``When Harry Met Sally...'' Director Rob Reiner x Screenwriter Nora Ephron: How the monumental romantic comedy movie was created

``When Harry Met Sally...'' depicts women and men as equals throughout.

It's true that ``When Harry Met Sally...'' was born out of an actual conversation between director Rob Reiner and screenwriter Nora Ephron. But that's not the only reason this movie was revolutionary. It is because it depicts the power relationship between women and men as completely equal in every detail that it transcends time and is still passed down as a masterpiece.

Gender equality. This can be said not only in conversations, but also in the way men and women are portrayed. Sally and Harry are always shown side by side on the screen. Just as they walk side by side in Central Park, when they roll out the carpet in their new home, they stand side by side and stare in the same direction. The composition of sitting in the driver's and passenger's seats in a car is repeated on an airplane, and in a scene where they are on the phone while watching Casablanca (1942) in separate rooms, the faces of the two in their respective beds are shown on a split screen. show. Their bodies are always lined up and looking in the same direction. Even when walking with a fir tree for the tree, both of them keep staring straight ahead. When these two face each other head-on, when their gaze intertwines, something happens. A big fight, an awkward breakup, an unexpected kiss, or the best confession is always born from the gaze of two people facing each other.

"When Harry Met Sally..." (c)Photofest / Getty Images

Sally and Harry have always had conversations as equals. What kind of composition will the two of them appear on screen in the end?

[References]

Nora Ephron, “Introduction” in “When Harry Met Sally...”, Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.

Nora Ephron, “Nora Ephron: The Last Interview and Other Conversations”, Melville House, 2015.

Rob Reiner, 'Rob Reiner Remembers Nora Ephron, The Sally To His Harry', “The Daily Beast”, 27 June 2012.

Text: Rie Tsukinaga

Film writer and editor. Editor of the magazine "Eiga Yokocho". He writes film reviews, columns, and interviews for Asahi Shimbun, Metropolitana, Weekly Bunshun, iD JAPAN, etc. He also edits books and movie pamphlets under the name Eiga Bar Editorial Office. Currently in charge of MC for the web program "Katsuben Cinema Club". eigasakaba.net

Watch now

View work information