An iceberg. A shipwreck. A wooden board too small for two people. And a particularly tragic end for Rose and Jack.
Everyone knows the sad conclusion of Titanic, directed by James Cameron in 1997, and many spectators still remember crying all the tears in their bodies when they saw Leonardo DiCaprio gradually disappearing into the icy waters of the ocean, the end.
But originally, as we discover by viewing the cut scenes of the film, another love story with a dramatic outcome was to appear in the feature film. This romance indeed concerned Fabrizio, the Italian friend of Jack Dawson, and a passenger of Norwegian origin called Helga.
In the traditional version of the film, their romance is barely mentioned. Indeed, we simply see them exchange a first glance when they cross furtively in the corridors of the liner, in the beginning, and dance together a few moments during the party organized by the passengers of the third class.
Their relationship, however, appears to be much more developed through two sequences that were ultimately left out of the final cut. Also located during the evening, the first allows us to attend the meeting between the two characters, who discuss seated in a corner. Fabrizio then tries to teach the young girl a few words of English.
The second cut scene (below) takes place in the second half of the film, as the Titanic sinks and the lowliest passengers desperately try to reach the upper deck of the ship. After reuniting with their friends, Jack and Rose prepare to lead them outside, and Fabrizio then begs Helga to follow them.
Torn between her beloved and her parents, the young girl finally decides to stay with her family, and the two lovers separate after exchanging a passionate kiss. “I will never forget you”, exclaims the young man, looking at Helga one last time.
If these farewells are so tragic, it is because neither of the two characters survives the sinking. Indeed, a little later in the film, Fabrizio dies when one of the chimneys of the Titanic collapses on him. As for Helga, she finds herself right next to Jack and Rose on the railing of the boat, when the wreckage is vertical but ends up letting go and falling to her death.
In the last seconds of the film, however, when Rose closes her eyes and finds all the passengers who disappeared during the terrible sinking, we can see Fabrizio and Helga reunited again in front of the main staircase of the Titanic.
