A guilty pleasure, this common treasure.

Rating: Null/10 (4 July 2001)

On first viewing, I loved Titanic against my desire. It had one of the
most beautiful musical scores I'd heard, so haunting and captivating it
made my heart sink in a dizzy flutter of melancholic wonder. I'd
previously loathed Celine Dion's music and despised her milking of
emotion - but "My Heart Will Go On" broke down my resistance via this
film and its instrumental scoring therein. One of my guiltiest pleasures
remains this film which many of my alternative instincts demanded I hate
on principle. (ie "10 or more smaller films could have been made for the
cost" etc) I saw Titanic several times at the cinema but avoided seeing it on video

I doubted it could work minus the giant screen and surround sound.

Last night - nearly four years later - I watched it on television
nervously. But revisiting Titanic in this way didn't destroy the majesty
but brought a sense of renewal. The film retains a magical romantic
quality that becomes most apparent in its moments of silence as the
Titanic sails over the water and the characters exchange wordless
glances while that wonderfully melancholic and dreamy score drifts round
the mind. I was also afraid the external issues which came to shadow
over the film (the Oscar stuff, the cost, the negativity, star ego,
over-exposure and so on) would impact on my experience along with age
and changes in my life. Yet, none of these issues took hold. The film is
still arresting, sweet, powerful and convincing. Small moments and
certain shots remain classic touches and trademark the film as a
memorable movie. The plot involving love against the odds and a struggle between social
distinctions/classes is hardly the simple cliche that many critical
approaches to the film emphasise. Its a daily, everday experience that
the film raises to epic, grand levels - as film inevitably always does
by its very nature. The story of two strangers who - through luck on
Jack's part, and failed social engineering on the part of Rose's mother

meet aboard the unsinkable super-ship Titanic and find themselves

subverting the order of things in the name of love - and finding that
love changed forever by the tragic sinking of Titanic - resonates with a
grandeur that is never arch or distant. The film always trusts the
youthful, idealistic exuberance of love and the rest of the events pale
into the background. If the script is anything it is a submissive crutch
to the passion which drives the film. If there is a common,
unsophisticated touch to it maybe that shouldn't be so quickly dismissed
or treated with such negative ire - common after all also means widely
circulated and available to more than a privileged few. The performances grow more interesting as time flows on. DiCaprio's
smarm becomes more and more of a charm as Winslet's reserve feels more
and more a crumbling cage for her passion. As a couple, they offer a
youthful charge never more apparent than in the scenes in the
lower-class quarters below as their romance takes a furious hold. And
the framing story is a nice adjunct as the adventurers and divers are
enthralled by the older Rose's heartbreaking tale of love, loss, and the
magic of memory. As a depiction of oral storytelling, it makes one long
for the intimacy of such a situation and cherish the deeper, felt
communication between friends, lovers and sometimes - maybe most
magically of all - strangers. Characters like Jack and Rose remind us of the romantic dreaminess of
being young and growing, learning and experiencing. Which remains a
great antidote to the cynicism and callousness of many other popular
films. Long live diversity and unexpected treasures like Titanic.