Review of Titanic

On first viewing, I loved Titanic against my desire. It had one of the

most beautiful musical scores I'd heard, so haunting and captivating it

made my heart sink in a dizzy flutter of melancholic wonder. I'd

previously loathed Celine Dion's music and despised her milking of

emotion - but "My Heart Will Go On" broke down my resistance via this

film and its instrumental scoring therein. One of my guiltiest pleasures

remains this film which many of my alternative instincts demanded I hate

on principle. (ie "10 or more smaller films could have been made for the

cost" etc) I saw Titanic several times at the cinema but avoided seeing it on video

• I doubted it could work minus the giant screen and surround sound.

Last night - nearly four years later - I watched it on television

nervously. But revisiting Titanic in this way didn't destroy the majesty

but brought a sense of renewal. The film retains a magical romantic

quality that becomes most apparent in its moments of silence as the

Titanic sails over the water and the characters exchange wordless

glances while that wonderfully melancholic and dreamy score drifts round

the mind. I was also afraid the external issues which came to shadow

over the film (the Oscar stuff, the cost, the negativity, star ego,

over-exposure and so on) would impact on my experience along with age

and changes in my life. Yet, none of these issues took hold. The film is

still arresting, sweet, powerful and convincing. Small moments and

certain shots remain classic touches and trademark the film as a

memorable movie. The plot involving love against the odds and a struggle between social

distinctions/classes is hardly the simple cliche that many critical

approaches to the film emphasise. Its a daily, everday experience that

the film raises to epic, grand levels - as film inevitably always does

by its very nature. The story of two strangers who - through luck on

Jack's part, and failed social engineering on the part of Rose's mother

• meet aboard the unsinkable super-ship Titanic and find themselves

subverting the order of things in the name of love - and finding that

love changed forever by the tragic sinking of Titanic - resonates with a

grandeur that is never arch or distant. The film always trusts the

youthful, idealistic exuberance of love and the rest of the events pale

into the background. If the script is anything it is a submissive crutch

to the passion which drives the film. If there is a common,

unsophisticated touch to it maybe that shouldn't be so quickly dismissed

or treated with such negative ire - common after all also means widely

circulated and available to more than a privileged few. The performances grow more interesting as time flows on. DiCaprio's

smarm becomes more and more of a charm as Winslet's reserve feels more

and more a crumbling cage for her passion. As a couple, they offer a

youthful charge never more apparent than in the scenes in the

lower-class quarters below as their romance takes a furious hold. And

the framing story is a nice adjunct as the adventurers and divers are

enthralled by the older Rose's heartbreaking tale of love, loss, and the

magic of memory. As a depiction of oral storytelling, it makes one long

for the intimacy of such a situation and cherish the deeper, felt

communication between friends, lovers and sometimes - maybe most

magically of all - strangers. Characters like Jack and Rose remind us of the romantic dreaminess of

being young and growing, learning and experiencing. Which remains a

great antidote to the cynicism and callousness of many other popular

films. Long live diversity and unexpected treasures like Titanic.