Greatest Film Scenes
and Moments



Titanic (1997)

 



Written by Tim Dirks

Title Screen
Movie Title/Year and Scene Descriptions
Screenshots

Titanic (1997)

In James Cameron's monumental Best Picture-winning blockbuster epic:

  • the revealing scene on board the research vessel the Keldysh, while searching for the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, when treasure hunter Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) and his team discovered a safe containing a sketch-drawing of a nude woman wearing a priceless 56-carat blue diamond necklace ("The Heart of the Ocean") - the drawing was dated April 14, 1912 - the fateful day of the Titanic's collision with an iceberg; the discovery set up the film's flashback structure described by 100 year-old Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart), who was one of the disaster's survivors
  • the two romantic star-crossed, ill-fated lovers: upper-class Rose Bukater (Kate Winslet) and steerage passenger Jack Dawson (Leonard DiCaprio) who were perched at the prow of the White Star liner Titanic with arms outstretched ("I'm flying!") - ending with a sunset kiss
  • Rose decided to pose nude for one of Jack's sketches; she was the one who proposed the idea of a drawing while wearing the necklace; she entered the room wearing a semi-transparent robe, noting: "The last thing I need is another picture of me looking like a porcelain doll. As a paying customer, I expect to get what I want." She opened the robe, revealed her complete nakedness. Jack nervously instructed: "Over on the bed - the couch. Go, lie down." She then reclined on a couch, with the Blue Sapphire nestled between her breasts. As he sketched her naked figure and drew the curved line of her breasts, she noticed: "I believe you are blushing, Mr. Big Artiste. I can't imagine Monsieur Monet blushing." The scene ended on a close-up of Rose's eye (first as a young girl and then morphing into her elderly eye), and then she recalled: "My heart was pounding the whole time. It was the most erotic moment of my life. Up until then, at least." Jack dated the sketch April 14, 1912, and signed his initials
Nude Drawing Sequence
  • later came a scene of Jack and Rose's love-making scene in the back seat of a car -- Rose's handprint was seen on the fogged-up window of the car - it reached out and then slid down and left a steamy imprint; the camera panned down to reveal their sweaty embrace, as she noticed: "You're trembling." He replied: "Don't worry, I'll be all right," and then he continued kissing her.
  • the final hour with tremendous visual and special-effects of the ship's flooding, slowly tilting upward, splitting in half and sinking with people plummeting to their deaths in the Atlantic when the stern was tipped vertically upright, while Rose and Jack struggled to stay together
  • the various views of victims calmly awaiting their fate (e.g., an elderly couple embraced in bed)
  • the farewell scene as Jack slowly froze to death next to Rose and his profession of love before slipping underwater
  • the scene of elderly Old Rose (Gloria Stuart) (either asleep or dead in her bed - was it a dream?) - when she decided to part with her priceless "Heart of the Ocean" blue diamond necklace in her possession; alone and barefoot, she climbed up on a deck railing of the stern of the research vessel the Keldysh, and looked down at the necklace in her opening hand; she thought back to decades earlier when she found the necklace in her coat pocket; she threw it overboard to share it with her now-lost love Jack; she slightly smiled and breathed in deeply as it sank deep into the water - located over the wreck site
Old Rose Throwing the Blue Diamond Necklace Into the Ocean
  • in the final dream sequence, the young Rose imagined herself meeting - and kissing Jack at the top of the elegant Grand Staircase surrounded by an applauding audience of all those who died on the ship -- together forever

Sketch of Nude Woman Wearing Necklace

Dated April 14, 1912

"I'm flying!"




Love-Making Scene


The Aftermath of the Collision


Jack's Slow Freezing to Death Next to Rose

Encouraging Rose to Not Give Up Hope: "Never let go"


Final Dream Sequence

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