okay it's time to talk about the thing i love most about the 2023 rwrb film in detail.
perhaps it is just because i used to be in theatre, but the lake scene destroys me because you can see them use stage acting techniques. (please rewatch the scene if you want to take in the full play-by-play analysis i'm about to drop)
at first, we see henry lying there, basking in the sun. alex then comes and playfully shakes water all over him. they engage in some light teasing and then alex begins discussing what he wants for the future. for their future. he starts talking about how much things will change when his mom wins the election and how he won't be as heavily scrutinized and watched by reporters anymore and, as he does this, he starts touching henry. trailing his hand up and down henry's arms and torso. he is talking about love and is using touch to help show his love. he takes henry's hand as he brings up next summer and coming back to austin (which they both know means the world to him) and being together. everything changes the second he says that they can go out in public and it won't matter if they are seen. everything. and you can see it so clearly in galitzine's acting choices. in the way his eyes open and his hand drops. the way his smile fades. because he's coming to realize that alex wants something henry cannot give him. he wants a lover he can build a life with. henry realizes here, that alex is in love with him back. and perhaps he already knew, but he is realizing that alex is about to say it. he's coming to realize that alex doesn't understand that they can't be together like this. that henry can't have this. ever. henry has known his entire life that he cannot have what he truly wants--that he cannot love and be loved in return, not in the way a lover deserves. not out loud. galitzine looks heartbroken here, as he tries to sever the physical contact between the two of them. as he tries to take his hand back. he smiles, but it's a forced, pitiful thing. and then it cuts back to a taylor zakhar-perez with hearts in his eyes. he isn't picking up on henry's physical unease, because he is so overwhelmed by his love for henry in this moment. he cannot see past it. when alex's words and voice take on a certain tone, henry begins panicking. he knows it's coming, he can hear it coming. he can't let the words be said. his eyelashes flutter in such a desperate way and he sits up, hoping that will finally get alex's hands off him. that the reminder of how much alex loves him will stop, but it doesn't. because, again, alex cannot see past his love in this moment.
this is the moment that tugs at my theatre kid heart so hard because he is taking the stage. alex is upstage left of henry, and they are both in open positions. he cannot see henry's expression. he doesn't see what henry is feeling, but we do. we see when henry turns green here. how he starts looking nauseous. how he looks ill. this is the beauty of getting this story told in both film and writing. we would never be able to understand this in writing. in the novel, everything we see and hear and think is influenced by alex and how he interprets it. this is us, for the first time, seeing henry when he's not performing to anyone, including alex (pretty ironic when it's one of the biggest parts of galitzine's acting in this film, imo). this is us seeing henry as he is. this is henry without any pretenses. alternatively, we can see both of them. we can see the unabashed joy on alex's face compared to the tangible grief on henry's. this is being able to see two characters display themselves so openly. this is a representation of how alex's expression and the love dripping from his voice never changes when henry can't see him, because he is much more open as a character. you can see everything he feels on his face. henry is not the same. henry has been taught to repress every part of himself and the second he is able to escape the audience (alex, in this case), the frail mask he upholds shatters. here is where his facial acting loses the subtlety it has been keeping throughout the film. because this is when we see him with no need to close himself off for the first time.
and then alex begins speaking of how he feels like there is a rope attached to his chest that keeps pulling him towards henry. and henry. god, he feels it too. of course he does, he always has. but he can't now because he knows alex has gotten in too deep. he knows that he has to cut things off between them. their happy moment has come to an end. so when he feels that rope attached to his chest too, pulling, telling him that he belongs with alex, he tries to block it off. physically, he draws his arm up over his chest and covers where the rope is pulling.
and he hears alex say something that sounds suspiciously like the beginning of "i love you," and jumps into the water. it's not as if he doesn't know. it's not as if he couldn't tell, of course he could. but if he hears alex say the words, he only has three real choices. he can deny loving him back, which he knows he isn't capable of doing (not to alex. he's not that good a liar), he can tell him he loves him back but that he cannot do this, or he can tell him he loves him back and be convinced that he can. that he needs to try. henry came to terms with the fact that he could never have the love he wants since he knew he wanted to kiss a boy for the first time. he grew up knowing that. he cannot have alex claremont-diaz make him feel hopeful for something he knows there is no hope in. he cannot have alex's strong will telling him he can have his greatest wish. he cannot be given a reason to believe that he can be happy when he knows how it will end. so he can't hear it. he can't hear alex say he loves him. and he doesn't.
there is a part two to this in how this scene mirrors another one, but i am too tired for that rn sorry guys 😔
