Once Upon a Time in America

Directed by Sergio LeoneReleased May 1984 at the Cannes Film Festival

By Lucy Grubb

Genre conventions within mise-en-scene: Location

I will be focusing on two generic locations in the film in order to indicate the credentials although there are many more locations such as dark streets and alleyways that I could have chosen.

The first location I have chosen to look at is the use of elevators; traditionally used in 1920s thriller films because of their slow and eerie mechanical movement up and down the lift shaft. They are often used to build tension or anticipation with a fear of not knowing who will be walking out of the doors. From the screenshot you can see a worm’s eye view of the elevator descending which creates a panicked sense of claustrophobia. Leone also uses a high angle shot of the elevator emphasising its imposing importance and dominance over the scene and characters within it. Another well known thriller film that includes the use of an elevator is “The Silence of the Lambs”. (1991)

I have also chosen to look at Eve’s apartment, the established femme fetale in the film. At first, the audience sees a dark, poorly lit room casting shadows. These shadows allow the ‘cop’ characters to appear from the darkness, surprising Eve and the audience. Ironically, we feel that Eve should feel her most comfortable in her flat but she is at her most vulnerable when the cops come after her. She has no where to escape and feels trapped in her own home.

Archetypes

The traditional femme fetale, featured in most thriller films, is the character of ‘Eve’. The name ‘Eve’ has many connotations with the Bible and the characters of Adam and Eve, which contradicts the femme fetale characteristics implying that Eve is a deviant gangster's girlfriend. The femme fetale almost always gets killed off once she has fulfilled her role in the film, and Eve gets shot dead in the opening scene. This suggests that the stereotypical femme fetale character is weak and too vulnerable to defend herself or be involved any further in the film.

Her clothing is also very important; even though the pearl necklace signifies wealth it also symbolises tears, a sign of foreshadowing bad things to come.

Another generic archetype Leone uses is through the character of Noodles who represents the ambiguous anti-hero. Heroes are often established for their noble qualities, for example James Bond, but an anti-hero lacks these conventional heroic attributes. We are first introduced to Noodles, our leading character, in an illegal opium den; showing his fearless nature and anti-hero stereotype of being dangerous and intriguing. Leone uses many low angle shots to portray Noodles’ dominance and authority as a character, building his anti-hero archetype.

Film Noir

Film Noir is a style mainly applied to thriller films in order to portray a mood of pessimism or menace. In the opening of the film when we are first introduced to Eve, Leone uses chiaroscuro lighting to enhance the dramatic effect of black and white contrast. The femme fetale is introduced with only half of her face visible, the other half masked by the shadows. This shows the audience that she is a character of mystery and deviance, and we can see that she is wearing red lipstick and pearls around her neck. The red lipstick connotes her desirable and seductive personality and the pearls symbolise tears – foreshadowing that something bad is about to happen.

Sound

“God bless America” written by Irving Berlin creates the non diegetic sound in the opening title and is briefly played at the end of the film. Leone used such a patriotic song on purpose to create a sense of irony – the song connotes peace for the nation yet Eve gets murdered in the first scene. Leone wanted to portray the corruption involved in the law enforcement of America and to make the audience aware of this.

Another sense of irony was created through the fact that Berlin was Jewish, and in ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ the police are hunting down the Jewish gang to kill them.

A sound bridge is created between the opening title and the beginning of the opening scene which is used to link the scenes together and to leave the audience waiting in anticipation for the next scene.

Gender

I believe the main female archetype, Eve, is portrayed as a very weak and powerless character and this is reinforced when she is killed within the first scene. This portrays Eve in a negative light, and shows the dominance of the male characters gaining authority over her. I believe Eve’s character is also objectified by the male characters and is seen merely as something to be looked at – similar to a prop on the set.

As you can see in the screenshot, Eve’s costume is a very similar colour to the lamp showing that Eve is perhaps represented by this prop. After she is killed, one of the policemen turns the light off, connoting that Eve has died and her light has been burnt out.