Narrative technique · used in 10 films
Running several separate storylines side by side, sometimes leading them to collide, so each thread comments on the others and the whole becomes a larger picture.
Examples
Orson Welles · 1973
The film cuts between de Hory's forgeries and Irving's fake Howard Hughes biography. The two con men comment on each other, and Welles is a third fake in the mix.
Where to see it: De Hory and Irving: their stories alternate, and you realize the forger's biographer is a forger too.
François Truffaut · 1973
Several romances and crises run alongside the shoot. Alphonse's lover leaves him for the stuntman, a supporting actress turns out to be pregnant and Julie recovers from a breakdown. Each thread comments on the others.
Where to see it: The Alphonse and Julie story. After his lover leaves him, Alphonse spends a night with Julie and then tells her husband.
Alfred Hitchcock · 1976
Blanche and George hunt for the heir while Arthur and Fran kidnap wealthy people for diamonds. The 2 plots run in parallel until Blanche rings the kidnappers' doorbell. The film is built on the question of when they will collide.
Where to see it: The doorbell. Blanche tracks down Arthur Adamson's address and arrives as he and Fran are loading a kidnapped bishop into their car.
Steven Spielberg · 1979
The film follows many small stories at once, from a tank crew at a cafe to pilots, a family in Santa Monica and spotters on a Ferris wheel. They all pile into the same chaos. You enjoy watching them collide.
Where to see it: The finale. The submarine fires on the pier, and the Ferris wheel falls into the ocean.
Robert Altman · 1993
The film cuts among about 2 dozen characters across the city. A pool cleaner, a baker, a cop, a jazz singer and a family at a hospital never get their own separate movies. Their lives overlap by small coincidences, so the city feels like one big nervous system.
Where to see it: The opening: helicopters spray for medflies across Los Angeles. The flight path brings various characters into the film.
Wong Kar-wai · 1994
The film is two stories that touch in one brief moment. At the end of the first, Cop 223 bumps into Faye at the food store, and then the second story picks her up. The pairing of two lonely cops lets each story comment on the other.
Where to see it: The collision at the food stall. Cop 223 runs into Faye at the Midnight Express, and the film turns to Cop 663.
Todd Field · 2006
The affair, Ronnie's story and Larry's obsession with him run side by side. They finally collide on one night in a park. Each thread comments on the others.
Where to see it: The final night. Brad is knocked out on his way to Sarah, and Ronnie meets Sarah and her daughter at the playground.
Woody Allen · 2012
The film follows Hayley and her opera-director father, newlyweds Antonio and Milly, the sudden celebrity Leopoldo, and the architect John. They never really share one plot. Together they show different sides of the same idea, which is how strange and fleeting fame, love and talent can be.
Where to see it: The four stories. Each opens on its own characters, including Hayley's family arriving to meet her Italian fiance.
Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski, Tom Tykwer · 2012
The film runs six separate stories side by side: a ship voyage in 1849, a composer in 1936, a journalist in 1973, a publisher in 2012, a clone in 2144 and a tribesman in 2321. Each one echoes the others, so a theme like freedom grows across the centuries.
Where to see it: The six stories: The film hops between Adam Ewing, Robert Frobisher, Luisa Rey, Timothy Cavendish, Sonmi-451 and Zachry Bailey.
Sean Baker · 2015
Sin-Dee, Alexandra and Razmik each get their own thread through the day. Razmik's mother-in-law also goes looking for him. All of them end up in the same donut shop, so every thread you were following collides in one room.
Where to see it: The donut shop confrontation. Sin-Dee, Chester, Dinah, Razmik and his family all argue at once until the shop owner kicks them out.
Questions