The compelling nature of perspective lines within the film plane is an excellent means for steering the attention of the spectator.
The film The third man (1950), David Selznick et al., was chosen as the best English film of the twentieth century. It is situated in Austria in the years after the Second World War. The movie contains different story lines. One of them is the unanswered love of a man (Martins) for a woman (Anna). The end of the film is a magnificent shot with a duration of more than one minute. The approaching woman can be seen in the distance. She walks along a lane flanked by rows of leafless trees. The depth effect of the shot suggests an endless distance, both physical and emotional. The man is waiting in the foreground while the woman slowly approaches. Hope and expectation rise with every step. But if she finally passes the man, as if he did not exist, we all know that there will be no happy ending. Start video The third man, final scene.