Shopping bag, unit „A“, parabolic, unit „B“, City of Paris, unit „C“
[distortion, applause]
[Ann] It´s my secret.
[indistinct]
[Mark] Later in the week. Sunday maybe.
[Ann] Sunday definitely.
[muffled voices, rewind]
[Ann] Sunday definitely.
[Mark] Jack Tar Hotel. 3:00. Room 773.
[wind]
[Ann] A lot of fun you are.
[Mark] Does ist bother you?
[Ann] What?
[Mark] Walking around in circles.
[Bongos playing, tape rewinds, bongos filtered, distorted speech]
[Ann] The man with the shopping bag and the hearing aid, like Charles. He´s been following us.
[conversation continues indistinct]
[Ann] Pretend like I told you a joke.
[Mark laughing]
Francis Ford Coppola: The Conversation, 1974
With an audio commentary by the filmmaker himself spoken several decades after the film´s release (another time-shift). The possibilities of audio-surveillance in its early days – the script was written in the mid 60s – examined by the method of repetition, filtering disturbing sounds, winding and rewinding tapes of three recordings. Coppola´s connecting factors were not only Antonioni´s movie Blow up, but also Hermann Hesse´s novel Steppenwolf. Harry, the eavesdropper, wears a transparent rain coat (plastic becomes a motive) and, as kind of freelance musician, the stub for his saxophone is hanging around his neck all the time. So, you can expect some good old jazz music, too. In the Close-up, Coppola says, the film was a struggle, and they all were trying to tame it. „A struggle, always on the brink of failure. I have learned in the past, that these struggles usually bring about the best results.“
[crew chattering, cut]
