User:Viriditas/Tears in Rain


 * For the 1989 album of the same name by This Ascension, see Tears in Rain (album)

"Tears in Rain" refers to the death scene of Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) from the science fiction film Blade Runner (1982). The film was directed by Ridley Scott and the scene was written by David Peoples, with improvised dialogue added by actor Rutger Hauer. The line, "All these moments will be lost in time like tears in rain", was written by Hauer on the set as the crew was finishing the shot. The simile of "like tears in rain" is significant, as the organ of the eye is one of the primary symbols in the film. Philosophical questions about what it means to be human are embedded in the scene, and a powerful score by Vangelis uses church bells to illustrate religious symbolism. The scene was shot on the last night of production while the crew was up against a strict deadline and the dawn of the rising sun.

Film critic Desson Howe called Rutger Hauer's performance and monologue "one of the most touching in modern movie history."

Speech
The character of Roy Batty, a genetically engineered humanoid (replicant), is reaching the end of his built-in four-year lifespan. As he dies, Batty speaks about his memories during his short lifetime:

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All these moments will be lost in time. Like tears in rain. Time to die."

Production
"Tears in Rain" was the last scene shot for Blade Runner. Bud Yorkin and Jerry Perenchio of Tandem Productions were getting ready to stop production because the film had gone approximately 5 million dollars over budget. In the scene, actors Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer appear on the roof of the Bradbury Building at night, fighting to the death. Instead of the actual roof, a 20 foot high set was created on a back lot. The crew had been working for more than 24 hours trying to finish the film when Hauer presented director Ridley Scott with new dialogue he had written for Batty's final death scene; Hauer wrote and improvised the line, "All these moments will be lost in time like tears in rain". After Batty dies, the night sky appears bluer than black in the film due to the dawn of the rising sun. According to at least one account of the shooting, the crew applauded at the end of Hauer's monologue with some people crying on the set.

Scott described Hauer's writing and performance in this scene as "wonderful", while producer Michael Deeley called the end result "pure magic".

Interpretation
In a 1984 interview with film critic Danny Peary, Ridley Scott presents Batty as a sympathetic antihero:

"Batty's death scene is in a way the final demonstration of his superiority over Deckard and the replicants' superiority over human beings. He could have taken Deckard's life—Deckard had just killed Pris—but decided as a gift to let him live. The white pigeon that he sets into the sky is, of course, a symbol of peace and life."

Critics often use this scene to compare Batty to the Creature in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, observing that Batty's speech alludes to the last words of the Creature:

"'But soon,' he cried, with sad and solemn enthusiam, 'I shall die'... He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance...'"

Score
"Tears in Rain" is also the name of the last track of the official score for the film by Vangelis that scores the scene. Elements of the Main Titles theme support Batty's speech, structured with strings, brass, and church bells. Michael Hannan and Melissa Carey describe the feeling of the scene as calm but forceful in its impact:

"Here the mood is more serene but the strings and brass orchestration is nonetheless very powerfully scored. Both these cues are examples of monumentalising the drama of near death and death itself. The church bells bring an effective religious dimension to the scenes to strengthen visual imagery such as the dove that Roy releases as he dies."