Scene Deconstruction - Drive - Elevator

Drive - Elevator Scene

Perhaps the best scene in this stylish, modern classic happens in an elevator going down. The scene begins with an argument between the titular Driver (Ryan Gosling at his most mysterious) and Irene (Carrie Mulligan at her most vulnerable) over the his involvement in the recent death of her convict husband. The elevator door opens revealing a strange man that we, the audience, know to be up to no good. The Driver instantly knows something is wrong, the look of confusion and then subsequent understanding flash across his eyes in an instant, just long enough for the audience to get that he knows this guy is bad news. But she doesn't see it and gets in without a second thought. Then the Driver follows her in, not because he wants to confront the man, but because he wants to protect her. All of this is conveyed in less than 3 seconds of film time. 

Inside the elevator, he confirms his suspicions by spotting the gun on the man's holster. He knows what he has to do and he hates himself for it. With the understanding that she will never look at him the same after what he is about to do, he turns, takes hold of her and kisses her passionately. Like a weight has been lifted, she gives into her feelings, knowing that she should still be grieving the man who was her husband, and kisses him back. Notice that the lighting changes to frame their embrace because, to them, nothing else exists in that moment. This is the culmination of all of their lovely experiences prior, the moment where they give in, he because he knows that it will be his last chance and her because she has been holding in a passion for the man who had shown her and her son such kindness and warmth.

Slowly, almost like a pair of entwined flags unfurling, they retreat. The lighting returns to normal and the Driver turns towards the man, jaw set. The man immediately reaches for his gun, signifying that he was indeed a threat, but the Driver is on him too quickly and smashes him against the side of the elevator, knocking him to ground. The Driver's foot lifts and crunches into the man's face once before it cuts back to the Drivers face and his foot from an upward angle. His face contorted with rage, the audience now understands what secret he has been holding back for the entire movie, the fact that he is a killer, a scorpion, something that despite his best efforts, he cannot change. Its another culmination of expectation, one that we didn't even know that we had, fulfilled.

Briefly the camera flashes on Irene trying to get as far away from the murder as she can but she can't escape it in so small a space. There's no unseeing what she is witnessing, there's no rebuilding of the crumbling image of the man she had fallen for so deeply. Returning to the Driver's foot smash down over and over, the audience is shown a tiny glimpse, less than half a second, of the level of violence that is being inflicted as the Driver's foot literally crunches through the skull of the hit man, a testament that The Driver is not only willing to kill but will do so without second thoughts or pity. 

The elevator doors open and she practically dives out, keen to separate herself from what just happened. Then she turns and stares at the driver, the picture of disillusionment. As though coming out of a trance, the Driver looks up, blood spattered across his face and stares back with such an utter sadness that she had seen him do this thing. He's not upset that he had just smashed someone's face into literal peices, he's devastated that, from this one moment on, the woman that he loves will never see him the same. All sound fades leaving them to simply contemplate each other and what they both just lost. The elevator door closes methodically, soundlessly and the scene ends.