Suggestive Blocking in GASLIGHT (1944)
This 90 seconds from 1944’s Gaslight has everything — Angela Lansbury in her screen debut, angles to highlight power dynamics, highly suggestive blocking to insinuate Gregory (Charles Boyer) is schtupping Nancy the maid (Lansbury).
Watch and let’s break it down!
Power Dynamics
The scene begins with Gregory and Paula (Ingrid Bergman) in the sitting room; Gregory stands and moves as Nancy knocks and enters; immediately the camera is looking up at her in a single, and up at Gregory and Paula in a two-shot, but while Nancy is centred and the main character in her frame, Paula is small, off to the bottom right, and dominated by Gregory in their shot. It’s not just that Gregory and Nancy are standing as Paula sits, the camera looking up at them puts us in Paula’s shoes; looking up at two tormentors, feeling small.
In an attempt to avoid this feeling (and having to confront Nancy), Paula tells Nancy to put more coal on the fire. In the resulting 3-shot, Nancy literally comes between Gregory and Paula, the latter who is steadfastly facing away, so we can see her reactions to what is about to happen . . .
Sexual Suggestion
‘What’s about to happen’ is a wonderfully brazen bit of blocking, where Nancy does a bit of business with the coals, kneeling and leaning back and forth to suggest sexual acts the film couldn’t even name, let alone show, in the Hays Code era.
It switches to a two-shot as Nancy, um, finishes, then stands to light Gregory’s [implied post-coital] cigarette.
With Gregory and Nancy together, Paula is shown in her own frame; knowing, but refusing to look directly at, what is happening.
Re-Orienting
Nancy and Gregory re-orient around Paula in a new three-shot, where each feel like a devil on Paula’s shoulder. Though Gregory and Nancy are the only two who speak, the focus holds on Paula’s reaction; her emotions to their conversation is what’s important.
We get one quick shot of Gregory alone on the couch, his eyes flitting to Paula, before the final medium-wide — as Nancy closes the door, we see the light on the wall shut out, which in addition to the sound design shows how Paula feels, trapped in an ever-darkening prison of Gregory and Nancy’s making.
Takeaways
It’s not necessary for the audience to pick up on all the sexual implications, devils-on-shoulder insinuations, angles-as-indicative-of-power-plays, or everything else going on in this scene, for everything to work — the dialogue, acting, and shifty eyes say plenty.
But the specific, suggestive blocking adds so much to the scene, that even if you can’t put your finger on everything it’s doing, the vibes it give underline the words and emotions of the characters, creating a holistic, effective scene which explains why this film is a timeless classic.