Stephen Brody wonders: " But that raises a question for me. Are voice-overs and similar devices which are taken to be unreliable considered to be part of the diegesis, or are they non-diagetic?" That would depend on context, I think. If the voice-over is not a character within the diegesis of the film, he/she is nondiegetic. Reliability would depend on the degree to which we trust or learn to fail to trust this narrator. For example, the voice-over at the beginning of DR. STRANGELOVE announcing that the Russians have invented a "Doomsday Device" is clearly objective, setting important background knowledge for the film. On the other hand, in BAND OF OUTSIDERS Godard's narrator continually describes and explains that action, except that several times even his descriptions fail to gibe with what we actually see on the screen. Compare the use of the device by Orson Welles. In THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, the narrator is apparently objective, but at the beginning of the film enters into what seems to be dialogue with the characters, with his pronouncements about George Minnifer and others being filled out or elucidated by the characters within the diegesis who are talking to each other. On the other hand, in F FOR FAKE, Welles himself announces at the beginning that everything we are going to see in the next hour and a half is absolutely true. The film goes on to meditate amusingly about art, forgery, lying and personalities, including Welles himself, ending with an anecdote about Picasso. At the very end, Welles confesses: And that story about Picasso? Well, you remember that I promised that everything you saw in the next hour and a half would be true-- an hour and 45 minutes ago! [the times are approximate], with that Wellesian twinkle in his eye! Finally, we have narrators who are also characters within the film and therefore diegetic. Even Celeste Holme's disembodied voice in LETTER TO THREE WIVES would be an example, except that her pronouncements (unheard) to the characters about running off with one of their men turns out to be misleading. Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN) ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]