| Découpage |
| In the following pages I will analyse the sequence of the killing of Sara and Carlo. The beginning of this sequence, from a narrative point of view, is previous to the point in which the analysis begins (it could be when Sara arrives by taxi in front of her house). It has been chosen, instead, as the first shot the master of the hallway of Sara's flat, the location in which all the rest of the sequence is set. Note. A.S. = American Shot (all the human figure, from the head to the knees); W.F. = Whole Figure (from the head to the feet); M.S. = Medium Shot (the human figure occupies about 1/3 or 2/3 of the screen); L.S. = Long Shot (the human figures almost disappear in the ambient); C.U. = Close Up; V.C.U. = Very Close Up; TOT = Total (a shot embracing the place of the action and the characters). |
| Shot | Visual Track | Soundtrack | |||||
| No. | Length | Camera movements Characters' movements Elements on the scene Notes on the lighting | Dialogue (voices) | Noises | Music | ||
| 01 | 1 | M.S., fixed, horizontal | Hallway of Sara’s flat, with red light, and a part of the living room, with blue light. | / | / | / | |
| 02 | 7" | H.F., l-r trav. Ending with a short forward trav., horizontal | Living room; Sara enters first, from the left, then the camera follows Carlo, entering after and going to the couch. | Carlo: “What do you do, Sara? Do you study or work?” Sara (o.s.): “I study music” | Steps | / | |
| 03 | 3" | M.F., fixed, horizontal | Sara, giving her back to the camera, going to the turntable. | Sara: “And what do you do?” Carlo (o.s.): “I’m a journalist” | Steps | / | |
| 04 | 1" | A.P., fixed, horizontal | Carlo, standing in front of the couch, talking to Sara, off screen, at his left. | Carlo: “Television sport reports” | / | / | |
| 05 | 3" | A.P., fixed, horizontal | Sara is bent towards the turntable, then, when she talks, turns to Carlo, off screen, at her left. | Sara: “Can I ask you something weird?” | / | / | |
| 06 | 2" | Like 04 | Like 04 | Carlo: “How weird?” | / | / | |
| 07 | 3" | Like 05 | Sara talks to Carlo, o.s., turned to her left. | Sara: “Have you ever heard about the three sisters?” | / | / | |
| 08 | 2" | Like 04 | Like 04 | Carlo: “You mean those black singers?” Sara (o.s.): “No…” | / | / | |
| 09 | 4" | Like 07 | Like 07 | Sara: “I mean that ancient myth, the Triad” Carlo: “No, wait…” | / | / | |
| 10 | 3" | Like 04 | Like 04 | Carlo: “… if you’re talking of ghosts or stuff, I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in those things” | / | / | |
| 11 | 3" | Like 07 | Like 07, then Sara bends towards the turntable behind her. | Sara: “How can you be so sure?” Carlo (o.s.): “I don’t believe in them, I don’t and that’s all” | / | / | |
| 12 | 3" | Like 07 | Like 04 | Carlo: "Without any philosophical arguing" | / | / | |
| 13 | 2" | Like 07 | Sara stays up for a second to talk with Carlo, then she bends down picking the turntable's arm. | Sara: "So, what do you believe in?" | / | / | |
| 14 | 5" | Like 04 | Carlo stands, then, after he speaks, sits on the couch. | Carlo: "In everything I can see… and touch (little laugh)" | Noise of Carlo sitting on the couch | / | |
| 15 | 34" | A.P., fixed, then short pan to the left, horiz.; at the end we have a H.F. | Like 07: Sara looks at Carlo (o.s.), then turns to the turntable and put the arm on the record. When the music begins she stands up and goes a bit forward, talking to Carlo (o.s.) at her left. When she finishes to talk, bends her head downward to her left and then turns it slowly till she sees upward to her right. | Sara: "You probably know this music: it is Verdi's Va' pensiero". | Steps | Verdi's Va' pensiero begins (intradiegetic music), that will last till the end of the sequence | |
| 16 | 5" | Master, fixed, slightly from below | The window of the living room, with the full moon covered by the clouds. | / | / | First strings forte | |
| 17 | 5" | Like 16 | A part of the window, the sky and the moon, without clouds.. | / | / | Second strings forte | |
| 18 | 5" | Like 16 | Only the moon. | / | / | Third strings forte | |
| 19 | 16" | H.F., short pan left-right, then forward zoom to a C.U., horizontal | Sara enters from the left, then sits on the bed in her room, takes the telephone and dials a number; then she takes the letter (not seen) from behind her back. | Sara (at the phone): "Is it you, Mark? Here I have your sister's letter you forgot in the academy" | Noise of Sara sitting on her bed; noise of free line of the phone; noise of the dial; rustle of the letter. | The Va' pensiero continues, some measures before the entrance of the choir | |
| 20 | 2" | M.S., fixed, horizontal | Between Sara’s bedroom opened door and part of the wall it is visible the living room: Carlo is on a couch, skimming through a newspaper: at the end he turns to the camera. | Sara (at the phone, o.s.): “Listen, have you read it?” | / | Enters the choir of Va’ pensiero. | |
| 21 | 5" | Like 19 | Sara on her bed, talking at the phone. | Sara (at the phone): “You must read it, it’s important! Come here now, please. I need to speak with you!” | / | The choir continues | |
| 22 | 9" | Detail, fixed, slightly from above | A pair of black gloved hand pull a row of little black paper men, then, starts to cut the head of one of them using a pair of scissors. | / | / | Like 21 | |
| 23 | 2" | Detail, forward zoom, slightly from above | A lizard that keeps in its mouth a white butterfly, still moving. | / | / | Like 21 | |
| 24 | 1" | Like 22 | The gloved hands cut the second paper head. | / | / | Like 21 | |
| 25 | 2" | A.P., slight forward zoom, from above | A hanged woman violently swings, with her eyes and mouth open. | / | / | Like 21 | |
| 26 | 1" | Like 22 | The gloved hands cut the last two paper heads. | / | / | Like 21 | |
| 27 | 3" | Master, forward zoom, horizontal | Sara’s building, taken from outside, then the central window. | / | / | Like 21 | |
| 28 | 5" | H.F., fixed, horizontal | Sara listens to the music sitting on her bed. The light goes away (blue lighting) and the music stops: Sara looks to her left, then to the right, to the lamp. Finally the light and the music are back on. | / | / | The choir continues: when the light goes away, the music stops. | |
| 29 | 1" | Detail., fixed, horizontal | The lights goes away in the hallway. | / | / | / | |
| 30 | 2" | Like 01 | as 29; light. as 28; | / | / | as 28 | |
| 31 | 3" | C.U., fixed, horizontal | Carlo, sitting in the dark, slowly turns to the camera. | / | / | / | |
| 32 | 2" | Detail., fixed, horizontal | The lamp turns on, then off, then on again. | / | / | Like 28 | |
| 33 | 3" | Like 28 | Sara sits on her bed: the light and the music turn on and off for three times. Then she speaks to Carlo, o.s., to her left. | Sara: “What’s happening?” | / | Like 28 | |
| 34 | 2" | Like 20 | Between the bedroom door and the wall it is visible the living room and Carlo sitting on the couch. The lights turn on. | Carlo: “I don’t know. Maybe a loss…” | / | Like 28 | |
| 35 | 5" | Like 28 | Sara is sitting on her bed, looking to the right and the left. The light goes away and she screams, to her left, towards Carlo, o.s. | Carlo (o.s.): “…of tension” Sara: “Carlo!” Carlo (o.s.): “Yes” | / | Like 28 | |
| 36 | 3" | H.F., fixed, horizontal | Sara sits on her bed: the light and the music turn on and off for three times. Then she speaks to Carlo, o.s., to her left. | Sara: “What’s happening?” | / | Like 28 | |
| 37 | 3" | Like 28 | The lights are on again: Sara is sitting on her bed, talking to her left. Then the lights go away another time. | Sara: “It’s in the cellar, over there, at the end of the hallway…” | / | Like 28 | |
| 38 | 12" | Like 36; then short dolly upward, lateral trav. left-right, and following trav. | Carlo is sitting on the couch, in the dark; then he stands up, the light and the music come back and he goes from the coach to the hallway at his left. Then again the lights go away. | Sara (o.s.): “…but please, don’t go there!” Carlo: “Don’t worry, I just want to check the switches” Sara (o.s.): “Ok, but keep talking to me, let me always know where you are!” Carlo: “All right” | Steps | Like 28 | |
| 39 | 15" | TOT, forward trav., horizontal | Subjective of Carlo, who goes on through the hallway, in the darkness. | / | / | / | |
| 40 | 5" | Like 28 | Sara is sitting on her bed, in the darkness. | Sara (panting): “Carlo? Carlo, where are you?” | / | / | |
| 41 | 2" | Master, fixed, horizontal | The dark hallway. | Carlo (o.s.): “In the cellar, I’ve found the switches” | / | / | |
| 42 | 5" | Like 28, then short upward dolly. | Sara is sitting on her bed; then she stands up and goes leftward off screen | Sara: “Wait, I’m coming, I’m frightened” | Steps | / | |
| 43 | 2" | A.P., pan right-left, horizontal | Sara strides through the living room and hits something that falls on the floor breaking in pieces. She turns to see what happened. | Sara: “Ah!” | Steps; noise of broken glasses | / | |
| 44 | 1" | Detail., fixed, from above | Pieces of glass on the carpet. | / | / | / | |
| 45 | 1" | Detail., fixed, from above | Pieces of glass on the carpet. | / | / | / | |
| 46 | 9" | M.F., following hand camera, horizontal | Sara rapidly walks through the hallway, which initially is in the darkness, heading to the door at the end of it. She often looks back. The light and the music come and go for three times. At the end, with both the light and the music on, Sara enters the cellar door. | Sara: “Carlo? My God, Carlo? Carlo, what’s happening?” Carlo (o.s.): “Nothing, I guess I’ve fixed it” | Steps | Like 28 | |
| 47 | 5" | M.F., preceding hand camera, slightly from above | Sara goes through the door and makes some step, looking inside the dark cellar with a worried expression. | Carlo (o.s.): “You see?” | / | The choir of Va’ pensiero continues | |
| 48 | 3" | C.U., fixed, horizontal | Carlo pops out from the left: he kneels down, with a knife in his neck. | / | / | Like 47 | |
| 49 | 1" | H.F., fixed, horizontal | Sara looks at Carlo with horror. | / | / | Like 47 | |
| 50 | 4" | C.U., very short forward trav. , horizontal | Carlo opens his mouth: a rill of blood comes out. Then he bends forward, to the camera. | / | Sara’s screams | Like 47 | |
| 51 | 2" | Like 49 | Carlo grips on Sara dragging her on the floor. | / | Sara’s screams | Like 47 | |
| 52 | 2" | C.U., fixed, from above | Sara tries to free form Carlo’s grip: his hands are on her shoulders. | / | Sara’s screams | Like 47 | |
| 53 | 1" | C.U., fixed, from below | Gushes of blood come out of Carlo’s mouth. | / | Sara’s screams and Carlo’s gurgling | Like 47 | |
| 54 | 1" | Like 52 | Like 52 | / | Like 53 | Like 47 | |
| 55 | 1" | Like 53 | Like 53 | / | Like 53 | Like 47 | |
| 56 | 4" | F.F., fixed, from above | Carlo is on Sara, who tries to escape. | / | Like 53 | Like 47 | |
| 57 | 1" |
C.U.,
fixed, horizontal | Carlo is agonising on Sara. | / | Like 53 | Like 47 | |
| 58 | 2" | C.U., fixed, slightly from above | Carlo’s hands, covered with blood, touch Sara’s face. | / | Like 53 | Like 47 | |
| 59 | 1" | Like 57 | Carlo is almost dying, and he looks up to his left. | / | Like 53 | Like 47 | |
| 60 | 1" | Like 58 | Sara keeps wriggling. | / | Sara’s screams | Like 47 | |
| 61 | 1" | Detail., fixed, horizontal | A gloved hand comes out from a curtain. | / | Like 60 | Like 47 | |
| 62 | 7" | Like 56 | Sara keeps wriggling, trying to turn and to get on her hands and knees twice. | / | Like 60 | Like 47 | |
| 63 | 1" | Like 57 | Carlo is agonising. | / | Like 60 | Like 47 | |
| 64 | 3" | C.U., fixed, slightly from above | Sara is free and she looks back. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 65 | 1" | C.U., fixed, horizontal | A black gloved hand takes the knife still thrust in Carlo’s neck. | / | Carlo’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 66 | 1" | Detail., fixed, horizontal | The hand abruptly extracts the knife and goes off screen on the right. | / | Carlo’s screams | Like 47 | |
| 67 | 1" | Detail., fixed, horizontal | The knife covered with blood enters the screen from the right. | / | / | Like 47 | |
| 68 | 1" | Like 66 | Carlo, with his mouth wide open, turns his glance up to his left. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 69 | 1" | Like 67 | The knife goes off screen to the right. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 70 | 1" | V.C.U., fixed, horiz. | Carlo is with his mouth open, turned to his left. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 71 | 2" | C.U., fixed, horizontal | Sara is seen on three-quarter, from behind. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 72 | 1" | C.U., hand camera with slight movement downward and leftward, from above | Carlo falls on the floor. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 73 | 1" |
| Sara hardly stands up: her face goes off screen to the left. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 74 | 1" | Detail., fixed, horizontal | Sara is almost standing up, when the knife enters the screen from the right and penetrates in the lower part of Sara’s back. This hit pushes Sara forward and her body goes off screen to the left. | / | Sara’s screams | Like 47 | |
| 75 | 2" | C.U., fixed, horizontal | Sara opens her mouth for the pain and bends forward, till she goes off screen down on the left. | / | Sara’s screams | Like 47 | |
| 76 | 12" | H.F., fixed, slightly from above | Sara, flat out, tries to extract the knife from her back, with no success. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 77 | 1" | C.U., fixed, slightly from above | Carlo is dead on the floor. | / | Sara’s groans | Like 47 | |
| 78 | 2" | Detail., fixed, horizontal | The gloved hand closes a door. | / | / | Like 47 | |
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