Welcome back everyone and if you're new here my name is Robert Macfarlane and I take your
favorite film and TV and I tell you just how the filmmakers do it today's film has been chosen by
the brilliant robocat thank you so much for your suggestion I really hope you enjoy this fully
caffeinated analysis we're going to take a look at one specific scene that I have never seen analyzed
and at the end of this episode I'm going to share with you a clue that
I think even the most die-hard fans of this film missed to the big twist
the particular scene I'm going to be showing you literally presents
the twist of the movie to you all the way through the scene surprise me and you never guess it
so we start this scene in the kitchen and we're looking at the Narrator character yes that is
actually his script given name and there's a very good reason for that I'm gonna do an
episode on that in the coming weeks what you'll notice is the camera is actually quite low and
pointed up this angle is actually quite practical the Narrator is hearing what's going on upstairs
two people copulating as you do and even though he's not necessarily looking up the whole time we
are which gives us an idea that that is where this sound is coming from of course we're only dealing
with stereo sound for the majority of people who are watching this film so the director is helping
us know where this sound is coming from and now we hear a telephone start to ring the sounds
of copulation continue over this ringing however what's interesting here is the camera pans across
it doesn't cut to the telephone and booms up so the camera rises in height and this is really
really important because as the narrator picks up the phone the sounds from upstairs stop
Hello yes this is Detective Stern with the arson unit so I'm about to reveal the twist
of this movie if you haven't got to watch it go watch it now it would help so when he picks up
the phone and the sounds from upstairs stop at the exact same moment I believe this is David Fincher
saying that the transfer of consciousness has occurred at the time the phone has been picked up
Hello yes this is Detective Stern with the Arson Unit we have some new information about the
incident at your former condo the very next move the Narrator carries the phone into the middle
of the room as he answers the phone the camera at the same time moves towards him this accentuates
the distance being shortened very dramatically we get a real sense of anxiety also we're now
very close to the Narrator's face I would like to point out that at this moment the Narrator
is looking pretty terrified if he knew he was innocent of this particular crime then he
probably wouldn't have looked quite so scared so we end up in this tight close-up on the Narrator's
face as the police officer starts to elaborate on what they found out about the explosion at
the flat freon into your front door lock then tapped it with a chisel to shatter the cylinder
no I wasn't aware of that at all you'll notice here that every time we cut back to the narrator
the camera is dead still his lines are almost robotic he's terrified even he is unbelievably
still almost like a t-rex is walking by and he's waiting to see if the t-rex is gonna spot him
now this moment is so nice it's not subtle but at the time when you watch it you just think well it
was a coincidence who would go and do such a thing I'll ask the questions the director
is basically saying Tyler did it but he's doing it in a way that leaves the Narrator completely
oblivious but what I think is more interesting in this shot is the fact that Tyler Durden arrives
next to the Narrator with zero noise who would go and do such a thing I'll ask the questions
now bear in mind that this house is a really old creaky house every time we
see them walk around this house it makes a lot of noise there was no lock on the front door
so how did he get up behind him without us hearing him at all
two interesting things happen here we cut out and around we then cut from this wider shot back to
the shot we were on originally now I think there are probably two possible reasons for doing this
one as many of you will know David Fincher shoots a lot of takes of every scene so he probably had
a lot to choose from and then he realized that an early take or later take was better of the early
part of this scene and then the later part of the scene was better in a totally different take
so he needed to put something in to cover up the cut between the two performances or this
cut actually added drama to the moment of shock by cutting out at the exact moment that he jumped
I felt an added element of jump anxiety panic for the character I probably think the latter is more
likely but who knows maybe he did both if you're suitably caffeinated like I am right now don't
forget to hit like and subscribe so you don't miss any more of my other caffeinated videos thank you
no I am listening it's just it's a little hard to know what to make of all this now as we can see
Tyler Durden plonks himself in the background of this shot as the conversation between the Narrator
and the police officer continues the Narrator is still absolutely terrified but then Tyler Durden
says reject the basic assumption of civilization especially the importance of material possession
this is not a throwaway line it may seem like it's actually not that well connected
to this particular situation but in fact it's the exact reason that Tyler Durden blew
up his apartment reject the basic assumption of civilization especially the importance of material
possessions it was to break the Narrator's dependence on the items that he owned or
more importantly the items that owned him side note check that dressing gown there is literally
five cups of coffee on the back of that dressing gown not only
do I need that dressing gown in my life it's actually a really nice nod to the fact that he is
a separate personality multiple cups all inside one tell them you blew it all up
by wording it in that way it means so much more once you know the ending of the film
it's utterly brilliant Fight Club really is one of those movies
that you just keep getting more and more out of it every time you watch it
are you still there but as Tyler disappears the camera whip pans back what's interesting here
is the use of a whip pan in a situation where a cut might have been more effective
for screen time and by choosing whip pan instead of cutting one we get disorientated
but two we also know exactly where Tyler Durden left this scene and I think that's incredibly
important in something that's about to come up side note check out what's around the police
officer in pretty much all of his scenes the mis-en-scene is actually really quite macabre if
you see over his shoulder on the right hand side of screen well there's a picture of a
skull this goes along with well a lot of the themes of death which runs throughout the film
also on the back wall is an inkblot picture going along with the same ideas of psychology
and psychosis that permeate the film as well my parents pulled this exact same act for years Tyler
has left the frame and Marla enters but notice Marla has entered from a completely different
side of the room to when Tyler originally entered the scene also you'll notice that she's making
quite a bit of noise we can hear her coming into the kitchen even though she's most likely
lighter than Tyler Durden himself my parents pulled this exact same act for years the condom
is the glass slipper of our generation Marla then gets rather annoyed and goes to get her jacket
she goes to the very same door that Tyler went to just a moment before
get rid of her now as Marla exits the camera then pans doesn't cut
pans across the scene back to the narrator and at that moment Tyler Durden arrives but now
he arrives from a totally different door to the one that he had gone through this has
all been so beautifully timed because each actor has to start moving at the right time
the camera has to pan across capture performances for just long enough to
convey the right emotion and then meet the characters as they enter so as the
camera then pans back across to the left we meet Marla entering from the same door that she just
went into but it certainly makes you wonder how Tyler is jumping around place to place to place
and as Marla leaves the scene she leaves the Narrator's view Tyler Durden
is already downstairs again even though he went upstairs before
get rid of her what can you get rid of her don't mention me we didn't hear him come down the stairs
and it was at this moment that I realized something that blew my mind that there is
never a moment in this entire movie that all three characters can see each other at the same time
okay you promise yeah I promise promise I just said I promise it's three times your promise
Marla and Tyler almost always exchange places when around the narrator all the way through
the movie in fact we don't even ever really see Tyler interact with her we only hear it
it is assumed but never actually seen I don't know how David Fincher was able to get that one
under my nose I didn't even spot it apart from the ending of the film this is literally the biggest
clue to the character's dissertative dissociative identity disorder in the entire movie and I
totally missed it and before I go today I've got something for you filmmakers and cinephiles out
there something that I went through as a filmmaker and storyteller was really learning how to utilize
cinematic language and the very first stage of that was understanding that cinematic language
permeated literally everything I watched so I've released my cinematic language 101 course which
you can find up here and down in the description to help you master your understanding of cinematic
language