Historical context

The Conversation is a small, character-driven film in which there are no car chases and no explosions. It features only one star (Gene Hackman) who was "bankable" at the time the film was made. In other words, it was not easily marketable. Hollywood tends to resist making films that are not easy to market, but The Conversation was made because the director himself was a bankable name. Coppola had just directed The Godfather (1972), which had made a ton of money for Paramount, and the studio was in a conciliatory mood because they were trying to convince him to take on a Godfather sequel. To keep their star director happy, they agreed to allow him to make this pet project, a script he had been trying to get produced for some time. The script was a kind of hommage to Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni's film, Blow-Up (1966), in which a photographer believes he has discovered evidence of a murder in the background of a photograph casually taken in a public park.

Narrative context

This film exposes for us the character of Harry Caul, a man who is obsessively private. How does Coppola go about showing us the inner life of a man who works at showing nothing about himself?

Why does Harry change his mind about keeping his work life separate from his personal life?

What is the significance of Harry's last name? (If you are unfamiliar with the word "caul," look it up.)

Is Harry Caul a sympathetic character? If so, in what way(s)? If not, why do we care what happens to him?

What role does religion play in Harry's life?

Action-oriented films base their pacing on carrying us from one small climactic moment to the next on our way to the big climax that will resolve the story's overall conflict. How does Coppola establish a pace in this character-driven story? What is the nature of the pace he establishes?

How certain are you that you know exactly what happened between the people Harry was taping and the man known as "The Director?" Why do you suppose Coppola chose to leave this somewhat ambiguous?

What is the significance of the ending of the film? Has anything been resolved? Why does Harry appear to be placidly playing the saxophone after dismantling his apartment in a frenzy?

Visual context

Coppola's camera, like the camera of all film directors, is a kind of surveillance device, allowing us to become voyeurs, peeking unseen into the lives of the characters in the story. Because this concept relates to the overall theme of the film, Coppola's imagery periodically acknowledges this concept visually. Can you cite examples of this?

How does Coppola's camera reflect Harry Caul's paranoia?

Why does Harry constantly wear a translucent raincoat throughout the film, even when the weather is clear? What is the significance of this wardrobe choice?

Aural context

How do Coppola and his sound designer, Walter Murch, manipulate the soundtrack of the film to tell the story more effectively?

In what way does subjective sound figure into Coppola's creative strategy for the film?

The conversation that is recorded at the beginning of the film is played back on the soundtrack a number of times throughout the film. How is the sound of this conversation used to provide counterpoint and commentary to subsequent scenes?