Why You Can't Hear The Dialogue in Tenet
3,914,031
Published 2021-02-02
After Tenet, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and The Dark Knight Rises, people have complained about not being able to hear or understand some lines of dialogue in Christopher Nolan's films. In this video, I look at the explanations Nolan has given, and who is right, Nolan or the audience.
// Citations:
Hollywood Reporter Interview: www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/christophe…
Indiewire: www.indiewire.com/2017/07/dunkirk-too-loud-christo…
The Nolan Variations: amzn.to/3teMZWh
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00:00 Intro: "What did they say?
00:59 I. "Don't try to hear it, feel it."
03:10 II. Nolan's Response
06:54 III. A Controlling Interest in Snobbery
08:41 IV. Two Sides of The Coin
All Comments (21)
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"Just use subtitles if you can't hear it" Subtitles: ["Quiet talking"]
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"Nolan, people are complaining they can't understand Bane." "I'll give them something to complain about." "What's that supposed to mean?" [inaudible]
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i feel like that scene where he's in the art safe room, the music overpowering the speech slowly was like showing us that whatever the guide was saying didn't matter at all, they wanted us to pay attention to the details that were shown instead of listening to what was said.
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I saw tenet in imax and still couldn't understand far too many important lines. And my biggest issue is that issue of not knowing whether a line is supposed to be able to be heard or not
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Nolan is working on a years long meta project to show us the suffering of Beethoven as he gradually lost his hearing.
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Why couldn't Nolan just come out and say "Yo I'm sorry, I just really wanted yall to experience this fire soundtrack"
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I think the dialogue in Interstellar and Dunkirk was a realism technique to make you feel more immersed in the scene; there's a lot of loud noises so naturally you should have a hard time hearing the pilots in Dunkirk or Tars and the car passengers in Interstellar. But in Tenet I don't know why they aren't trying to achieve realism or anything like that. The boat scene might make sense if they weren't wearing MICROPHONES THAT INTEND TO HELP EACH OTHER HEAR THEIR VOICES BETTER FOR THIS VERY REASON.
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I think it should also be remembered that in the mixing process, when they're listinging to a line 10 or 100 times, the people working on the film know what the characters are saying, so it's easier for them to distinguish what they say in the final product. For audiences listening to it for the first time, it's a different issue entirely and I don't think Nolan has yet grasped that.
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A wise man once told me, "they won't find the plot holes if they can't hear them"
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The reason Nolan was so mad about movies coming directly to streaming services was because they would have subtitles by default
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That's crazy, I never knew about this because, as a non native english speaker, I watch my movie with english subtitle. I thought I understood it clearly, but I didn't. You made me realise that I probably have a complete different experience than the people complaining about it. Thank you for all the amazing video you give us, you realy help expanding my perspective and knowledge about filmmaking.
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I watched Tenet 3 times in Showcase XPLUS - great 4K laser projector, and excellent speakers with crystal clear sound. The dialogue was incredibly difficult to understand and the repeat viewings did not make it easier. Why did I watch it so many times? I LOVED the score lol.
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Nolan says Tenet will resurrect the theatre industry and then only makes his movie enjoyable for a select number of high-end theatres.
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That scene when the art guy is explaining the vault always seemed deliberate to me, like we're concentrating on R Pats thinking about the job and almost zoning out the detail cos he's too busy scoping the layout
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The biggest irony is, I can hear the sound better at my home compared to the theatre - where Nolan wants you to watch it. You're doing a great job of getting people back to theatres, Nolan.
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In Sin City there is a word that someone shouts that is vital for the story but you can't hear it because the other character in that scene couldn't hear it, it is later revealed what that word was and in that moment the main character realises they fucked up and that it could have been avoided provided he had understood what was being shouted at him previously
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"Dialogue is a sound effect" super loud score plays whilst people talk in a quiet building
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Because of reverse entropy, the sounds are leaving our ears and going into their mouth
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By keeping his films mixed only for top of the line theaters, Nolan is cutting out a lot of future viewers of his movies who would discover them in future generations, but won't stick with them because they can't hear what the hell is going on. I appreciate that he wants to concentrate on offering the best theatrical experience possible, but a majority of his potential audience doesn't even have access to a top of the line theater.
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A very well analysed video. I think Oppenheimer has been a considerable improvement on the sound mixing and exposition
