Titanic (1997)

Titanic (1997)

In writer/director James Cameron's (and 20th Century Fox's) monumental Best Picture-winning blockbuster epic, it was the most expensive film of all time at the time of its release. The popular characters of Rose and Jack and their romance wisely dominated the film, although there were some secondary subplots. The romance took a back seat to the powerful visuals and drama of the sinking in the film's second half. Fans (mostly female) returned many dozens of times to enjoy the tale over and over and helped the film become the highest grossing motion picture of all time. Although praised by critics and the viewing public, there was some backlash about its acting (especially DiCaprio's) and its screenplay.

Its story centered around an infamous part of history (the fateful night of April 15, 1912 for White Star Line's R.M.S. Titanic) with a doomed, fictional romance at its core. It began with treasure-seekers in a salvage expedition at the submerged ship led by Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton), who discovered a safebox with a drawing of a woman wearing a 56-carat blue diamond necklace. They connected it to 102 year-old survivor Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart) who revisited the site of the sinking, and reminisced, in flashback, about an ill-fated, forbidden romance she had when she was a seventeen year-old society girl with lower-class, starving artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Earlier as a debutante named Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), she had been forced by her mother Ruth (Frances Fisher) to become engaged to rich, arrogant socialite Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) and was on her way to Philadelphia to marry. Feeling hopelessly trapped, she tried to commit suicide from the aft deck rather than accept the arranged marriage, but was rescued by Jack. Although Jack was slighted by her upper-class family, she forsook her future with Cal and asked Jack to sketch her in the nude wearing the invaluable blue diamond, and they fell in love. When the ship hit the iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic and split in two, Jack sacrificed himself and again saved her from sure death.

It became the highest-grossing and most successful film of all-time in Hollywood history, with gross revenues of 674ドル.4 million (domestic) and 2ドル.26 billion (worldwide). It was the first film with a budget of 200ドル million, and it was the first movie to gross over 1ドル billion (worldwide). It surpassed the all-time box-office record of Jurassic Park (1993). Titanic remained at the top until Cameron's own Avatar (2009) surpassed it 12 years later at 2ドル.92 billion (worldwide).

It received 14 Academy Awards nominations, including Best Makeup, Best Actress (Kate Winslet), and Best Supporting Actress (Gloria Stuart), and it won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Original Dramatic Score, and Best Original Song ("My Heart Will Go On"). [Note: Its 14 Oscar nominations tied All About Eve (1950) for the record for the most Academy Award nominations, and its 11 Oscar wins also tied Ben-Hur (1959)).]

• on board the research vessel the Keldysh while searching for the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, treasure hunter Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) and his team discovered a safe containing a sketch-drawing of a nude woman wearing a priceless 56-carat blue diamond necklace ("The Heart of the Ocean") - the drawing was dated April 14, 1912 - the fateful day of the Titanic's collision with an iceberg; the discovery set up the film's flashback structure described by 100 year-old Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart), who was one of the disaster's survivors
• the two romantic star-crossed, ill-fated lovers who met on-board were:
  • Rose Bukater (Kate Winslet), an upper-class socialite
  • Jack Dawson (Leonard DiCaprio), a third-class (steerage) passenger and drifter/artist
• the two perched themselves at the prow of the White Star liner Titanic with arms outstretched ("I'm flying!") - ending with a sunset kiss

• Rose decided to pose nude for one of Jack's sketches; she was the one who proposed the idea of a drawing while wearing the necklace; she entered the room wearing a semi-transparent robe, noting:
  • "The last thing I need is another picture of me looking like a porcelain doll. As a paying customer, I expect to get what I want."
• she opened the robe, revealed her complete nakedness; Jack nervously instructed: "Over on the bed - the couch. Go, lie down"; she then reclined on a couch, with the Blue Sapphire nestled between her breasts; as he sketched her naked figure and drew the curved line of her breasts, she noticed: "I believe you are blushing, Mr. Big Artiste. I can't imagine Monsieur Monet blushing"

• the scene ended on a close-up of Rose's eye (first as a young girl and then morphing into her elderly eye), and then she recalled: "My heart was pounding the whole time. It was the most erotic moment of my life. Up until then, at least."

• Jack dated the sketch April 14, 1912, and signed his initials
• during the fateful voyage, Jack Dawson had the opportunity to eat in the first-class dining area, when invited to join Rose's family and her wealthy fiancée Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) for a meal after he had saved her from jumping and committing suicide; he explained that he had worked from place to place, won his ticket on the Titanic with a "lucky hand at poker," and that he enjoyed his "rootless existence"; he was responding to a question from Rose's widowed mother Ruth (Frances Fisher)
• later, Jack and Rose made love in the back seat of a car; Rose's handprint was seen on the fogged-up window of the car - it reached out and then slid down and left a steamy imprint; the camera panned down to reveal their sweaty embrace, as she noticed: "You're trembling." He replied: "Don't worry, I'll be all right," and then he continued kissing her
• the final hour of the film featured tremendous visual and special-effects of the ship's flooding; the disaster began to occur after the "unsinkable" ocean liner collided with an iceberg; as water began to fill compartments in the front of the ship, some of the passengers were able to board lifeboats (with a "women and children first" policy), but many passengers were left on the deck; when the ship broke in half and began to tilt, ever increasingly into a vertical position before plunging downward, a number of passengers plummeted to their deaths in the Atlantic; a large number of survivors froze in the frigid waters or drowned in the flooded ship, creating a frozen corpse field
• various other victims calmly awaited their fate (e.g., an elderly couple embraced in bed)
• in a tear-jerking farewell scene, as Rose and Jack struggled to stay together, Jack slowly froze to death next to Rose and professed his love before slipping underwater

• in a final flashback, the elderly Old Rose agreed that there were no records of Jack's existence, but that she still treasured her memories - all that she had left of him:
  • "And I've never spoken of him until now. Not to anyone - (To Lizzy Calvert (Suzy Amis), her granddaughter) - Not even your grandfather. A woman's heart is a deep ocean of secrets. But now you know there was a man named Jack Dawson and that he saved me in every way that a person can be saved. I don't even have a picture of him. He exists now only in my memory"
• alone at night on the stern of the research vessel the Keldysh, Rose (was she either asleep or dead in her bed - was it a dream?) decided to part with her priceless "Heart of the Ocean" blue diamond necklace in her possession; alone and barefoot, she climbed up on a deck railing of the stern of the Keldysh, and looked down at the necklace in her opening hand; she thought back to decades earlier when she found the necklace in her coat pocket; she threw it overboard to share it with her now-lost love Jack; she slightly smiled and breathed in deeply as it sank deep into the water - located over the wreck site

• in the final dream sequence, the young Rose imagined herself meeting - and kissing Jack at the top of the elegant Grand Staircase surrounded by an applauding audience of all those who died on the ship -- together forever