Can anyone else identify with the phrase "We live in the sunset of the world"? It occurs in both the novel and the film; though it may be "the twilight of the world" in the novel. I find it such an evocative powerful line-hope I'm not the only one...
I'm supposed to be retired. I don't want to get mixed up in this darned thing.
--Vertigo
I totally agree, one of the most memorable lines in the picture. It is epic, poetic, and passionate. It is also fatalistic, existential, on-the-fringe.
I don't think it's suicidal or morbid though, otherwise he wouldn't have used the term 'sunset', which can be glorious. Sinhue feels utterly apart, alienated. He knows he is different and that he doesn't belong. This tone is made all the more powerful when he encounters Nefer, also an outsider.
Many of today's viewers seem to be embarrassed by overly poetic dialogue in such films, yet Shakespeare is as big as ever! Oh well, I'm a fan of such stuff. If anything, I find 'The Egyptian' quite restrained compared to, say, DeMille's usual schmaltz (that's not a put-down, either!).
In any case, the 'sunset' line is beautiful, perfect for its purpose, unsettling too, in a distinctly 'uncomfortable' picture.
Glad to find another fan of this line.
Does it occur only once in the film?
At any rate, I agree, it's not suicidal or morbid.
For me, it hints at (that biblical phrase)'a passing away' but also a new reality.
Perhaps Sinuhe's "opening of the eyes"; his cynicism after his parents' deaths may be connected to it as well. (I am in no way convinced by Merit's reduction of the whole Nefer experience, and I don't think Sinuhe is either.)
I am also with you on the schmaltz factor. It's hard to find a line like Heston's "The dead make none..." in The 10 Commandments-(a film that has always left me cold), though Mature's "You dared! You really dared!" comes close. Never understood the logic of that scene-but that's another matter.
I'm supposed to be retired. I don't want to get mixed up in this darned thing.
--Vertigo
Good points!
Yes, I think it's used only once, as there is so much richness to be dealt with elsewhere throughout the picture.
I also note how Sinuhe (that name is always devilish for me to spell correctly!) utters the line with relative ease, as if he's not trying to be poetic at all, but that he's known of its truth for so long, he can simply say it as a matter of fact. That's not to trivialize it, but to know that he completely believes what he's saying, as it's based on firsthand experience.
He is of course a poet, though he would never give himself such credit.
I would add that the new DVD of 'The Egyptian' is magnificent, and only heightens the experience of hearing such lines as the 'sunset' one, and adds to its power.
Yes, Sinuhe has his poetic side.
This discussion of 'sunset' has me musing about how Brando might've delivered those lines. I've never been a fan-perhaps due to underexposure, who knows.
Thank you for the review of the new dvd. I have ordered the blu ray-(even though I don't have a player)in the hopes that this will be the format future of the home movie viewer. SAE has let me know that it has shipped. Can't wait to get it.
I enjoy your posts. Thank you for replying to mine.
I'm supposed to be retired. I don't want to get mixed up in this darned thing.
--Vertigo
sinuhe is a philosopher (he's always asking "why?", and he, not surprisingly, winds up alone).
and, like the ancient greek philosophers his time would anticipate, he is all about making sense of his world (many of the greek philosophers practiced "natural science") at its most elemental level - which is why that line from the film is so striking to me. it's poetic, but very concrete/grounded at the same time.
whoever posted that this movie is a "thinking person's epic" was dead on. you can ignore some of the (no doubt) historical inaccuracies because there are such fine performances in the picture (i'm a jean simmons fan, b.t.w.), and precisely because it gets you thinking.
it is hard not to think - speaking of which - how brando might've delivered some of the lines (knowing that he was slated to play sinuhe), but always on reflection i'm thinking that it was actually a stroke of luck they got a "nobody" to play sinuhe.
b.t.w., i interpret the "sunset" line to convey a sense of an oncoming apotheosis of some kind in sinuhe's egypt - especially considering how the film ends (without knowing how true that ending is to the book on which the film is based).
gregory 061712.
"The sunset of the world" is beautiful. I also felt it was supposed to be like the end of an era, not the end of time or civilization or the world itself.
You've got me?! Who's got you?!
Very interesting interchange. I love this film, though I haven't seen it for a long while. Yes, that's a very evocative line -- though I would have preferred "twilight". I love the energy of twilight -- it gives the hint of moving from one reality into another (literal, in one sense; strongly metaphorical in another).
I agree. It's definitely tied to the perception of Sinuhe; perhaps less to an idea of a real end.
"I'm supposed to be retired. I don't want to get mixed up in this darned thing." -- Vertigo