Exemplary uses of voice-over in film

Post date: 31-Jan-2016 04:58:52

• 1. A Christmas Story (1983)

  2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

  3. About Schmidt

  4. Adaptation (2002)

  5. All About Eve (1950)

  6. Amélie (2001)

  7. American Psycho (2000)

  8. Annie Hall (1977)

  9. Apocalypse Now (1979)

  10. Avatar

  11. Badlands (1973)

  12. Band Of Outsiders (1964)

  13. Barry Lyndon

  14. Bitter Moon

  15. Bladerunner

  16. Blast Of Silence (1961)

  17. Casino (1995) (Here one of the secondary characters offers a few lines of inner monologue "...If there's one thing the bosses don't like, it's fucking around with the other guy's wife...so, I lied..." which has an intertextual connection to the book, based in part on witness testimony by a small-timer who was close to Tony Spilotro, on whom Joe Pesci's character was based on.)

  18. Dances With Wolves (anyone who adds a voice over using Kevin Costner should be punished)

  19. Days of Heaven (1978)

  20. Detour (1945)

  21. Diary of a Country Priest (1951)

  22. Dogville (John Hurt narrates in a similar way to “Diary of a Country Priest,” enacting the spiritual distress as well as the perversion of the townspeople)

  23. Double Indemnity (1944) and Sunset Blvd. (1950)

  24. Election (1999)

  25. Fallen Angels (1995)

  26. Fight Club (1999)

  27. George Washington (David Gordon)

  28. Goodfellas (1990, Karen also has several moments of narration))

  29. Histoire(s) du Cinema (1988-98)

  30. Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949)

  31. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

  32. Lessons Of Darkness (1992)

  33. Lolita

  34. Manhattan (1979, Manhattan-Taxi Driver voice-over mashup)

  35. Memento (2000)

  36. Night And Fog (1955) and Sans Soleil (1983)

  37. Raising Arizona (1987)

  38. Road To Utopia (1946)

  39. Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, as well as other of his films)

  40. Secret Beyond the Door (Fritz Lang's film switches narrators about 3/4 of the way through creating an interesting effect)

  41. Sunset Boulevard (1950)

  42. Taxi Driver (1976)

  43. The Big Lebowski (1998)

  44. The Butcher Boy (1997)

  45. The Informant! (2009)

  46. The Kid Stays In The Picture (2002)

  47. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

  48. The New World

  49. The Piano (1993)

  50. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

  51. The Stars Are Beautiful (1974)

  52. The Thin Red Line (1998)

  53. The Third Man

  54. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

Sources:

http://www.myrectumisnotagrave.com/biblio/ellenbergthesis.html

http://ehess.tessitures.org/scenographies/scenographies/virtuel/voix-off.html

http://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.com/

http://www.cinephile.ca/files/vol6no1-complete-withbleed.pdf

34 essential uses of voiceover in film (see the Comments section for further suggestions)

Top Ten Uses of Voice-Over on Film