This is the scene where Marc Antiny goes onto Cleopatra's ship even though she is in a Roman harbor. She asserts her dominance by making him come to her. In this picture you see that Marc Antony has his head and chest down pointing away from Cleopatra. While Cleopatra has her chest and head up looking confident. This shows that she is controlling the situation and has the power. It also shows that Antony is intimidated by her. The lighting is a little bit darker on Cleopatra's side possibly to give emphasis on Antony and his lack of confidence. The shot seems to be at right about eye level to give even more depth into the emotions of Cleopatra and Antony. Also so the audience picks up every little detail of Antony's expression and posture. This whole shot seems to be concentrated on Antony being the lesser of Cleopatra, it could only show that more so if he was kneeling before her which he actually does later on. Antony also seems to be a little bit closer to the middle of the shot than Cleopatra again to put a real emphasis on showing the audience that they show be looking at him and seeing his expression.
It's interesting what you say about the actual center and focus of the shot. I agree that Antony's table is much closer to the center and should thus be what we focus on. At the same time, it's not in the actual center, so that we can observe Cleopatra's reaction to him.
ReplyDeleteYou don't talk to much about Antony's posture. Cleo seems very relaxed, whereas he is literally gripping the table as if he was close to bursting with anger. The fact that both have their own, separate tables is also telling. Cleo is clearly keeping Antony at a distance, which is what makes him so unhappy. At the same time, he's on display, very exposed to the eyes of everyone in the room, so he has to behave.