Titanic
- Director: James Cameron
- Writer: James Cameron
- Producer: James Cameron / Jon Landau
- Studio: 20th Century-Fox / Paramount
- Stars: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Victor Garber, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, Bill Paxton, David Warner, Gloria Stuart
- Length: 194 min
- Genre: Drama
- Rating: PG-13
- My Rating: ****
- Oscar Nominations: Picture, Director, Actress (Winslet), Supporting Actress (Stuart), Editing, Cinematography, Original Score, Sound, Art Direction, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Costume Design, Makeup, Original Song (“My Heart Will Go On”)
- Nightbird Nominations: Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Stuart), Editing, Cinematography, Original Score, Sound, Art Direction, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Costume Design, Makeup, Original Song (“My Heart Will Go On”)
James Cameron is a great director and Titanic is his biggest achievement. I used to say this almost in the hope of convincing myself that it was true, because, for the longest time, I couldn’t stand Titanic. I recognized it as a remarkable technical achievement, a ground-breaking film that is so visually impressive that none of its Oscars can be argued against it in that respect. But I couldn’t get past that script.
Titanic (like Avatar after it) has a horrible script. The dialogue is so godawful and cliche-ridden that the only way we have of knowing that we aren’t watching just another run-of-the-mill romance is through the sheer size and enormity of the project.
Rose says Jack’s name eighty times; Jack says Rose’s name fifty times. Their names are engrained into pop culture not because the script details a beautifully rendered romance, but because Cameron felt that having the actors say each other’s names passionately at least once during each line of dialogue would send thousands of teenage girls into a full-fledged swoon. And swoon they did, if only because Dear Leo had won himself a permanent place in their hearts.
But to say that the film fails because of its script would be to blind oneself to everything that it does right. Script aside, it is an emotionally successful film.
There are bits of melancholy tucked down every one of the doomed ship’s corridors. There is Victor Garber as the chief designer, slowly correcting the time on the mantelpiece clock, experiencing the failure of his creation while the world watches; we have Bernard Hill as the Captain, commandeering his ship to ruin during his final voyage before retirement; there is Molly Brown (played wonderfully by Kathy Bates), trying to move up the social ladder while keeping her Midwestern ideals intact, two sensibilities which she soon finds to be at odds with each other; and, most importantly and subtly, there is Old Rose, reliving that fatal night, seeming quite girlish as she tells of the beauty and sadness that painted her world. She truly does go back to Titanic; we can see it in her eyes as she rejoins her lost love, her devotion to whom has festered within her for nearly a century.
These character-driven scenes account for a small amount of the film’s length, but they stand out because of the stories that are told through them. Very little dialogue is used, with only Cameron, his actors, and their combined talents being utilized to reveal the character’s journeys. This achievement, more than any other, convinced me of Titanic‘s greatness.
James Cameron is a visual storyteller, and his films must be approached with this in mind. The words don’t matter so much as the images that he places on the screen. And as for the unoriginality of the film’s love story? Well, you don’t choose the costliest film to date as a vehicle for untried material.
If James Cameron is a great director, then he is both his own best asset and his own weak link. He knows how to make the kind of movie that you can admiringly call a “movie.” His films look incredible, and are so well-shot that his penchant for long running times hardly matters; if you’re so wrapped up in the visuals, then you never think to check your watch. That he manages to make his films emotional and meaningful experiences while taking advantage of these technical and visual aspects only speaks more highly of his talent. So what if he can’t write worth a damn? Not everyone can be Ingmar Bergman. And by that same token, not everyone can be James Cameron. It is this ability to combine art with commerce that keeps Cameron’s vessel afloat.
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