Sound technique · used in 10 films
Using a narrator's voice to guide the story, either as flat documentary report or as a voice that gets interrupted. The narration shapes how much you trust the telling.
Examples
Orson Welles · 1942
Welles himself narrates the film and even speaks the closing credits. His calm, storybook voice sets up the family's rise before the story goes wrong.
Where to see it: The opening narration: Welles describes the town and the family's grandeur, then lets the story start.
Stanley Kubrick · 1956
A narrator, credited as The Narrator, gives the story the feel of a documentary report. Contemporary reviewers noted this style, which can be confusing at first. The flat, factual voice makes the robbery feel like something that really happened.
Where to see it: The narration through the heist. A calm voice sets out the day's events like a report.
François Truffaut · 1970
Itard's diary voice-over runs through the film, which has very little dialogue. His calm, scientific tone records each small step. You learn what he hopes for and how much he cares.
Where to see it: The diary entries. Itard describes Victor's progress in a measured voice over scenes of lessons.
Martin Scorsese · 1973
Scorsese himself narrates throughout, a device he took from Fellini's I Vitelloni. His voice gives Charlie's guilt a spoken weight without showing the director. It makes the film feel like a personal memory of a neighborhood.
Where to see it: The opening: Scorsese's voice tells you that you do not make up for your sins in church, and the film goes into Charlie's story.
Martin Scorsese · 1995
For most of the film, Nicky's voice sits right next to Ace's, chatty and sure of himself. In the cornfield, his narration cuts off mid-sentence as the bats start swinging. Losing his voice is how you know he's gone.
Where to see it: The cornfield. Nicky and his brother Dominick are beaten with baseball bats and buried in a shallow grave.
Terry Gilliam · 1998
Duke narrates in a fast, dry voice, and he reports the madness the way a reporter would report a news story. The calm tone is funny against the chaos. It also lets you know he is a writer trying to make sense of what he sees.
Where to see it: The desert drive. Duke complains of giant bats and counts off the stash in the trunk, while his voice walks you through the trip.
Todd Field · 2006
A narrator, Will Lyman, describes the characters in a calm, literary voice as if from a book. He sounds amused and distant. The narration tells you these people are small and confused, even when they believe they are making grand decisions.
Where to see it: The playground. The narrator describes the parents watching their children at the park.
Lee Chang-dong · 2010
At the end, the teacher reads Mi-ja's poem Agnes's Song aloud. Mi-ja's voice begins it and then Agnes's voice takes over, following a path to the bridge. The film ends on Agnes's half-smile to the camera.
Where to see it: The final poem: Agnes's voice takes over the poem and Agnes turns to look into the camera.
Paul Thomas Anderson · 2014
Sortilège, voiced by Joanna Newsom, narrates the film. She is a friend of Doc's, and her voice sits over the events like a mood. It makes the story feel remembered.
Where to see it: Sortilège's narration. She comments on Doc's cases in a calm voice while the plot spins.
Brady Corbet · 2018
Willem Dafoe narrates in a dry, all-knowing voice. He tells you facts about Celeste, her sister and her era as if reading a file. The distance makes the story feel both mythic and cold.
Where to see it: The narration across the film. Dafoe's dry voice comments on Celeste and her world as if reading from a record.
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