Mise en Scéne in The Godfather

The Godfather is a movie that positively oozes Mise on scéne. Throughout it's nearly three hours of playtime, it commits to a presentation of the time period in which it is set. Beyond chronology, however this film commits itself to the presentation of character moods and ambitions in all of it's scenes. No where is this more apparent than in the Don's office.

The office has drawn shades and is only lit as well as necessary. The walls bear pictures of family, making it clear where priorities lie. The dominate feature of the room, however, is the desk of the Godfather. It makes a clear divide across the room, separating the one in charge from everyone else. When a more personal exchange is called for, he is the one who come out from behind the desk, not the other way around. The desk is clearly an heirloom and something of tremendous value to the Corleones. At the end of the film, we see that it is one of the absolute last things to be removed from the house.