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Movie Review Paper: Scent of a Woman

Nate DeRuischer & Matt Guthrie
Interpersonal Communication
Dr. Vos
12/17/2013
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Scent of a Woman
At the beginning of the movie we are introduced to Charlie Simms, a student at a
prestigious prep school in New England called Baird School. Charlie is from Oregon, and
it is immediately obvious that he does not come from the same type of wealth and
affluence that his peers do. We see Charlie looking for work over Thanksgiving on the
school bulletin board, so that he can earn money to fly home for Christmas. Charlie
inquires about and accepts a job looking after a retired Army Ranger, Lieutenant Colonel
Frank Slade. Slade is a bad-tempered, argumentative, and uncooperative blind alcoholic.
Back at school, Charlie, along with his classmate George Willis Jr., witness
several students making preparations for a prank targeted at the schools headmaster, Mr.
Trask. After the pranks succeeds, Trask pressures Charlie and George to give up the
names of those responsible. After they stay silent, Trask tries to bribe Charlie with a letter
of recommendation that would virtually guarantee Charlies admittance into Harvard,
leaving Charlie conflicted.
Almost immediately when Charlie shows up for his job and the family of Frank
Slade has gone, Slade coerces Charlie into leaving with him on a trip to New York City.
After they fly in to New York, they arrive at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where Slade has
reserved a room. That evening, as they dine at the Oak Room Restaurant, Slade divulges
the purposes of the trip, which include eating a fine meal, being with a beautiful woman,
and finally, blow my brains out. Charlie is shocked by Slades intention to commit
suicide, and is unsure if he should take him seriously. Charlie tells Slade that he needs to
get back to school, but Slade tricks him into staying the night.
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The next morning, the pair heads off wearing new tailored suits and takes a limo
to Franks brothers house outside of the city, where they make an uninvited appearance
for Thanksgiving dinner. It is painfully obvious that Franks family is not fond of him, as
he provokes bitterness that leads to physical conflict. During dinner, we also learn how
Slade lost his sight, by juggling grenades.
While they return to New York, Charlie opens up to Frank about his troubles at
school. Frank advises Charlie to talk and go to Harvard, saying that George will likely be
pressured by his father to tell on his classmates. The pair then stops at a restaurant, where
Slade senses that Charlie is eyeing a young lady named Donna waiting for her date.
Despite his blindness, Slade leads Donna in an impressive tango on the dance floor. Later
that night, Slade hires a female escort.
The next morning, Slade is in visibly low spirits. Charlie suggests that they go for
a ride, which seems to cause Slade to pep up. We then see them in the showroom of a
Ferrari dealership, where Slade smooth talks the salesman into letting them test-drive a
car. Charlie lets Slade drive the car, guiding him by voice, as Slade speeds and swerves,
attracting the attention of a police officer. Slade manages again to smooth talk the cop,
without giving away the fact that he is blind.
When they return to the hotel, Slade sends Charlie out to run errands. Charlie
leaves, but quickly becomes suspicious, and returns to the room. There he finds Slade in
his military uniform, preparing to commit suicide with a gun. Charlie tries to grab the gun
from Slade, but he is overpowered, and Slade threatens to shoot Charlie before himself.
They have a tense argument and struggle for the gun, but eventually Charlie is able to
calm Slade, and Slade backs down.
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The two return to New England, where Charlie and George are forced to undergo
a formal inquiry by the student/faculty disciplinary committee in front of the entire
student body. As headmaster Trask begins, Slade unexpectedly enters and joins Charlie
for support on the stage of the auditorium. George, who is accompanied by his wealthy
and affluent father, divulges the names of the perpetrators, while reiterating that his
vision was blurry. When Trask presses George for more details, he defers to Charlie.
When Charlie refuses to give any information, Trask recommends his expulsion.
Upon hearing this, Slade launches into an impassioned speech defending Charlie
and commending his character, while questioning the institutions system of rewarding
those who inform on their classmates. He insists that Charlie not be expelled, given that
he displayed the integrity of a great leader, and promises that one day he will make Baird
proud. The committee convenes and decides that the 3 students named by George will be
placed on probation, that George will receive no recognition or commendation for his
testimony, and that Charlie will be excused from punishment and any further questioning
in the matter. The crowd erupts in applause.
As they exit and Charlie escorts Slade back to his limo, they are approached by a
political science teacher, Ms. Downes. There is a spark between Slade and Downes, and
romantic prospect is hinted at. Charlie takes Slade back home and they part ways. As
Charlie looks on from the limo, Slade walks towards the house and greets his nieces
small children happily.
Relationship Dimension is the implied aspect of a communicated message that
applies one members emotions, attitudes, power, and control. This message is usually
implied and not stated, it offers verbal cues for the message receiver to decode. This
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implied message sometimes can have different meanings for the sender and receiver
which often can result in confusion between the two.
Proxemics is how close or far someone positions themselves from someone or
some object. Intimate space, along with this idea of proxemics, is the interaction that
happens between zero and one and a half feet. Additionally, there is personal space that
consists of interactions from one and a half feet up to four feet. Beyond that point is
social space, which is defined as four feet to twelve feet apart. Finally there is public
space, which is twelve feet or more in distance.
Unilateral Dissolution is the idea of a relationship coming to an end because
one member of the relationship wants it to end. This is opposite to the idea of bilateral
dissolution where there is a common agreement by both members of the relationship for
the relationship to end. Relationships are more difficult to break off if one of the
members still wants to continue the relationship. If both people in the relationship want to
end it, then the ending of the relationship is usually not as difficult. The unilateral
dissolution is normally more difficult for both people.
The idea of proxemics is seen clearly in the relationship of Charlie and Colonel
Slade. When Charlie responds to the advert on the school bulletin board he finds himself
at the home of Karen Rossi who is the niece of Frank Slade. Karen and her husband have
a small house in their backyard where Frank lives. Mrs. Rossi tells Charlie that they are
taking a trip and that Charlie is to look after her uncle Frank. Without meeting Frank we
can see that his proxemics are far from the house. Charlie is told that he should go and
meet Colonel Slade. Charlie walks through the backyard, opens the door to the house and
walks in. Charlie timidly walks into the living room and sees Frank sitting on a chair
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across the room. Too afraid to come any closer Charlie positions himself across the room
from Frank and does not come any closer. Frank then commences in yelling at Charlie,
seemingly attempting to dissuade Charlie from taking on the job. After talking with
Frank, Charlie goes back to the house and talks with Mrs. Rossi. She convinces Charlie to
stay and look after Frank for the weekend. From the very beginning of Frank and
Charlie's relationship, close proxemics is not something that either of them want.
After the family leaves on their trip, Franks coerces Charlie into going on a trip
with him to New York. When they arrive at the airport Franks asks Charlie to show him
where their terminal is. Charlie grabs onto Franks arm in order to guide Frank where to
go. On the plane to New York we see the first time that Charlie and Frank are in a close
proxemics together. On the plane we can see that the two grow closer together as they are
forced to spend hours together in close quarters. We can see that both Charlie and Frank
are becoming slightly more comfortable with each other.
During the course of the movie we can see proxemics start to grow closer together
as the two become more dependent on each other. At the start of the trip we see that
Frank is not willing to let Charlie touch him at any time. As the movie goes on we can
see that Frank becomes dependent on Charlies lead and cannot function in a big city
without the help of Charlie.
One interesting scene that is directly involved with proxemics is when Frank
dances the tango with Donna at the restaurant. As he does throughout the movie, he
impresses this woman by naming the type of soap she uses, based only on her scent
(hence, Scent of a Woman). Given his blindness, Frank has a unique way of looking at
the world. Even though he cannot see, he can recognize and speak about a beautiful
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women nonetheless. Frank, in very close proxemics, leads Donna in a spectacular tango,
putting a smile on the face of Donna and Charlie. This scene not only gives the viewer a
window into Franks life before he was blind, but also shows us that Frank may still have
a soft side.
Additionally, we noticed that the tone and topic of Frank and Charlies
communication differed depending on the proxemics. When they were close together,
Frank would give advice to Charlie and Charlie would be assisting Frank. When they
were far apart, across the room from each other for example, the mood of their
communication was usually more hostile, with Frank barking orders or giving Charlie a
hard time, and Charlie being skeptical and even argumentative at times. Proxemics are
interesting in regards to Frank, because we see a juxtaposition between the distance that
Frank puts between himself and others emotionally, and the closeness that is both desired
and required for him to function as a blind man. In a way, the whole movie is a slow
journey of these two ideas coming together. The more time that Charlie and Frank spend
together in close physical proxemics, the closer they become to each other on a deeper
level.
Throughout Scent of a Woman there is plenty of interesting communication.
While the content of the communication tells us a lot about the characters, it is truly the
relationship dimensions that brings the characters to life, and gets to the heart of the
story. Relationship dimensions are the implied aspects of a relationship. From the
moment Charlie and Frank meet, it is implied that Frank is verbose and demanding, while
Charlie is timid and well mannered.
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Even though Charlie is uncomfortable with the whole situation, and desperately
wants to escape it and go back to school, part of him realizes that Frank needs him, both
for the basic limitations of blindness and for support in light of Franks desire to commit
suicide. What Charlie doesnt realize until later in the movie though, is that he needs
Frank. For most of the movie, Frank is seen as a burden. Hes a foul mouthed, crude,
alcoholic, unloving former military man who is blind. At Thanksgiving dinner, when
explaining how Frank lost his sight, Randy says, You wanna know the truth? He was an
asshole before. Now all he is, is a blind asshole. It here that we can see that there is
nothing particularly wrong with Charlie that causes friction in the relationship, but rather,
it is the personality of Frank that is the root of most of the problems. But it is these flaws
in Franks character that eventually sets up the scene of ultimate redemption at the end of
the movie.
Both Frank and Charlie fumble to help the other in the ways that they think they
should, ultimately resigning themselves to the realization that they need the other, and
that this need looks a bit different than they first thought. Frank thinks that he needs
Charlie to accompany him so that he can carry out his wishes for his last days. Charlie
resists the idea that he needs Frank, but recognizes that he needs this job to get home for
Christmas. When the job becomes more than he bargained for, he struggles internally
about whether or not he really cares about Frank. As they get to know each other, Frank
begins to divulge advice to Charlie about his situation at school. This action marks a
development in the relationship, where Frank realizes that he possesses something
(wisdom) that can help Charlie. In giving this advice, Frank helps to create a bond that in
the end saves his life.
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The power aspect of the relationship dynamic between the two is also interesting.
From the first time they meet, it is made clear that Frank will wear the pants in this
relationship. He is a hardened former Lieutenant Colonel, who is used to giving orders
and knows what he wants. Slade makes quick assumptions about the young Charlie, and
seems to enjoy giving him a hard time and keeping him on his toes. Frank is in charge
and, at times, even manipulative towards Charlie so that he can do what he pleases.
Charlie continually bows to the demands and wishes of Frank for most of the film. This
dynamic shifts, though, during the scene where Charlie returns early from errands and
finds Slade preparing to kill himself. Frank has given up on his life and has given up on
Charlies life, to the disagreement of Charlie. Frank says, Im gonna kill you Charlie,
because I cant stand the thought of you selling out! When Charlie gives an ultimatum
for Frank to put the gun down, Frank is caught off guard, and visibly offended. In
possibly the most important line of the movie, Frank says, All my life Ive stood up to
everyone and everything, because it made me feel important. You do it because you mean
it. It is here where Frank first vocalizes his belief that Charlie has integrity. Frank is
highly conflicted at this point, because his plan wasnt working out like he thought it
would. Instead, Charlie had made an impact on his heart, and through Charlies pleading
and innocence, Frank eventually backs down.
We find the term Unilateral Dissolution most clearly depicted in the
relationship between Charlie and Frank. At the the beginning of the movie when Charlie
first meets an old, grumpy, and down right mean old war veteran, Charlie wants to get
away from Frank. As the movie goes on, it is easy to see that Charlie does not want to be
around Frank. This is seen as unilateral dissolution. The fact that Charlie wants to end the
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relationship but Frank does not is a textbook example of this. Frank had a plan for the
two to travel to New York and experience what New York has to offer. The reason that
Charlie must go with Frank is to guide him around the city. Charlie does not want to go,
he would rather go back to school and deal with the problems that he has. Frank, on the
other hand, needs Charlie as a guide so that he can complete the plan that he has for their
trip to New York. As the movie progresses we see a shift in who wants the unilateral
dissolution. Soon we see that Charlie is beginning to enjoy the time that he spends with
Frank. He finds out about the plan that Frank has and soon realizes that he does not want
to end this friendship.
We find out when the two are in New York what Franks plan was in coming to
the city. It is explained in a scene where Frank tells Charlie that the reason for coming to
New York is to Eat a good meal, Stay the night with a wonderful woman, and then lay
on my bed and blow my brains out. Though he is at first unsure about Franks
seriousness, it becomes more and more clear through Franks behavior that he did indeed
plan to kill himself. This unilateral dissolution can be seen in the way that Frank wanted
to end the relationship by killing himself but Charlie was not willing to let that happen.
Charlie became dependent on the relationship that he shared with Frank. The conflict
resolves with Charlie saying that in order for Frank to end his life he would have to kill
both himself and Charlie. Even though he threatened to, Frank did not truly want to end
Charlies life, so he soon put the gun away. This event spurred on a new relationship
between the two that results in a new found friendship, one that was not previously there.
In several instances in the movie, Frank uses manipulation and deception to keep
Charlie by his side. Early on during their trip to New York, Charlie makes known his
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desire to leave and his discomfort with the situation is clear. When Charlie says that he
needs to get back on the first night, Frank tells him that he could leave on the bus at 9, but
that he should at least accompany him to a nice dinner. At the restaurant, Frank reveals
that he lied, and that the last bus left at 8. When Charlie wakes up the next morning,
Frank again convinces him to stay, this time to accompany him to his familys house for
Thanksgiving. On their way back to New York in the Limo, they have a bit of a relational
breakthrough as Frank senses that something feels heavy, and as Charlie opens up more
about his trouble at school, Frank assumes the role of mentor. Though Charlie remains
skeptical of Frank going forward, it is at this point where Charlie begins to feel a pull to
stay with Frank. Even though Frank was a bit manipulative to continue the relationship
for his selfish reasons, he nonetheless succeeds in preventing dissolution, and in turn
prepares the heart of Charlie for saving the life of Frank that he intended to end. In the
scene concerning the struggle with the gun, it is interesting to note that Charlie, after
attempting to beg Frank to stand down, uncharacteristically uses reverse psychology on
Frank, even using Franks usual foul language back to him. With a gun pointed to his
head, Charlie says, You wanna give up? Give up, cause Im giving up too. You said Im
through youre right I am through. Were both through. Its all over. So lets get on with
it! Lets f**kin do it! Lets f**kin pull the trigger, you miserable, blind motherf**ker!
It takes this action from Charlie for Frank to see a bit of the absurdity of his feelings and
actions. When Franks feelings and language are mirrored back to him, he is able to see
them in a different light. It is this scene where Frank becomes the one who desires
unilateral dissolution, and Charlie wants not only his life, but the relationship to continue.
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The creation, fall, and redemption theme can be clearly seen within the movie and
its content. With Charlie and Frank we can see that there is a trust that was built that took
time but, as it came into play, the creation of that trust and reliance on each other was
what kept each other on the right path. This relationship and trust is a picture of the trust
that we form with Christ in our walk with him. As we get to know Christ more, our
dependence and need for him deepens with our further knowledge of him. This is a great
picture of the struggle that we have at times with other people but also with Christ. Our
walk with Christ is strengthened immensely in further exploration of the relationship.
We can see the fall play out very clearly in the communication of Frank. It is easy
to see how his communication was fallen. We can see he could not communicate or act in
a civil way with people around him. He uses expletives in his language with Charlie. This
language creates barriers between Charlie and Frank, which does not allow the two to
communicate well. Charlie seems to be inferior to Frank partly due to the type of
language that Frank uses.
The fallen nature of humans can be seen in the relationship of George Jr. and
Charlie as well. George tries to make plans to cover up the prank that his friends did and
make Charlie go along with his plan. He makes Charlie believe that he would be doing
wrong if he told the headmaster of Baird about what happened. Later in the movie we see
that Franks view of what matters in life is severely fallen. We find out that Franks
reasoning behind coming to New York was to Have a good meal, spend a night with a
wonderful woman, and lay on my bed and blow my brains out. This phrase explains
Franks worldview very well. He thinks that now, because he has lost his sight, that he
cant find a woman to love hi, and that life is not worth living.
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It is easy to see Franks fallen state. It is also easy to see that Frank has placed
himself in that state of loneliness. Franks lack of healthy communication with others
drove himself to a place of depression and worthlessness. This movie does a great job of
depicting how it seems like Frank is all right with being alone, but as the movie goes on,
we see that this is not true. He longs for a woman who will just love him for who he
really is, but he does not feel like that is possible. His lack of healthy communication
does not enable him to make healthy relationships.
Redemption has some very powerful images in this movie. In the later parts of the
movie we come to a scene where Frank is ready to kill himself. Charlie walks into the
room where Frank is loading a gun and ready to kill himself. Frank talks about how there
is nothing left for him in this life and nowhere else to go. Not only does this scene show
the fallen nature of Frank but it also shows the redeeming qualities of Charlie. He could
have given up and let Frank do whatever he wanted but Charlie persisted and told Frank
that he would not let him kill himself. Frank even threatened to kill Charlie if he was
going to try and stand in the way. Charlie stood his ground until eventually Frank gave in
and did not kill either of them. This action by Charlie not only saved Franks life but it
also redeemed their friendship and Franks life. The scene seemed to be the turning point
in Frank's life. This Action in active pursuit of Franks life is an amazing picture of
Christs action in every Christians life. Christ not only redeems us from our sin but
actively pursues our life and does not let us fall away from Him. Without this active
pursuit we would not be following Christ. This scene portrays active pursuit in a vivid
way.
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We can see an action by Frank in the last few scenes that shows that he is
redeemed in his thinking. He goes to the Baird school where Charlie was to defend
himself with George Jr. George Jr.s father sits with him and helps George plead his case
in front of the school, but Charlies parents are from Oregon so they could not be there.
Frank takes the place of his father. This scene is a powerful picture of how Franks
motives and relationship with Charlie are now redeemed. Frank explains how Charlies
action in not telling who did the prank was actually the right thing. Frank also sticks up
for Charlies character and tells how it one that is right and not flawed. This scene is a
good illustration of when Christ comes into the lives of believers; we can see our hearts
start to become regenerated into something new. We can see Franks heart start to change.
It is also seen in the last scene of the movie where Frank goes home and starts to interact
with his family. We see that the relationships are starting become whole again. This
movie does a good job portraying the picture of the Creation, Fall, Redemption themes in
Grahams essay.