This paper engages in an exercise in metaphorical understanding by looking at a duet from the first scene, Act I, of Verdi's <La Traviata> through cinema or, more precisely, the fiction film. A visually more demonstrative presentation of the psychological dimension of this scene in necessary if the contribution of the duet to the opera as a whole is to emerge. For besides playing a pivotal role in the opera's narrative, the duet also functions as the stylistic and poetic source of much of what follows. It is in the duet that the two protagonists carve out a space for themselves, an occurrence that casting them against the other guests would not only clarify but also imbue with meaning, it is during the duet, moreover, that Violetta and Alfredo's singing is first defined as expressive not only of a profound sense of complicity but also a certain register of speech, itself index of a positive disregard for the world around them.