Cinematography technique · used in 11 films
Letting rain, storms, sunshine or changing scenery reflect what characters feel, often breaking at the story's peak. The environment says what the characters cannot.
Examples
John Huston · 1948
A hurricane is coming, and it keeps the guests, the family and the gang together in one building. When the storm passes, so does the stalemate, and the violence moves out to sea.
Where to see it: The storm night. The characters wait out the hurricane in the hotel while Rocco bullies Gaye.
David Lean · 1965
Winter takes over the film as the revolution and the war worsen. The ice at Varykino shows the cold the characters feel. The frozen house becomes a place where love and danger meet.
Where to see it: The frozen house at Varykino. Yuri and Lara hide in the ice-covered house, where he writes poems for her.
Robert Altman · 1971
Rain and mud fill the first half, and snow takes over for the ending. The grey weather matches how little control McCabe has and how cold the world becomes around him. The final snowfall is where his bluff ends.
Where to see it: The final gunfight: in a snowstorm, McCabe ambushes and kills 2 of the hired guns before Butler shoots him. He dies alone in the snow.
Roman Polanski · 1992
The New Year's Eve party is interrupted by a stormy sea just after Fiona and Mimi kiss. Nigel walks outside with a bottle and screams into the wind and waves. The weather matches his helplessness.
Where to see it: The storm: A stormy sea interrupts the New Year's Eve party. Nigel goes outside and screams his frustration into the wind and waves.
Ang Lee · 1997
Ice coats the trees, roads and power lines while the adults' night falls apart. The crew soaked streets and trees with hoses and a water truck to make ice. A real storm turned to snow, so most of that footage was unusable and a few shots needed snow removed digitally. The beauty lures Mikey out, and the same ice kills him.
Where to see it: Mikey's walk: Mikey wanders into the storm, enchanted by the ice-covered trees. He slides down an icy hill and sits on a guardrail, and a falling tree brings down a power line that electrocutes him.
Robert Altman · 2000
The sky darkens as the wedding begins, and the storm becomes the film's turning point. Thunder and wind blow the ceremony apart just as the characters' secrets surface. It lets the weather say what the polite guests cannot.
Where to see it: The wedding storm: as Dee Dee's wedding begins, the sky darkens. The wind blows the procession and Dee Dee skips her groom to kiss Marilyn as the rain breaks.
Joe Wright · 2005
The first proposal happens outdoors in the rain, and the weather matches the anger of the scene. The second proposal comes on misty moors at dawn, soft and quiet. The sky shifts as the feeling shifts.
Where to see it: Hunsford proposal: Darcy proposes in anger and Elizabeth rejects him. Later, at dawn on the moor, he apologizes and asks again.
Peter Jackson · 2009
Susie's In-Between changes with how she feels. According to the actress Saoirse Ronan, it is sunny with birds when she is happy, and when she is unhappy it rains or she is in the middle of an ocean. The place works like a mood ring you can see.
Where to see it: In-Between: Susie wanders landscapes that shift to match her feelings as she watches her family.
Woody Allen · 2019
Gatsby loves the city in the rain, and the film keeps the sky gray and the streets wet around his romantic hopes. The rain gives the movie a soft, dreamy glow and sets up the final kiss.
Where to see it: The ending: Gatsby meets Chan at the Delacorte Clock in Central Park as it strikes six, and they kiss in the rain.
Makoto Shinkai · 2019
The weather follows what the characters feel and choose. When Hina clears the sky, the city is bright. When Hodaka chooses her over the weather, Tokyo is flooded for years after.
Where to see it: The rooftop. Hodaka leaps through the torii gate into the sky and brings Hina back, and the rain returns.
Charlie Kaufman · 2020
The snowstorm keeps getting worse as the trip goes on. The cold and the white-out show the mood of the film and the lonely mind behind it.
Where to see it: The drive: the snow keeps piling up on the road. They stop at Jake's old high school, and the next morning the janitor's truck sits buried in snow.
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