Mr.+Nobody



**1. The Pigeon Experiment:** The film's opening credits segues into the introduction of a scientific experiment involving a pigeon in a laboratory being fed at random intervals. The film's primary purpose of beginning with a seemingly unrelated scene that takes place in a laboratory outside of the film's "universe" is to invoke thought among audience members as to how the findings of the pigeon experiment will relate to the film's important themes later in the film.

**2. Nemo Nobody before he exists:** In Mr. Nobody, Van Dormael presents the idea that children exist long before they are conceived, but live in "Oblivion", a dimension where skipping around wearing loincloths is considered socially acceptable and unicorns actually do exist. They do not have parents, at least not yet. So do these children (or pre-fetuses) really exist, if they do not physically exist in any form just yet? For the purpose of this assignment, they do not exist, not even in the universe of the movie. The name of this dimension, Oblivion, explicitly implies a state of non-existence. Whoa, chills. Therefore, the entire sequence where the pre-fetuses (totally a thing now) prance around with angels in Oblivion should be considered non-diegetic. In addition, this entire sequence is narrated by a pre-existing child version of Nemo Nobody, but once again, because he does not yet exist, he should not be considered a real character, hence this narration is non-diegetic as well.

**3. The Unemployed Brazilian:** After Anna gives Nemo her phone number, the scene cuts to a sequence depicting an unemployed man in Brazil boiling an egg, which causes condensation, which forms storm clouds in Canada, which creates the raindrop that washes away Anna's phone number, leaving her uncontactable by Nemo. This is pretty much like the butterfly effect, except the butterfly in this case is a boiled egg. Sorry Nemo. Your life sucks. But Nemo will never know about the unemployed Brazilian boiling an egg as being the cause of his emotional turmoil for most of the film, which is why this sequence is considered non-diegetic. Also, this could be interpreted as an entirely hypothetical situation. As far as Nemo is concerned, the unemployed Brazilian does not exist.

**4. "Where is My Mind?"** by the Pixies provides the soundtrack to the raging hormones of teenage Nemo and Anna as they frolic around their parents' apartment (their parents are dating), make out in the kitchen, and smoke pot on their balcony. The use of this song in the film is non-diegetic because neither character is aware of it, probably because they are too busy making out, but mostly because it isn't actually playing in real life.

**5. Angsty teenage writer Nemo** writes about an alternate universe where he is a traveler in a floating pod in a futuristic space ship. The film actually depicts the scenes of Nemo's stories, but these sequences are non-diegetic because they do not actually exist, even if Nemo is writing about them.

**6. Nemo travels to Mars** to scatter the ashes of his dead wife: In this timeline, space travel has been commercialized. Also, there is breathable oxygen in space, because Nemo and a bunch of other tourists are riding on a golf buggy. On Mars. Does this make the sequence depicting Nemo's sci-fi stories diegetic? Does this imply that Nemo actually does travel in a floating pod on a space ship? I can't be sure, but I don't think this qualifies as being diegetic.

But just in case I'm wrong, **"Rum and Coca Cola"** by The Andrews Sisters opens this scene as part of the non-diegetic score, but transitions to become part of the diegetic soundtrack when it plays in the golf buggy.

**7. Another alternate timeline:** Nemo awakens in a strange world where everything is covered in Argyle patterns. Strange things happen, at the end of which, Nemo watches a video of himself that tells him that he does not really exist. Because he does not exist in this timeline, Nemo is not a real character, so this is once again non-diegetic.

**8. Cutting costs:** One of Nemo's shoelaces break while he is running after the train where his mother is on board. The scene cuts to a conversation between a shoe businessman and a manufacturer of crappy shoelaces. The businessman agrees to be in partnership with the crappy shoelace manufacturer after he agrees to give him a "very good deal". It is implied through this series of events that this is the cause of Nemo's shoelaces breaking at the railroads. This scene is non-diegetic because, much like the scene with the unemployed Brazilian boiling an egg, this could be completely hypothetical and does not exist within the realms of the film.

**9. "It will be on a Saturday, in your car":** Nemo predicts the death of his potential stepdad during a dinner conversation, because he enjoys watching him squirm. This scene cuts to a sequence where Nemo's mother's lover is whistling a happy tune while driving in his car, when he stops at a railroad, and a train comes at the intersection, T-bones his car, and kills him. Because it is not known whether this will actually happen, which would make it a flash-forward, this could be interpreted as being a purely hypothetical situation. Therefore, this scene is non-diegetic.

**10. "I don't go swimming with idiots":** Nemo refuses to go swimming with Anna and her friends. When she asks why, Nemo replies, "They're idiots. I don't go swimming with idiots." Anna storms off and the two never talk again. Then, in a second storyline, Nemo admits to Anna that he does not know how to swim. Anna is touched by his honesty and decides to stay with Nemo on the beach. Teenage romance ensues. Either storyline could be considered non-diegetic depending on which series of events is true and actually "exists". Ha, "exists". I don't even know what that means anymore.

Because no one, not even Nemo, knows which sequences of events really happened, every single scene in the movie could be argued to be diegetic or non-diegetic, depending on which version of events one chooses to believe. Did Nemo end up with Elise? Then the timelines with Jean and Anna never happened and should be considered non-diegetic, and vice-versa.

I don't know. This is really confusing. I'm gonna go lie down now.