finale, but then I thought everything after the fabulous love scene is the set-piece ending. The last two thirds of the movie.
Writing Act III: Essential Elements & Useful Tricks
Hi Alex. I didn't remember that I'd made this list, so started another. It was almost exactly the same. Some feel very personal, though the director chose the ending so probably they wanted me to feel that way. Some are always reactions, some more singular.
1. Satyricon - I saw this several times. The first time the friend that I saw it with was returning after watching it on acid and I was totally horrified that he'd do that to himself. I loved the movie but it was weird and often horrifying. Then one time I saw it on a pot brownie I think, and it got to the end and I realized I was supposed to get on the boat and sail away with the (very flawed) protagonist. So I did. It was sublime. I don't know that I could repeat that, but I understand the film in terms of it.
2. La Strada - one of the most devastating tragedies I've ever seen. The protagonist discovers his soul and it destroys him.
3. Children of Paradise - Baptise lost in a carnival sea of other Pierrots. Humanity on its endless quest for love.
4. Performance - I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together. Woo! See you in the next life.
5. The Ladykillers - All's right with the world.
6. From Noon Till Three - All's wrong with the world, but madness is an escape. This is actually a classic ending trope, isn't it?
7. Lone Star - really complex movie comes to this moment of very simple emotional acceptance. And goodie, it's a taboo.
8. Diary of a Country Priest - I came out of the film converted to whatever it was. I said Catholicism but it was soulfulness, belief in saintliness?
9. The English Patient - Sort of similiar. Time, death, tragedy triumph but life is still unbearably beautiful. There may even be peace.
10. Notting Hill - He's perfect for her because he's all wrong. He makes a (charming) fool of himself and doesn't care and floats within her world because he gives her a greater reality.
Lots more of course. I considered Phaedra, since there's a 5 minute tragic set piece finale, but then I thought everything after the fabulous love scene is the set-piece ending. The last two thirds of the movie.
Thank you. I'm thinking of great endings and I remember Scarlett O'Hara's "After all, tomorrow is another day."