Film Analysis

Someone to Watch Over Me: Opening Sequence -- The Two Parties

In the opening sequences of Ridley Scott's Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) two parties are depicted in which two different classes of people are shown at two very different social engagements. The first party consists of working class people -- mostly police officers and their wives (family and friends): it is a large but intimate gathering for a birthday celebration of the main character -- who is also being promoted to a new district in Manhattan. The party is set in the main character's home and his wife is hostess: the guests drink, eat, dance, talk, laugh and have a genuinely good time. The second party is set at an expensive hotel in the city, where valets and attendants guard the doors, press photographers flash bright bulbs at the attendees (who are dressed in tuxedos and evening gowns), and the lighting is so poor inside that guests can hardly be seen by the viewer -- or heard by one another (the husband of one woman has to repeat himself over the loud thumping music). There is none of the familial joy or intimacy seen in the first people here in this second: instead, there are several individuals who express misgivings, jealousy, anger, and frustration in their faces as they attempt to suppress or act out on impulses bubbling below the surface. This paper will compare these two parties and discuss why they are juxtaposed back-to-back at the outset... The halls and rooms are densely packed, and many hugs, kisses and smiles are seen. The home is not brightly lit but there is far more light in the house than in the hotel where the charity event is hosted in the following scene. A fire blazes in the home's hearth, questions such as, "Where's the booze?" are clearly heard, and exchanges between men and women, women and women, and men and men are plentiful and good humored.
At the second party, the only light comes by way of a constantly flashing strobe light that mimics the continuous popping of the camera bulbs and the pulse of the loud music played at the event -- music which drowns out most exchanges. The one man and woman who do manage to communicate with more than a few words do so by separating themselves slightly from the herd; the other exchange comes outside the doors of the party, where a valet turns away an uninvited guest. At this party, not everyone is welcome or particularly happy to be there -- and it shows on the faces. At the house party, no…