American Beauty: Progression of Intamacy

In the film American Beauty, there is an excellent scene where all three shot types are used as a progression of intimacy. In said scene, the daughter Jane has just been slapped following a confrontation with her mother and father. She looks out of her window and sees her neighbor, a boy that one can tell she likes at this point in the movie, filming her.

 At this point the audience sees two long shots of the two teenagers from both perspectives. Having just witnessed the confrontation between Jane and the rest of her dysfunctional family, we assume that she feels alone. The long shot gives the connotation of her feeling alone, and it is no coincidence that her neighbor is shot via a long shot as well. Though it is not clear as to why yet, he too is lonely in his household. However after a moment of subtle greetings with the wave of their hands the shot then become closer, and the audience is now viewing the teenagers in medium shots, implying a barrier has been broken, and even though at a distance, these two are figuratively becoming closer.

 It is at which point Jane begins to undress for him; she takes off her shirt, then lets down her hair, then eventually removes her bra. The movies camera stays at medium shots, however the neighbor’s camera zooms in to a close up of Jane’s nearly naked body. The removal of her cloths was not meant to be taken as a sexual act, but as a way of Jane saying, "I trust you, I need someone whom I can bare it all to". She allows herself to become vulnerable, however he has only opened up so much. This is translated in the closeness of the shots. At this point of the film Ricky, the neighbor, has gotten "closer" to Jane (having witnessed her mom just slap her) then Jane has to Ricky. This is why we only get a close up of Jane through Ricky's camera at the end of this beautiful scene.