One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Mise En Scene
(1975), dir. Miloš Forman
Mise-en-scène is a film analysis that explains everything that is put within the frame of a shooting camera, it’s literally french for putting on stage. Considine & Haley (1999), simplified and described four factors to focus on for Mise-en-scène. The Four P’s are Point of View, Posture, Props, and Position. Point of View is how the camera is looking at a subject; Position everything is located; Posture is the body language of the characters involved; Props are objects used in the scene.
This is important because it adds to the story you're seeing, you might even be seeing two different story if it's done correctly. This scene is a great example of the change of power between characters and how our audience perceives.
Pretending that you already know One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Cuckoo's Nest for short) plot, let's set this clip up. McMurphy has been an inspiration for his fellow men and has been something they believed in, this counteracts Nurse Ratched who belittles them. McMurphy was sent to Electroconvulsive Therapy right before this. Notice how the room's energy is effected by how the men feel, how we feel as an audience.
Everyone else has their heads down, but Ratched is confident and demands respect.
Chief. In the back not wanting any attention.
Martini vibing
0:00
P
Posture. Our main characters are McMurphy, Ratched, and Chief, then of course there are the patients.
McMurphy is a brash and wild character. McMurphy likes to joke and stands tall when he sees people laugh with him. He knows that he's getting under Ratched's skin. He starts the scene with a joke as if he's zombified after therapy. Only to reveal that he's alive and well and nothing can get him down. His chest is puffed and his smile is big and loud. Ratched and politely sit down as they were talking to a patient before he interrupted. McMurphy sits willingly, and is quite confident when he calls her Mildred. McMurphy thinks he's winning this game of power.
Chief is a quiet character. He's such a big guy, but he seems so small because he's always slouching and doesn't make eye contact with people. Except for McMurphy, you can tell him and McMurphy are friends with how McMurphy lets him in on the joke first. Chief smiles and gets a little taller.
Ratched is a subtle roller coaster of emotion in this scene. Ratched is a sly and manipulative character. At the very start of the scene she sits up straight as she calls out the patients and tries to talk to them about things they are clearly insecure about. She enjoys because there is no sympathy in her voice whatsoever. She does not care for the well-being of these people. This is made even more obvious at 0:57 when she briefly thinks McMurphy is zombified. She scratches her nose as if not to smile or laugh maliciously. Even when she doesn't get her way, she still sits up straight and talks calmly to show her authority.
The patients are there for the ride. They listen to Nurse Ratched and have all become almost dependent on her because of their low self-esteem. They're all hunched over and. They talk when talked to, but they drop everything when they see McMurphy. They felt a loss when they thought he was zombified, but could not have been more relieved when they discovered he was fine. They cheer and laugh with McMurphy's jokes.
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Props. Cuckoo's Nest was filmed in 1975, but the story is meant to be in 1963. At a casual viewing from almost 50 years afterwards, it's hard to tell if they changed anything to make the setting older. The only thing that is noticeable is Cheswick's glasses maybe.
Either way, this scene shows most of everyone sitting in chairs. Cuckoo's Nest is about a story in a mental institute so everyone needed to look the part. The actresses were given nurse outfits and almost no make-up, Nurse Ratched has no make-up whatsoever only vaseline on her lips. Almost all actors were given a t-shirt and white scrubs to go over it. There is some ability of personalizing with two men wearing collared shirt and a man wearing a bathrobe.
Some of the actors had personal props. Martini has his cigarette. Chief had a broom that he leaned on. There was an actor in a wheelchair. Nurse Ratched had a clipboard and interestingly her hair was styled to almost look like horns, it makes her look more menacing.
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POV. The directing is short and sweet and shows you what you need to see. There's nothing special with the transitions, but there are a lot of good angles.
The first shot shows that Ratched is in front of everyone, but it's angled so that she's also above everyone else. It's made even more clear with the shy, smaller woman next to her. The scene almost seems darker without McMurphy, but there's a lot more natural light when he comes back.
When McMurphy is released there is a wide shot barely showing him walk towards the group. We see McMurphy acting zombified and then reactionary shots from the group. He winks his right eye for only Chief to see. Again reactionary shots before revealing the gig.
While Nurse Ratched is almost always shot away from the patients or they are blurry. Ratched and them aren't on the same page, McMurphy is the opposite. McMurphy is with the men and grabs onto them. He sits with them because he's one of them.
When McMurphy comes back. He's the king and everyone cheers for him. They cut to Ratched and she is now small and in the corner, out of the people's attention.
The last shot a zoom in on McMurphy as he settles down. Though someone is talking, it's white noise to him and his focus is on Ratched.
A fun fact founded from an interview with The Guardian in 2017, Michael Douglas said that they actually shot in a mental hospital so the extras in the background are legitimate patients.
Position. The scene takes place during a group therapy session. Most of the characters are sitting in chairs in a circle. You can notice that the circle is incomplete because it looks like the nurses have more space between them and the men. This is so everyone will have eyes on Ratched and so that the nurses will be distant from the patients.
Chief is isolated from the group as he stands. He isolates himself on purpose, he likes to hug the shadows. While Martini on the other hand, is by himself playing with the chess pieces at the start because he has a curious mind.
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