The definition of “door” is “a hinged, sliding, or revolving barrier at the entrance to a building, room, or vehicle, or in the framework of a cupboard” (Wordreference).
In The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola uses doors as a motif and for foreshadowing. There are many scenes that are filmed through doors; they show the public and private events through an open or closed door. There are many scenes in The Godfather that are filmed through an open door. The way the scene is filmed makes the audience feel as they are a part of the scene.
With an open door, the scene becomes public, where other characters could perhaps be involved. With a closed door, it becomes a private scene limited to the people who are in the room. One scene in The Godfather that shows this is when Michael Corleone is told that his father, Don Vito Corleone, was shot. He rushed to the phone booth and closes the door on Kay, showing a private scene between him and someone on the other end of the phone. Where his family life is concerned, the scene becomes private and excludes Kay.
In The Godfather, doors are also used for foreshadowing. During one scene of The Godfather, the camera passes a door with a fish on it. The reason for the focus on fish on the door is to represent that Don Vito Corleone was shot and was meant to “sleep with the fish”. Later on in the movie, Sollozzo sent a fish with a bullet proof vest to the Corleones, symbolizing how they tried to kill Don Vito Corleone to get him “to sleep with the fish.”
Although, I would agree with you that doors are indeed used by Francis Ford Coppola as a motif, I am under the impression that it is not so much foreshadowing. In the example used, where you mentioned how the door with fishes was foreshadowing I would argue that it does not relate to the door so much. The fishes themselves are foreshadowing. But, in my opinion, the door is not related to this point. Other then that I would agree that the doors are a strong motif throughout the movie.
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