@@weirdshibainu I think she did mean it. I think she felt sorry for him that he couldn't see it because in truth he was far likelier to be remembered than her. She writes about the cinema. He *is* cinema. Ernest Becker talks about the will to heroism, this innate human drive to perform deeds of heroism for which we will be remembered -- a form of immortality. Soldiering is a literal example. No Marine ever truly dies so long as the Corps endures -- like that. Conrad played hero on the screen. His feats of "heroism" would always outlive him whether he died then or decades later. Conrad's tragedy is that he put his fidelity to the cinema above anyone who might have loved or cared for him regardless, only to be cast aside like an aged mistress for newer, younger emergent heroes. He was genuinely grateful for her candor and her prompt return to her work was not an indication of insincerity. They both know: The show must go on.
@@gdiwolverinemale4th Truth is irrelevant here. What she said mattered to Conrad. It doesn't have to matter to us as the viewers, nor do we have to believe it. The sentiment is what Conrad is grateful for. Even if he thinks she's bullshitting, the fact that she even took the time is, for him, a gesture of kindness. It may have even had the unintentional effect of helping him make a decision about whether or not to go on living since, per her words, he would never die in the figurative sense -- being lost in time, forgotten -- so long as his movies were preserved for future generations.
@@leviathanmg I agree with you on that one. I think this conversation was a big part of Jack making the decision he made. She told him the truth, as she saw it; that his career is dead, that NOTHING he does in the here and now will change that. That the machine will forget him and move on with nary a backward glance... And that his films will let him live forever... Why stick around to endure coming lean times, when he can trade it in for his pending immortality in the hearts & minds of his audience?
Though nothing can bring back the hour Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower, We will grieve not, rather find Strength in what remains behind
I love how she doesn’t pause for an instant before getting on with her ‘deadline’… He is gone, the conversation is over but the maw of the machine demands to be fed…. What a movie, don’t care if it’s a commercial success or failure, it’s a privilege to have seen it… all hail to the talents that made it…
In all honesty he was a new name to me… not on my radar till I saw Babylon … nearly didn’t go… my girlfriend said ‘sounds horrible, it’s got an elephant pooing in it!’ But that wasn’t nearly as disturbing as the visit to the underworld to see The Mouse (rat) and the Marvel, that was scary….
I can't see professions and the arts disappearing in all forms so the things expressed here, jobs with shelf lives, famous people facing irrelevancy, people being unable to deal with the reality of their own status, people being delusional/being wrapped up in their own hype will be happening to humans for at the very least decades to come.
Best scene in my opinion was when Manny tried to convince Sidney the trumpet player to color his face. The humiliation and anger expressed by the actor playing Sidney was unforgetably painful.
@@eliasm907 It explores it just fine. The scene says there isn’t a boundary Manny won’t cross for his success and for Nellie. We get a taste of how people of color were treated, even if they were important, how talent was manipulated by higher ups. I think it’s refreshing for Sidney, a character who like the others was chasing success, to conclude with him walking away from it all. Besides Faye (who never really got in IN) he might have been the guy who ended up the best.
@@eliasm907 The film doesn't stop to write an essay on any one thing, but it says a lot on many things by assembling a composite. That particular sequence becomes really interesting as you see the studio pitting minorities against each other to do the work of their oppressors. Manny isn't White (by American standards) and people let him know it. By rights he should be pissed and siding with Sidney. But that discrimination and the looming threat of the poverty he escaped makes him unwilling to jeopardize his currently lucrative position. So he becomes an agent of the very system that holds him back, acting as the stooge of the studio against Lady Fay, Sidney, and Nellie. That's definitely exploring the issue. I would have liked more of Sidney's pov on it, but to be honest I would have liked more of a lot from this movie. But it's already really long lol.
And the scene where Sydney played the music while in blackface was INCREDIBLE. The acting, the cinematography, the direction, and the MUSIC ITSELF was peak during that scene
This was a great scene watching it in the theater. Fame only lasts so long. It’s like a drug. You either get a good high or bad high out of it depending how you handle it. She wasn’t a good person but she did tell him the real truth and he couldn’t handle that.
@@CodyFairlessLeebecause she is a scavenger, she admited it. She can never be as great as actors such as Conrad, so she do the next best thing, feeding off their fame. But in the end she have no hostility toward him, because she understand how things is instead of clinging on the golden days like he did.
The monologue is perfect. The way he walks away and pauses, like he knows he wants to say it, but it’s such an extreme emotional flip from how he felt walking in. But he says it, “thank you for that” without even looking or putting any energy into it. He knows that she’s right and he can barely stand it. But so many others would’ve probably lied to him to make him feel better. But she didn’t. He walks away, still feeling defeated but at least enlightened. And she doesn’t pay any mind at all. Back to the deadline so she can remain relevant while she can, because she knows that unlike him, this is all she’ll ever have.
What's so good about this scene is that it's applicable to anyone who takes their job or career seriously, has sacrificed, put in the work, provided solutions, moved forward and survived the politics of their field. To have that sudden pit open in your stomach when you realize that your time has passed leaves one wobbly and alone. Life beats us up , then leaves us behind.
I do not believe actors are as stupid as portrayed here unless they are pathological narcissists. Intelligent people understand the realities of the situation. Many are very rich, so they have good reasons to think they are above the rest
I found it touching. You live forever through your films. In the future, students will still be studying the likes of Kubrick and many others, even now I sometimes feel that whenever I watch those super old films like The Birth of a Nation or any of Oscar Micheauxs work on youtube...everyone who ever had a touch on those productions is dead but here we are amazingly watching it on our computer or mobile screens. They're alive again in a way.
I watched this movie twice. Loved it both times. First time I watched it, the euphoria of the beginning was my favorite part, and what left a stronger impact on me after. Second time, it was moments like these in the finale, that hit me there hardest. Such a phenomenal movie. Gotta rewatch it periodically.
Babylon is a true view into cinema and past actors. And this is the best scene in the entire movie. Cinema involves, even Brad Pitt will be forgotten in the next decades, as many others. New actors will rise, cinema will change again. But through those movies they left us behind they'll always remain in our memories and hearts. No one is eternal. But actors, painters, singers live forever through their art.
This is definitely the turning point for me at least where I began to be interested, I had lost interest long before this scene, but right around this point in the film it picked up and I actually enjoyed it a lot. Best film I’ve seen in years.
The entire film given time will be seen as a classic. Movie history is crammed full of box office bombs that in hindsight are seen for the magic they each portray. Babylon will join them. Truly moving film capturing a time of huge change in an industry that now nearly a century later is barely clinging on.... cannot praise this 3 hour masterwork to highly in my opinion.
This scene belongs to great actors like Marlon Brando, James Dean, River Phoenix and so on. A passionate actor hidden within a child, born today or tomorrow, will look up to these among many, many others to come. They will fulfill that destiny until they themselves become that mold. It belongs to them, truly.
When you think about it, there's more honor and a legacy in accomplishing something to the heights of Jack Conrad. Unlike people like Elinor who is literally one of many many people who write the smut that she does because she wants to touch that spotlight, or even be in the slightest vicinity of it to feel like they are just as important as the stars they gossip about. There's been lots of actors who were in dry spells like Jack Conrad, only to later emerge better than ever. Rather to submit to defeat as Elinor convinced and manipulated Jack into doing, he should've focused on his craft and then get back into acting or who knows, try something different. Life is about doing what you can with the time you're given - it's a shame Jack decided to cut his short because of the poison and snakes he was surrounded by.
What is even more said is that most of the silent films from that era are lost or destroyed, so there is a good chance no one would have remembered Jack or even Nellie.
The tabloid lady is like some fortune teller they manipulate reality but many are entertained by that the way others are entertained by the genuine stars and she gave him a pleasant prediction for his afterlife which he seemed to appreciate.
Born , raise to the spolight , fame fade away , be remember by later generations. it is called "Cycle of Life" art always larger than artist , style always longer than fashion , love always deeper than sex this scene very connect and real
i feel she's responsible for his death, just based on this conversation. He could have continued to live a 'normal' life... like many actors do. Very dramatic.
That was real. Just a few made true the transition. It was like radio to TV or TV to movies or radio 📻 to video clip. So many said the same words" this is temporary, won't last " and it did but they didn't
This is a nice existential line. The essence of the thing you do is bigger than you and the universe is immaculately bigger than that. Human civilization could disappear and the universe could care less about "cinema" let alone a Jack Conrad or any celebrity. And even if there was some sizable significance, it'll have to age and die while seeing multitudes of generation show what you thought was original and everlasting was just another repeat in an endless cycle. Ultimately nothing matters. Jesus doesn't matter. He's just another iteration of the archetype of the mortal-god incarnation in myth. It was appropriate for Conrad to die. He was the most convinced of his existential importance. The drop down to reality of existence was more harrowing than for normal folk.
I wonder if anybody caught the meta- textual narrative of her message. Brad Pitt is jack conroy! He thought that the house (Hollywood) needed him, being a 90’s Herculean heartthrob and an s-tier a-lister throughout the past 3 decades. However, moving into the 2020’s as his looks slowly begin to fade and new blue chip prospects are burgeoning into the Hollywood scene looking to carve a new for themselves, Pitt’s overall star power/ mainstream appeal is waning as he is fading into obscurity. Myself (being the child mentioned in this clip, will always hold a special place for Brad Pitt in his heart, having lived vicariously through his on-screen experiences throughout my adolescent/ teenage years! Perchance, I may be sitting where he is sitting having the same exact talk with her in 20 years?
Not exactly. Bras Pitt adopted himself into new Era of filmmaking and won best actor award very recently. Jack Conrad was immune to the change and couldn't adapt himself, he left his wife who tried to teach him new nuances in acting from theatre but he rejected it. There is somewhat similar premise in once upon a time in Hollywood with one important difference, though there is a rough patch of transition from previous era for artists, they will get through if they have an open mind like the gates opened in OUTIH. In Babylon, it was outright pessimistic, the filmmaker took the rise and fall skeleton of boogie nights which didn't work in this premise (At least not for me). I think that is one of the reasons why this movie had such polarization among the viewers, or else the movie was not that bad.
90 per cent of all films silent and otherwise before the 1950s have been lost. Easy to believe that most of Jack Conrad’s films could have been lost forever.
Thank God they changed him from John Gilbert because if you apply this scene to Johns name it is untrue and cruel. John Gilbert is still a king, a triumphant figure of the silent era and early talkies. Man is this scene depressing when applied to history
He died at 39 of alcoholism and depression, and hated the talkie roles he was given and was ridiculed for the love scene in real life as shown in the film.... It's historically accurate.
Hollywood aggrandizing itself. No, you will not be remembered for what you were, but for the roles you played. Intelligent people can differentiate between art and reality
100 years from now when some jagoff at a stop light feeds a thread through a youtube video when he should be watching the fucking light...youll be alive again!
So she’s pretty much comparing him to a dinosaur…something that can’t adapt. I don’t buy it. He could have. Humans were made with the natural instinct to adapt and survive. It can be dangerous to accept someone else’s opinion of you. Charlie Chaplin was a perfect example of moving from silent to talkies and was good. Critics are harsh and at the same time they are not in the arena. I wish they gave jack more of a fight before he made his decision
Thats funny, cause i remember watching this in the cinema and think "this is just too much and way to selfindulgent", but watching it again i appreciate the visiual cues in their conversation, but i still cant help but think the point is being shoved down our throat
the dialogoue sounds 1984 orwellian except every new star is different just go through the history of afi greatest actors and each actor means something different.
It's funny that this movie bombed cause they didn't know how to market it other than show random action scenes that hurt the eye and Margit Robbie overacting
Doesn't matter, a masterfully delivered brilliantly written monologue, this is the best possible way for the Conrad character's demise to be explained. Long enough to be profound and padded out enough to make anybody who is too wrapped up in themselves to question some serious things in their life.
this is the only good scene with the great actress Jean Smart , the rest is BOMBASTIC VOMIT THAT'S SO NOT A FELLINI ! ELEPHANT CRAP THAT COST $110 mill and grossed $63 mill. Not a tribute to cinema or a cautionary tale or historically accurate or anything just complete GARBAGE ! I can only guess how much they paid a stellar cast and how no one read the probably non exsistent screenplay. I have no axe to grind, I liked La La Land and some of his other films. Maybe it was the drugs ? Go watch Sunset Boulvevard (Billy Wilder) 8 1/2 (Fredrico Fellini), Metropolis (Fritz Lang), Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin), Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges), LA Confidential (Curtis Hanson), to get a much better feel about movie making and Hollywood
Yeah, didn’t really get any magic, charisma, or anything coming off the screen with that. Curtis and Lancaster would have scraped that scene off their shoe in The Sweet Smell of Success.
@@Skoora Haven’t seen this film but I don’t think it was supposed to be magical or charismatic, but rather just Jean Smart stating the obvious about Hollywood. I suppose Brad Pitt’s character needed to learn the truth.
Yes, it basically sums up the entire point of the movie. Hollywood is a beast that swallows you whole and shits you out the other end eventually, no matter how good or iconic you are you will always fall from grace, there are TONS of real world examples of this.