“Inspired by Antonioni’s Blow-Up, Coppola’s riveting thriller stars Gene Hackman (in the midst of his ’70s American crime-drama prime) as Harry Caul, a deeply private and increasingly paranoid wiretapper who is revered in inner circles for his professional expertise. The pivotal and oft-referenced opening scene slowly focuses in on a couple Caul has been hired to surveille. Throughout the film, he obsessively fine-tunes the couple’s fragmented conversation by increasingly eliminating all interference, both literal and personal, until the stakes for all involved reach a fever pitch. Frequent Coppola collaborator Walter Murch acts as both sound and picture editor, artfully weaving together this taut story and the film’s distinctly discordant soundscape. Scripted by Coppola long before Watergate but released fresh after the scandal broke, The Conversation uncannily captures, through one man’s morality tale, a US in the throes of a political and cultural reckoning, while simultaneously foreshadowing the insidious ubiquity of today’s heavily surveilled world. It’s fitting to watch this Palme d’Or–winning film, so steeped in all things analog, on this newly struck 35mm print, which Coppola himself supervised.” -Jessica Smith, Toronto International Film Festival
View our open exhibitions at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. From delicate glass pieces to painted portraits, we have everything you are interested in.
