ABSTRACT
The opening scene of Copolla’s The Conversation (1974) inevitably runs through my mind as I tap on the darkened window of a white van parked on a north London street. In the movie we would cut to a space of inner technology, the muscles of Gene Hackman’s face tightening with the tension of the operation, the whispered messages from the cameramen and the microphone operators inside and circulating the vehicle. Gene Hackman goes to the back of the van and cautiously opens the door.
