At the sound of Stanley calling for her, Stella steps outside. She stands at the top of the stairs, looking down with an expression that is equal parts fed up and exhausted. Stanley stares back at her, his own expression guilty and pleading. She descends slowly, keeping her eyes on him, though now her expression appears more reproachful. It’s clear that in this moment, she holds all of the power, and she knows it; every slight, deliberate movement of her body is brimming with sensuality, heightened by the sultry soundtrack. She reaches the ground, sees her husband fall to his knees as he sobs with fear and regret, and suddenly her expression turns to one of anguish, of pity. The sexuality is palpable, the moment so impossibly raw; she leans down over him, and they kiss, both of them sobbing with remorse as they embrace, level with one another now–equal. We track them as he lifts her up, carrying her into their home off screen.
While it’s not completely accurate to how the scene is written in the play, I much prefer Kazan’s take on it. Williams writes that Stella’s eyes “are glistening with tears” as she descends the staircase; to have her instead be facing Stanley somewhat defiantly, to have her asserting control over him as she makes her way down, makes for a much more engaging scene and shows a more interesting dynamic between these two characters. To have her feelings change to be more sympathetic only later on, at the very end of the scene, adds a new layer of complexity to their relationship. When she wants or needs to be, she can be just as controlling over Stanley as he is over her. There is something of a threat in the way that she regards him, and it becomes even clearer with his final words of the scene: “Don’t ever leave me, baby.” She isn’t entirely helpless; she knows how to manipulate, how to dominate, how to threaten—in this case, she doesn’t even need words.
This is a scene that tells us everything we need to know about these two characters; it tells a story all its own. Without it, or if it had been filmed as Williams originally intended it to be, I doubt it would have as great of an impact or have quite as much to say about Stanley and Stella.