Great Scene: “Fargo”

Carl and Grimsrud are stopped by a state trooper. Things get out of hand.

Joel and Ethan Coen are fascinated with violence, specifically a dynamism which tends toward unforeseen consequences. This scene in Fargo (1996) is a good example.

Plot summary: Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard’s inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen’s bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.

Written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen.

Scene setup: The two henchmen (Carl and Grimsrud) Jerry has hired to kidnap his wife are driving at night with Jean (Jerry’s wife) lying in the back seat.

Here is the move version of the scene:

As always with the Coens’ screenplays, what is scripted is what is shot. Dialogue. Word for word. Action. It’s pretty much all there.

I teach a one-week online class: Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling. One of my lectures is entitled, The Dynamism of Violence. Here is an excerpt:

The Coens use violence for its dynamism and specifically in two ways:

· Violence begets more violence.

· Violence creates unintended consequences.

For a pair of storytellers who enjoy putting ordinary characters in extraordinary circumstances, pitting characters against authority figures, trafficking in schemers, creating morally complicated universes and unresolved endings, along with motifs like twisting plots, misunderstandings, and getting in over one’s head, violence is the perfect fuel to drive their narratives.

The next session of Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling begins Monday, December 5th. You may learn more about it here.

For more Great Scene articles, go here.