this is by far one of my favourite dune scenes, especially when it comes to Jessica
it is wordless, almost soundless, and yet it is I feel one of the most moving moments in both movies.
despite showcasing Paul as well, there is to me a clear emphasis on how Jessica feels in that scene ( the following tent scene being more dedicated to Paul’s feelings ).
The way she runs uphill faster than Paul and stands alone at the top of the dune for a moment, her breathing, the wind in her hair, the stillness of the desert and the blue hue staining everything but the burning city, how she struggles to turn her gaze away from the city to look at the desert before looking back at arrakeen, and finally a last shot of her from the back, alone again, staring at the city, before we are shown where her mind truly is, with duke Leto. It genuinely does not get any more beautifully heart wrenching than that transition, her, standing alone in the desert, him, agonising alone in the banquet room, just hours ago they were in bed together and now it is as if they were light years apart, in different realms entirely as one tries to survive and see their son live, and the other agonises, waiting for his chance to kill the baron.
This whole sequence leaves me speechless and deeply sad everytime, it feels like through its softness it lets the actual devastation of that night hit you even harder, something I feel like none of the other Dune adaptations have managed to do.
You feel everything Jessica feels, denial, sadness, pain, grief and even a hint of guilt. There is no hope, she is left feeling as empty as the desert that surrounds her and as devastated as the city she gazes at. Despite the show of power she has just demonstrated in the ornithopter scene, she is rendered ultimately powerless, powerless to fight the harkonnens, powerless to protect her son from the desert and alas, powerful to save the man she loves.
I love this scene so much it’s frustrating not being able to put it into words, but that is I think because it doesn’t use any, it doesn’t try to elicit empathy through dramatic script or poignant music and grandiose emotional display, it happens like the calm after the storm, and through its silence, lets us hear the storm raging within the characters. And so no matter how much I write it feels like that scene, the emotion it contains, cannot be described, like it is not a problem to solve but a reality to experience ( other option is I might just suck at writing despite quoting frank herbert ).
( wasnt really planning to turn this blog into a thought dump, but I figure that is also what blogs are for and i needed an outlet, might change the username to neferthought if this keeps going )
