The Bear Season 3 Pays Tribute To A Legendary Director (Via A Movie You Probably Haven't Seen)
This article contains spoilers for "The Bear" season 3.
Previous seasons of "The Bear" have established that Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is something of a cinephile bro. The dude loves Michael Mann — his "gofastboatsmojito" WiFi password is a hilarious shout-out to Mann's 2006 "Miami Vice" movie — and he has a "White Squall" poster on the wall of his home, signaling his appreciation for one of director Ridley Scott's biggest box office bombs. In season 3, we find out that Richie is a fan of another uber-masculine director: the late, great William Friedkin.
In episode 4, "Violet," Richie walks into Sugar's (Abby Elliott) office and tapes a photo of a Japanese zen garden to her wall. When she asks what the photo is, he tells her a story:
"Oh, Zen garden. Kyoto, Philosopher's Path [...] well, this director that I admire, he visited this. And when he got there, he was like, 'What is this? A bunch of just rocks and combed sand?' He didn't really, you know, know what to make of it. But then, slowly, he began to realize –"
Sugar, who has heard this story before from her husband Pete, interrupts, recounting how the director came to understand that the rocks represented people, and we're all separated. An excited Richie finishes the director's anecdote, describing the garden as "an illustration of human nature, and how we are, all of us, alone in this world." That observation clearly hits home for Richie, who is feeling isolated in his personal life as his ex-wife prepares to marry a hot rich guy named Frank (a delightful cameo by Josh Hartnett; check out the full list of the season's cameos here) and Richie is unsure about the level of involvement he should have in his young daughter's life.
The Bear references a documentary about the great William Friedkin
The director in that story is William Friedkin, the filmmaker behind movies like "The French Connection," "To Live and Die in L.A.," "Killer Joe," "Sorcerer," "The Exorcist," and more. In the closing minutes of the 2020 documentary "Leap of Faith: William Friedkin On The Exorcist" (read our review here), Friedkin tells director Alexandre O. Philippe the tale of visiting this Japanese garden for the first time and how much of a profound impact it had on his life:
"People had told me, 'You must see the Zen garden.' Well, what the hell, I thought, was the Zen garden? I go there, and there's a piece of land and it's a sea of combed sand, and on it are several rocks. Each of the rocks is placed somewhere on this sea of sand. And there's some benches around it where people can sit down, and they're there to contemplate the Zen garden. And I sat down, and there were maybe only 20 people there, they were very quiet, and I thought, 'What is this? This is a bunch of rocks placed on a sea of combed sand.'
If you give yourself to it, this is what happened. I'm looking at this thing and trying to figure out, what is the attraction? Why is it so famous? Nobody knows when those rocks were put there, or by whom. So that begins to occupy your mind. The next thing you realize is that these rocks are like separate continents that will never come together. They will always live separately like that, like the continents of Earth. And then you begin to realize they're also like people. Like families, living alone. And then you start to realize that this is human nature. That we are all here alone. No matter how close we are to family or friends, we are in this world alone. And I wasn't there for — it's happening to me now, just talking about it — I wasn't there for 15 minutes before I started to cry. The tears started to roll down my cheeks. I was so profoundly moved by this simple image that indicated the separateness with which all of us live from each other. It has moved me to this day. I'll never forget that experience of Kyoto, and I'm anxious to have it again. It was probably over 40 years go that I've been there, but there's not a day goes by that I don't have images of that experience."
Friedkin's influence on Richie in The Bear
The fact that Richie is referencing this story, which, as far as I can tell, was not publicized outside of this somewhat obscure documentary, tells us a lot about this character: It gives us insight into his viewing habits, his level of fandom, and the inspiration he's able to take from these ultra-masculine filmmakers and apply to his own circumstances.
In an interview with NoFilmSchool, Philippe spoke about how Friedkin's response to this garden revealed a contradiction in him that the director found fascinating:
"I think we all have this image of William Friedkin — I mean, he is almost this mythical filmmaker at this point. Right? He's a mythical figure. We think of him as this maverick filmmaker who was shooting guns on set and slapping his actors across the face and doing a lot of crazy stuff — which he was — but I don't think that many of us really think there's this man who will go to the Kyoto Zen gardens and just start crying. Just looking at this garden of nothing but combed sand and stone, or going to the Chicago Art Institute every year or two to look at the same paintings over and over — who's all about grace notes and moments of simplicity."
That duality in Friedkin is similar to what makes Richie such a compelling character on "The Bear." The drastic evolution Richie underwent in season 2, learning from Chef Terry (Olivia Colman) at her upscale restaurant and embracing the importance and value of true service, was a transformative experience, but it wasn't enough to overhaul his entire personality. Like his filmmaking idols, Richie can still be obnoxious and maybe even occasionally dangerous or abusive, and while those aspects should not be excused or hand-waved away, there's also another side to him — one that embraces his own grace notes and tries to find them where his colleagues can't or won't.
As of this writing, I've only seen six episodes of "The Bear" season 3, so I don't know if Richie is able to quickly follow through on his dream to visit the garden himself one day. But if absolutely nothing else, this scene gave me a retort I will now use constantly: "Well, you know, his movies work on several levels."
You can currently stream "Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist" on Shudder. "The Bear" season 3 is now available on Disney+ and Hulu.