10 Best Twilight Moments
8. The Meal
“I heard what those low-lives were thinking.”
After saving Bella for the second time, Edward takes her out for a meal where strangely he doesn’t order any food for himself. At this point Bella seems to be getting tired of not getting any answers from Edward. She is just getting up to walk out on him when he reveals to her – and to us – that he can read minds. As he picks through the minds of the restaurant’s patrons we have a choice to make: do we believe him?
This is a moment that wonderfully constructs a sense of intimacy in such a crowded space. Despite being in a restaurant filled with other people, Bella and Edward seem only to be with each other. The power of this is that it follows the high energy of the scene before, where Edward saves Bella from a group of men who were harassing her. That energy simmers into this next scene, gently bubbling away as we are allowed to scrape away at Edward, learning even more about his powers.
This is the first time that Bella and Edward make a choice to be together outside of school. Not only is Edward revealing more about himself, he is revealing more about his feelings towards Bella. It is a moment that resonates with all of us; it is a first date, a sharing of secrets, and an admittance of a fascination with another person.
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7. Edward Takes Bella Flying Through the Trees
“This isn’t real. This kind of stuff just doesn’t exist.”
One of the most iconic and well-recognised moments in Twilight, this scene takes us through the trees in a visually stunning sequence.
Bella is at Edward’s house for a somewhat unconventional ‘meet the family’. Meeting the parents is nerve-wracking enough without them being vampires, so it’s not surprising that Bella doesn’t quite know how to react to their varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Awkward interactions aside, Bella is shown to Edward’s room, at which point Edward scoops Bella up and leaps out of the window. What follows is a beautiful journey through the forest, as the pair scale the trees and fly from one to another. We can literally see Bella’s horizons widening as she is allowed into Edward’s world, and he into hers. It is a moment of trust, and is strengthened by the iconic “Bella’s Lullaby”, making it such a striking and important moment for fans of the film.
In spite of the rushing from tree to tree, there is a sense of peace and belonging, as if this is just where they are meant to be. It almost acts as the calm before the storm, this perfect moment where it can’t possibly get any better but it can of course get much worse.
6. Enter the Cullens
“They kind of keep to themselves.”
The Cullens have had a special place in our hearts ever since they made their slow-motion entrance into the school cafeteria not even 10 minutes into the film. There is a seemingly effortless perfection about them throughout the whole saga and we never feel it more than in their grand entrance.
Like any great 2000s teen film, they’re given the ‘who are they?’ moment. Think Mean Girls but ever so slightly more incestuous. We learn from Bella’s new school chums that the five Cullens’ are all adopted and that they are also in relationships with one another. Is that allowed? We’re not sure.
Immediately something seems off, but because they’re just about as perfectly beautiful as the elves from The Lord of the Rings, they come across as fascinating, mysterious, and alluring. And then of course there’s Edward. Following the two Cullen couples is this tall, pale, and moody young man. A teen emo’s dream. To a first-time viewer, meeting the Cullens invites intrigue, and to a die-hard fan it whispers of all the things to come.
