Heart of the Ocean

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For other uses, see Heart of the Ocean (disambiguation).
The Heart of the Ocean (also known as Le Cœur de la Mer) is the name of a fictional blue diamond featured prominently in the 1997 film Titanic. In the story, the diamond was originally owned by Louis XVI and cut into a heart shape after the French Revolution. Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane), the wealthy son of a Pittsburgh steel tycoon, purchased the diamond for his fiancée Rose (Kate Winslet).

Contents

In the film

In the film, treasure hunter Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) searches for a necklace, which he believes to be within the wreck of the RMS Titanic. His hunch seems to be confirmed when his team salvages a drawing, dated April 14, 1912, the day the Titanic struck an iceberg, in which a nude woman is portrayed wearing only the necklace. The necklace was fashioned from a large blue diamond worn by Louis XVI. (An homage to the real Hope Diamond, which Lovett mentions to be worth less than the Heart.) Shortly after his execution in 1793, the diamond disappeared and was recut into a heart-like shape, known as "The Heart of the Ocean". The story of the heart of the ocean is very like the story of the Hope Diamond, except that the Hope Diamond was worn by Louis XIV in a royal necklace rather than a crown.
The woman in the picture, Rose DeWitt Bukater (Gloria Stuart (old) and Kate Winslet (young)) contacts Lovett and is flown out to his recovery ship where she relates the story of her trip. She reveals that, although now known as Rose (Dawson) Calvert, she is in fact the girl in the drawing. Rose's fiancé Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane) had bought the "Cœur de la Mer". Rose wore the necklace when Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) drew her – the very drawing that was later salvaged. When Rose and Jack return to her suite after having fled Caledon's valet, Spicer Lovejoy (David Warner), he meets them outside the door, chastising them, taking hold of Jack's arm and steadily dropping the necklace into Jack's coat, undetected. As they enter the room, they are confronted by Caledon, who claims Jack has stolen the necklace. In a short search of Jack, the diamond is found in the coat he is wearing. Jack's pleas of innocence are thrown in doubt when it is discovered that he has "borrowed" the coat he is wearing to sneak into first class, and he is branded a thief.
Before the ship sinks, Caledon puts his top coat on Rose, failing to realize that the necklace was in its pocket until later. After the sinking, Rose is still wearing the coat. During her arrival to New York City, Rose discovers the necklace in the coat.
At the end of the film, Rose walks alone to the stern of the salvage ship and opens her hands to reveal the necklace, which she has always kept a secret. She lets the necklace fall from her hand and into the water above the wreck of the ship.

Alternate ending

Many of the deleted scenes from the film displayed Lovett's obsessive curiosity as to the whereabouts of the diamond during the course of Rose's story. In one deleted scene, after Cal realizes that the diamond was in the coat he gave to Rose, he sends Lovejoy to retrieve it, promising the diamond to Lovejoy if he succeeds (which Lovejoy fails after a fight with Jack). In the alternate ending, Lovett and Lizzy (Suzy Amis), Rose's granddaughter, notice her walking along the deck, toward the stern of the ship. They notice her stepping on to the railing and quickly run to confront her. She shows them the diamond, dangling it over the rail threatening to drop it in order to keep them back. When questioned about having the necklace all this time, Rose admits that there were many times she thought of selling it, but refrained from doing so in order to live on her own without Cal's money. She allows Lovett to hold it in the palm of his hand, something he wanted to do since he first began the search for the gem, before flinging it overboard.

Origin

The idea of a blue diamond is also in the 1943 film Titanic. In this film, the diamond plays an important role in a love affair as well. In the film, the diamond is stolen and creates a dramatic break in a romantic relationship, this being a primary factor in the drama of the film.

Original and reproductions

London-based jewelers Asprey & Garrard used cubic zirconias set in white gold[1] to create the Edwardian style necklace used as a prop in the film. While the Titanic was filming in Halifax, the crew hit rough waters, so they turned to GF Roberts Jewellery to redesign the "Heart of the Ocean" pendant, and create three lookalikes to prevent losing the original at sea. Today, the original necklace resides in the private archives of George Holmes, who acquired it from 20th Century Fox in 2009.[2] After the film's success, Asprey & Garrard were commissioned to create an authentic Heart of the Ocean necklace using the original design. The result was a platinum-set, 171-carat (34 g) heart-shaped Ceylon sapphire surrounded by 103 diamonds.[1] The necklace was valued for up to $4 million and was donated to Sotheby's auction house in Beverly Hills for an auction benefiting the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and Southern California's Aid For AIDS. It was sold to an unidentified Asprey client[3] for $2.2 million,[4] under the agreement that Celine Dion would wear it two nights later at the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony. She sang the film's theme song "My Heart Will Go On". [5] Neither of Asprey's creations have ever been made available for public viewing.
During the same period, jeweler Harry Winston used a 15-carat (3.0 g) blue diamond in his interpretation of the necklace. This $20 million necklace was worn by Gloria Stuart (old Rose) to the 1998 Academy Awards.[6]
Less expensive reproductions have also been available since the release of the film. The J. Peterman Company made reproductions in 1997 when the film was released. Their necklace consisted of 137 Austrian crystals and a detachable, inauthentic "blue diamond" pendant packaged in a navy blue, hinged presentation box.[7] Although no longer available through J. Peterman, various replica movie necklaces are available through online purchase within the decade from the release of the movie.

In popular culture

  • In the American Dad! episode "The Magnificent Steven" - at one point - Roger is "drawing [Hayley] nude wearing the Heart of the Ocean".
  • In the Futurama episode "A Flight to Remember" – a parody of Titanic – the robot Bender's aristocrat love interest owns an enormous diamond on a chain. After she sacrifices herself to save the rest of the group, the diamond is all Bender has to remind himself of her, but quickly loses interest when Hermes Conrad determines it to be a fake.
  • In the 2004 animated film Shark Tale, Lino throws Sykes into the picture of Rose that Jack drew of her wearing the Blue Heart of the Ocean.
  • In the Britney Spears music video "Oops!... I Did It Again", an astronaut gives the necklace to Britney, who says, "But I thought the old lady dropped it into the ocean in the end?" The astronaut replies: "Well baby, I went down and got it for you." Then the song goes on.
  • In The Simpsons episode "The Old Man and the 'C' Student", there is a parody scene in which Smithers is drawing Mr. Burns, as Jack drew Rose, on a yacht, in which he draws Mr. Burns in the nude wearing the necklace.
  • The NewsRadio episode "Sinking ship" is a parody of Titanic. Dave gives the necklace to Lisa for her birthday, who says, "It's a bit much."
  • In the 2003 movie Bruce Almighty, Bruce Nolan, aboard the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls, asks a woman he refers to as "Katharine Hepburn's mom", "Tell me, why did you toss the "blue heart of the ocean" jewel over the railing of Titanic?"
  • In The Suite Life on Deck episode "The Kidney of the Sea." Zack is accused by Violet's boyfriend of stealing the necklace, a parody of The Heart of the Ocean. The episode itself is completely a parody of the Titanic movie. Jack is portrayed to be Zack, Violet is Rose. Ashton is Cal. Cal is a rich, first class teenager aboard with Violet and her mother. Zack saves Violet from being hit with flying cake and she invites him to dinner to show her gratitude. At dinner, Ashton gives Violet the Kidney of the Sea and later accuses Zack of stealing it. After Zack falls into the hot tub, Violet clutches him from outside and says she will never let go. In the end, Violet tosses the necklace into the ocean.

References

  1. ^ a b Diane Sawyer interview with Terry Davidson. 11 March 1998. Accessed from http://www.oocities.org/heartland/acres/1561/heart.html
  2. ^ "Star Styles." Wolfson, Nancy. Good Housekeeping. November 2008.
  3. ^ "Heart Of The Matter." Van Der Voort, Jane. The Toronto Sun. 11 February 2001.
  4. ^ Necklace fetches Titanic $ 17m at Di fund-raiser. South China Morning Post. 23 March 1998.
  5. ^ Stars Come Out for Diana Auction. Webb, Cynthia L. Associated Press. 21 March 1998.
  6. ^ A History of Diamonds at the Oscars. PR Newswire Europe. 23 March 2001.
  7. ^ J. Peterman Co. Finds Merchandising "Jewel" in "Titanic"; "Heart of the Ocean" Necklace To Be Sold Through Company's Catalog. Business Wire. 23 March 1998.