(Personal humble opinion, for record only, criticism and additions are welcome)
Coppola mentioned in a 1974 interview with DePalma that the film was inspired by Antonioni's "Zoom", but the character of the protagonist Harry Caul was inspired by Hesse's novel "Steppenwolf" " and the director's own experience.
In "Steppenwolf", the protagonist Harry Haller (Harry Haller) lives in isolation, and his human nature and wolf nature coexist but conflict, trying to divide him. When the film named the protagonist Harry, perhaps it also brought the characteristics of the novel's characters to the film's protagonist. The protagonist's surname is Caul, which literally means fetal membranes, and it's not hard to think of what Harry is wearing - the light gray trench coat outside the suit. This windbreaker is almost transparent. It is physically used to prevent wind and dust, keeping Harry's clothes clean, and psychologically, it protects Harry's privacy, and uses this layer of film to separate Harry from the outside world.
Incorporating the characters into the plot, we may be able to analyze the shaping of their characters in three parts.
Eavesdropping and Control
Eavesdropping, alienating the eavesdropping object, obtaining information from the dialogue, piecing together clues, inferring behavior, and making people think that they can control them and grasp their trends. Harry's eavesdropping work, let us see his superb technology, strategizing ability to layout, and a strong desire to control. After a meeting with his employer's secretary, his control over the tape was threatened, and Harry refused to deal with the secretary, insisting that he decide when and where it would be delivered in person. When a colleague, Stan, wanted to know more about the tapes, he was rebuffed by Harry, leading to Stan's resignation.
As the investigation deepened, his conscience outweighed his professionalism, and he began to wrestle with whether he should destroy the tapes and cancel the deal. After a night out with a strange woman, Harry discovers that the tape has been stolen. At this point, his control over the tapes was completely lost, but he still believed that he could control the development of events and interfere with the fate of the eavesdropper. It wasn't until he checked into the hotel that Harry realized that there was nothing he could do about the situation, and that the truth might just be his own hallucination. His paranoia also caused him to slowly lose control of himself.
safety and loneliness
Harry's paranoia stems from the nature of his work and his personal ability to be praised by his peers. He understands that there is no absolute privacy. Even with those closest to him, he refuses to reveal himself to them, and even storms out the door when they keep asking questions. But even so, his caution was in vain: he thought he was hiding, but the other party knew that he had observed her on the stairs for an hour before knocking on the door; even though Harry's apartment had three locks, the landlord still managed to get in. He gave him a birthday present; he called his employer from a public phone booth, falsely claiming that he had no phone in his room, but at the end was called home by the employer's secretary to warn him, and played the audio of him playing the saxophone, causing him to resent his room Nearly demolished.
His paranoia also made him suppress his emotions too much. He didn't dare to show his sincerity to those close to him, but he was eager to be understood and forgiven, so he anxiously went to another woman to "confess" to seek answers. As a result, he was secretly recorded, and angrily expelled his friends and colleagues who came to the party. Harry craves human contact, but morbidly draws boundaries to protect himself. The more uneasy, the farther away, the farther away the more lonely. The only person to whom he can reveal his helplessness and guilt is the priest.
Religion and Salvation
Harry's confession in church, let us know that he is a devout Catholic. He considers it blasphemous to mention God's name at every turn (even though it's just an exclamation in ordinary colloquial speech). At the end of the film, he first left the Madonna statue, and after rummaging through every corner and not finding a wiretapping device, he had to smash the Madonna statue, and there was nothing inside. Is this conveying a sense of nothingness after "God is dead"? we do not know. What we do know is that Harry was Catholic because Coppola was Catholic. He said that faith as a symbol in the film also has a meaning - he believes that confession is the oldest form of eavesdropping ( the oldest form of eavesdropping ).
In addition to the plot, the filming time is two years after the "Watergate Incident", and the Vietnam War is drawing to a close. Harry, a character struggling with professionalism and conscience, swaying in responsibility and self-redemption, may be a microcosm of American society at that time.
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