"Hello My Name is Inigo Montoya...

...you killed my father, prepare to die." This quote is thrown around my household at least once a week because, in my family's eyes, The Princess Bride is the greatest movie of all time. This movie's got it all: it has action, it has comedy, it has romance, what more could you ask for in a film? For today's post, in an attempt to celebrate the film's 30th anniversary (which was on September 25th btw), I will write a sequence analysis on this classic. 

For those of you who have not seen this movie, please put it on your viewing list for Fall Break but first, let me break it down for you. 

The Princess Bride opens on a young boy, played by Fred Savage, sick in bed playing video games when he is interrupted from his staying-at-home bliss by his grandfather who is portrayed by the late Peter Falk. Being the good grandpa he is, Grandfather (as he will be referred to from now on) brought a book to read to his grandson to keep him entertained while he fights off his cold. Any guesses on which book Grandfather brought? Yes, you in the back! Correct! He brought along his copy of The Princess Bride!! The grandson, who we all know would much rather continue with his Atari game, instantly states "[blech] Is this a kissing book?," and seems extremely disinterested in The Princess Bride. Honestly I don't blame him because from the title alone, this book seems like its only about romance and kissing and riding horses off into the sunset, which for the most part it is, but there's a lot of action too!

(ew, barf)

Nevertheless, Grandfather continues with his plan and reads his beloved book to his grandson. As soon as Grandfather begins reading, the audience is taken into the world of the book itself and we begin to experience a play by play in the countries of Florian and Guilder which are riddled with pirates, giants, six fingered men, rodents of unusual size, and the occasional princess. Not soon after Grandfather starts reading, the grandson becomes enthralled with the narrative as he realizes this book is so much more than kissing.

Albeit there are so many great scenes to choose from, the one I am discussing today is the power battle between Vizzini and The Man in Black. This scene directly follows The Man in Black's fights with Vizzini's two goons, Inigo and Fezzik. The Man in Black has demonstrated great skill and strength for getting past those two but now the fight for Princess Buttercup comes down to a battle of wit against Vizzini himself. 

As The Man in Black approaches Vizzini and Buttercup, the scene begins to cut back and forth between Vizzini and The Man in Black as their conversation begins. With the camera tilted down each time the scene cuts to Vizzini and tilted up each time it cuts to The Man in Black, this subtly hints to the audience that The Man in Black has and will have the upper hand by the end of this sequence. The Man in Black is a man of few words and the movie lets the non-diegetic sounds do the talking for him. In response to each of Vizzini's questions, The Man in Black simply nods in agreement and in unison with his head movement, suspenseful music rises and then falls with his head. Once Vizzini and The Man in Black agree to battle to the death, the camera cuts to a wide shot showing the character's surroundings of green, rolling hills and the actual set up of the space in which they are occupying which involves a round table low to the ground topped with wine and other food stuffs. 

Once The Man and Black begins to approach the table to sit down, the camera begins to zoom in from the wide shot which gives the effect that he audience is too approaching the table to be a part of the battle of wits. As Vizzini and The Man in Black begin to settle in, there is a close up of Vizzini pouring their wine into goblets. This close up shows Vizzini in a compromising, tilted angle as if he knows from the get-go that he does not have the upper hand in this situation. Following this The Man in Black and Vizzini are shown in a two shot from above Vizzini's shoulder. This shot completely cuts out Princess Buttercup to show that this battle of wit is truly between the two men and that they may have lost sight as to what exactly they are fighting over. The close up of the icocane powder poison, which mimics the close up of the pouring of the wine, gives the audience a first hand look at what exactly will contribute in Vizzini's ultimate demise. 

As the Man in Black reaches to grab the goblets of wine to dispense the iocane powder into one or both of the goblets, the same suspenseful music that we encountered in the beginning of the sequence begins to rise again suggesting that the battle is truly about to commence.

The music stops as the sequence switches to Vizzini attempting to flex his intellect so that the audience's full attention is on what Vizzini is saying to The Man in Black. It is evident that in this portion of the sequence that Vizzini is simply trying to buy himself more time to distinguish which of the two goblets contains the poison by running his mouth with endless theories as to which goblet actually contains the poison. The Man in Black is shown throughout the sequence to have a cool demeanor as Vizzini rambles on because he is keen to what Vizzini is doing and makes himself seem completely invested in every word that comes out of Vizzini's mouth. The music begins to rise again and the audience thinks that Vizzini is finally going to choose a goblet but he exclaims, "What the world can that be?!," in an attempt to distract the Man in Black, who kindly plays along with Vizzini's  ploy and turns his back to Vizzini as Vizzini switches the goblets from behind The Man in Black's back. 

"Let's drink, me from my glass and you from yours," Vizzini states as he confidently believes that he has bested The Man in Black and he will walk away from this situation the victor. Vizzini's new found confidence can be seen through his change in demeanor from nervous and jumpy to calm and nonchalant. As both take their goblets, the music rises again and mimics both character's movements which supports the comedic aspect of the film but also notifies the audience that something important is about to happen. Following both the men drinking the poisoned wine, Vizzini goes on a triumphant tirade of how he bested The Man in Black and begins maniacally laughing as he waits for The Man in Black to die. As the sequence reaches its peak and Vizzini's laughter rises, the sequence stops on a close up shot of Vizzini who stops laughing and abruptly keels over and dies. 

Throughout the entire sequence, the shots are repeatedly shot from over each of the character's shoulders switching back and forth from Vizzini's and then The Man in Black's point of views. The sequence also continues to choose shots from that allow the men's eye lines to match with one another showing that both men are equal in this situation as either could die from this poison during this sequence. The choice in shot and angle were very important to this sequence because this allowed the audience to be invested in the battle as the shots switched back and forth. 

I believe this scene to be very important to the plot of the whole film because it sets up The Man in Black's character in a more depth perspective. The Man in Black who, spoiler alert, turns out to be Buttercup's long lost love Westley, shows his determination in this scene and shows that he will go to any length to be reunited with Buttercup again. The man participated in a sword fight on a cliff, fought a giant, and ingested poison all to be in Buttercup's life again; if that isn't determination, I don't know what is. 

This scene also develops trust between Buttercup and Westley because Buttercup is blindfolded during the entire scene and does not know what her savior looks like, she only knows of his heroic actions that saved her life. Westley, in this scene displays the fact that he will go to the ends of the Earth to be with Buttercup which is seen repeatedly throughout the rest of the film as the couple is constantly separated through physical obstacles and countless trials. The sequence of Westley's battle of wit against Vizzini sets up the movie's overall claim that true love conquers all.