Conversation secrète

De tels thrillers concentrés et sans hâte, dans lesquels l'analyse psychologique du personnage principal est aussi importante que l'intrigue criminelle, ne sont plus produits dans le cinéma américain à l'heure (rapide) d'aujourd'hui. Dommage. Dans Conversation secrète, si je me souviens bien, il n'y a même pas d'arme à feu. Le rôle du marginal introverti est fait pour Gene Hackman, et la brève apparition de Robert Duvall est excellente. On peut débattre de l'opportunité et de la nécessité de la scène finale dans le contexte de l'action précédente, mais cela n'altère en rien l'excellente impression. Coppola était le Maître Réalisateur. (17/03/2015)

Coppola and Hackman both said once that The Conversation was their favorite movie of their entire careers. With Hackman this is completely understandable, in view of the perfect performance he gave. But not so understandable with Francis. The Conversation is unarguably well-directed, excellently thought out, has lots of great scenes, the topic is still relevant today, but... Overall, it’s “just" a good thriller. (08/07/2007)

[memories of LFŠ] Coppola's technophilic/phobic variations on The Drizzler of Drops, where I was pulled out of the immersion into the slowly narrated story several times by peculiar character outbursts from the protagonist's role. In particular, the long party scene irritated me all the time because I couldn't believe that the character, as the film has carefully described to us so far, could attract a group of semi-drunk competitors to her strictly guarded office and then happily munch away with some floozy there. Fortunately, on the other hand, the immersion into the hero's feelings in crucial scenes was helped by the returning beautiful piano composition, which always somehow embraced and pulled me back into the movie. But...! (02/08/2024)

More than a thriller story, this is a portrait of a character and a portrait of a time that combines the absolute loss of privacy, voyeurism, and the fragility of the personal sphere. Harry Caul listens to the lives of others and denies his own. Desperately afraid of being betrayed or interrogated, he is disguised as a perfect chameleon in an apartment full of impersonal things, with a mistress who knows nothing about him, with a colleague with whom he cannot establish a closer relationship, and with a phone that no one knows. He confesses not only to God, but even to Him, it is careful and half-hearted. Yet he is unable to escape the hunter-prey paradox, just as he, as an ordinary person, gives way to emotions and tries to avoid the tragedy that his work could lead to. In a particularly cold and withdrawn form, The Conversation metaphorizes modern times as an era in which everyone can listen and manipulate, but are themselves fragile and vulnerable (as if Harry's transparent raincoat wants to support this interpretation). It is not actually possible to determine who is listening and who is being spied on. Coppola chooses an artistically sophisticated form full of sharp shapes, uses complex work with the narrator (various angles of retrospectives) and a fantastic soundtrack and reserved cameras. The Conversation is truly a film about listening, and in the end, a chilling parable of a man who loses all his privacy. With a little exaggeration, any modern person can feel like a desperate Harry in a broken apartment, watched by the eye of an invisible camera. If it weren't for the sleepy introduction, it would be cut like a gem. But even so... Magnification for the world of sound. Famous minimalist Hackman. A film very ahead of its time. A masterpiece. (05/03/2007)

The first half of the interview is a great look at a lonely, principled man who is so committed to his work that he doesn't even realize how paranoid he is becoming and how distant he is becoming from his surroundings. The second half is in the spirit of a gripping psychological thriller. I was completely absorbed by both of them. Gene Hackman proved once again why he is one of my favorite actors. And Francis Ford Coppola again confirmed his reputation as an exceptional director - I really liked, for example, how he shot almost the entire film as if with hidden cameras, which culminated in the very last shot. I'm glad that this masterpiece, still relevant after almost forty years (unfortunately?), has finally appeared on DVD - with bonus features that are really rich by today's poor standards (and by the standards of such "old" films). (19/02/2012)