 | Titanic 1997 film: Encyclopedia II - Titanic 1997 film - Plot summary
Titanic 1997 film - Plot summary
It is 1996, and a treasure hunter and his team explore the wreck of the RMS Titanic in their submersible. A safe is brought to the surface and is opened. It contains, not the fabled treasure the adventurers had hoped for, but only papers. One of them is a nude pencil portrait dated 14 April, 1912, and signed "JD". It shows a beautiful young woman reclining nude with casual modesty on a couch. On a necklace around her neck is the diamond they seek: The Heart of the Ocean.
Rose DeWitt Bukater, an ancient but still lively woman of 101 years (based upon the American artist Beatrice Wood), watches a CNN report of the treasure hunt and sees the nude portrait. She phones the treasure hunter Brock Lovett and informs him that she knows of the diamond, the Heart of the Ocean, and also the identity of the beautiful young woman in the portrait: "Oh, yes. The woman in the picture is me." Rose, accompanied by her granddaughter Lizzy, flies out to the recovery site and proceeds to tell the treasure hunters of her experiences on the Titanic.
Rose, just 17 years old in April of 1912, boards the ship with the upper-class passengers with her mother, society matron Ruth DeWitt Bukater; and her fiance, industrialist Caledon Hockley. Rose clearly does not feel very much for Caledon, but her mother pushes for the marriage for financial security, to maintain their current lavish lifestyle and bolster their social cachet among the Philadelphia elite. Meanwhile, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson wins third-class tickets to the ship in a poker game.
Rose is so unhappy about her forced engagement, as well as her endlessly shallow life, that she attempts to kill herself by jumping off the stern of the ship. Jack sees her and intervenes to prevent her suicide. Rose's company finds the two and Caledon reluctantly invites Jack to dine with their party the following evening in the first-class dining saloon in gratitude. In the meantime, Rose and Jack soon strike up a tentative friendship as he shares tales of his adventures in traveling and she expresses her own hopes, and he shows her his sketchbook of artwork. Their bond deepens when they later ditch the first-class formal dinner party for a much livelier gathering belowdecks in third-class.
Jack is clearly falling in love with Rose, but Rose is inclined to ignore their growing affection because of her engagement and their different social standings. But eventually she decides to throw caution to the wind and offer her heart to Jack. Rose asks Jack to sketch her wearing nothing but the Heart of the Ocean diamond, the same portrait the treasure hunters will find 84 years later. They later consummate their relationship in the backseat of a car in one of the ship's cargo holds.
In the meantime, Captain Edward J. Smith and his crew have been seemingly ignoring many warnings about upcoming ice fields in the ship's path, and the Titanic maintains the high speed suggested by White Star Line managing director J. Bruce Ismay even as the ship heads into the night. On the night of April 14, 1912, the two lookouts see an iceberg directly in the Titanic's path. Despite the many efforts of the crew and engineers, the ship strikes the massive berg, flooding the lower compartments past their "unsinkable" capacity and causing the ship to begin its unstoppable descent to disaster.
Caledon discovers the relationship between Jack and Rose and gets even by framing Jack for stealing his diamond. Even though she has the chance to escape the sinking ship early on with her mother, Rose runs away from Caledon — and her chance at getting into a lifeboat — to find Jack. She frees Jack and they try desperately to make their way back above decks to escape the rapidly sinking ship. They find many obstacles, including locked gates that are used to keep the third-class passengers from reaching the upper decks to safety, as well as Caledon's violent temper that forces them back to the lower decks. They finally make their way to the top deck, but the lifeboats are gone and they, along with hundreds of terrified passengers, have no choice but to try to head aft and stay on the ship for as long as possible before the titan sinks completely into the water. The bow of the ship sinks deeper and deeper until the pressure on the hull causes the ship to split completely in half, before the two halves finally go under at 2:20 AM on April 15.
Rose and Jack stick together and wait with the hundreds of other passengers thrashing helplessly in the water, shouting desperately for those in lifeboats to row back and rescue them. By the time one of the officers decides to row back and help those in need, almost all of the passengers have died of hypothermia in the freezing Atlantic Ocean. Rose is heartbroken to realize that Jack has succumbed, as well. She bids him goodbye, then manages to get the lifeboat's attention to come back and rescue her. The survivors in the lifeboats wait for hours until the RMS Carpathia, the closest ship to answer and heed the Titanic's radio distress signals, arrives to save them. Upon arrival at New York City, Rose discovers she still has the Heart of the Ocean tucked into the pocket of Caledon's coat.
As an old woman in 1996, Rose now goes onto the deck of the salvage ship and throws the Heart of the Ocean into the ocean where Jack died.
Back in Rose's room, the viewer sees pictures of her life's achievements, including a photograph of her riding a horse at the Santa Monica Pier, just as she and Jack had planned to do together. (To view some of these photos, go to http://www.rosedawson.com.) Rose lies in bed nearby, a scene where some fans have debated whether she is asleep or had passed away. Underwater, the Titanic looms out of the darkness and everything turns new again. A steward opens the doors from the promenade deck to the Grand Staircase, where all those who died on the ship smile in greeting. At the top of the staircase, Jack turns and smiles at Rose, a young girl of 17 again, smiling back as he helps her up the last few steps. They kiss as the crowd applauds at the couple.
Other related archives14 April, 1912, 1953, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2005, 20th Century Fox, AM, Academy Award, Academy Awards, Aliens, April 14, April 15, Art direction, Atlantic Ocean, Beatrice Wood, Ben-Hur, Bernard Fox, Bernard Hill, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Makeup, Best Picture, Bill Paxton, Billy Zane, CD-ROM, CNN, Caledon Hockley, Cinematography, Costume Design, Dalbeattie, Danny Nucci, David Warner, December 19, Direction, Edward J. Smith, Eric Braeden, Ewan Stewart, Film Editing, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Heaven's Gate, Houston Chronicle, Ioan Gruffudd, Iris, J. Bruce Ismay, Jack Dawson, James Bond, James Cameron, James Horner, Jon Landau, Jonathan Hyde, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Leonardo DiCaprio, March 23, Music (Original Dramatic Score), Music (Original Song), My Heart Will Go On, Máire Brennan, New York City, North America, November 15, November 16, November 7, October 25, Oscars, Paramount Pictures, Peter Lamont, RMS Carpathia, RMS Titanic, Robert Hichens, Roger Ebert, Rose DeWitt Bukater, Santa Monica Pier, Scotland, Simon Thompson, Sound, Sound Effects Editing, Suzy Amis, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Titanic, Titanic soundtrack, Tom Johnson, Tomorrow Never Dies, Victor Garber, Visual Effects, Will Jennings, William McMaster Murdoch, bed, best picture, consummate, diamond, disaster film, dramatic, film, goodbye, horse, hypothermia, kiss, lifeboats, newsreel, ocean, photograph, ship, smiles, steward, suicide, widescreen
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Plot summary", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
