Titanic (1997)

Film: Titanic

Director: James Cameron

Country: Canada / USA

Released: November 1997

Runtime: 195 minutes

Genre: Romance

Studio: 20th Century Fox, Paramount

Influenced: Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro, JJ Abrams, Baz Luhrmann, Greta Gerwig

A unique blend of romance, historical drama and disaster movie, Titanic was a genre-bending experience that captivated audiences of the time. The film's release was one of the biggest cinematic events of my lifetime – I was in my first year at university when it was released and remember packed audiences and people crying uncontrollably in the aisles. Titanic was a labour of love for director, co-writer, co-producer and co-editor James Cameron and an obsession of his since childhood. He conducted extensive research into the legend of the ill-fated RMS Titanic, collaborating with historians to ensure the film's accuracy, and even getting involved in 33 dives to the site of the wreckage (he almost died on one mission to the deep in 1995). Cameron himself was a designer of submersibles and, in the film's early scenes, the director uses real footage from these underwater craft as they explore the wreck of the Titanic.

Titanic's opening sequence is composed of shots made to look like archival footage soundtracked by James Horner's emotional, Enya-inspired score. The film is set in two timelines: 1996, where a treasure hunter named Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) searches for a valuable necklace in the Titanic wreck, and 1912, where the majority of the story takes place. The historical boarding scene was shot in Southampton, with Cameron using CGI to augment these shots, most notably a majestic moment when the camera appears to swoop over the length of the Titanic as it sails off to sea. In 1912, a young aristocrat, Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), boards the Titanic with her wealthy but oppressive fiancé, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). She contemplates suicide but is saved by a penniless artist, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio). The character of Jack was loosely modelled on Jack London and his travels round Europe. It may seem odd that the first meeting of the two star-crossed lovers, Rose and Jack, should occur during a suicide attempt, but actually it's a clever foreshadowing – with the talk of swimming in icy cold water – of their final scene together.

Titanic's iconic "flying" scene at the bow of the ship, where Rose and Jack embrace as the Titanic sails at sunset, has now arguably become the most famous romantic moment in all of cinema history. Cameron shot the scene in natural light, adding to the scene's sense of heightened emotion. After Rose and Jack fall in love, their romance is threatened by Cal's jealousy and the disapproval of Rose's mother (Frances Fisher), but the two suddenly face a greater threat when the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Earlier in the film, in the 1996 timeline, we see a computer graphic simulating how the Titanic sunk (in fact, nobody knows exactly how it went down) and then we get to see Cameron's dramatic recreation of the sinking in real time. The film was a pioneer in terms of visual effects and practical filmmaking techniques, especially in the portrayal of the sinking ship, employing a mix of practical sets, miniatures (Cameron insisted on using a scale model of the Titanic, even though it was more expensive than creating a full-sized replica) and groundbreaking CGI.

All the dialogue in the bridge scenes that follow the Titanic's collision with the iceberg was drawn from actual testimony. Bernard Hill as Captain Smith is quietly magnificent, providing another of the Titanic's iconic shots with his standing salute as water engulfs him. The use of CGI to create the ship's destruction was revolutionary at the time, earning the film an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. In total, Titanic won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, tying with Ben-Hur (1959) at the time for the most Oscar wins by a single film. On top of that, the film became the highest-grossing movie of its time, earning over $2bn worldwide and holding this record until 2009 when Cameron himself would surpass it, with Avatar. I only have two minor criticisms of Titanic: some of the script is corny and some of the CGI and green screen work is not all that polished. To be fair though, the tech was still in its infancy in the 90s and some of the morph shots across eras, like the one of Rose’s eye, remain deeply impressive.