Relationships between Shots: Breakfast at Tiffany's

The scene I decided to analyze is from one of my favorite movies Breakfast at Tiffany's which is based on Truman Capote's novel and is directed by Blake Edwards. In this final scene the crucial parts of plot line concluded, which are in turn affected by how the scenes and editing is established.  The part of the scene that I chose begins with the two main actors/characters, Holly Golightly and Paul Varjak, having a conversation in a taxi cab. On the right Paul looks toward Holly and when the camera cuts to Holly she responds to him, yet she is facing away from him towards the window which creates an interesting dynamic. The cuts that happen from now on within the taxi are continuity editing, which smoothes over the cuts, rather than montage editing, that mainly shows a long passage of time within a short time frame. The cuts of conversation the two main characters have follow the 180 rule that allows the audience to look at this scene knowing the actors are facing each other before they get a wider scene that proves the actors are in fact right beside each other. When the wide shot is finally revealed we can see another person within the cab, the cab driver, as well as the two characters in the back. The scene is very aesthetically pleasing and includes diegetic sounds like, for example, the sound of slamming when Holly closes the car door or the sound of the rain when Holly and Paul talk, with the rain falling down the window behind them. Fast-forward a little into the scene when Holly decides to follow Paul and look for her cat there is a slight hint at an eyeline match when she cannot find the cat and looks towards Paul who is a little bit farther away from her. There is another eyeline match when Holly holds the cat and Paul looks toward her and she looks right back at him before there is a wide shot of the both of them leaning in for a kiss. This scene follows the rules of continuity editing. Overall this whole ending scene is organized in such a way where there is a final conflict, an ultimatum and then a solution at the very end that is beautifully shot, with great composition (the actors almost always being in line with the rule of thirds) and great color.