One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Difference between revisions

'''Detective Krevoy:''' This wasn't your first time, was it, Ted? How many we talking?

'''Ted:''' Hitchhikers? I don't know - fifty... a hundred maybe - who keeps track? Hey, I know this is the Bible Belt, but where I come from this is not that big a deal. }}

* Done in a totally non-comedic fashion in ''[[Shutter Island]]'' when Teddy Daniels finds George Noyce. {{spoiler|Noyce actually gives away the entire, cruel [[Twist Ending]]: that Teddy is actually [[Tomato in the Mirror|Andrew Laeddis (who Teddy believes is responsible for his wife's death]]... [[Prophecy Twist|and he's right)]], that he's an inmate of the asylum, and that the entire "investigation" is just a game for Teddy's benefit. Teddy, however, is so wrapped up in his delusions that he can't understand anything Noyce is saying (except for the bit about experiments in the lighthouse, which, ironically, are ''Noyce's'' delusions), and the audience is so trusting of Teddy's subjective point of view that they can't appreciate Noyce's words [[Fridge Brilliance|until the movie's over]].}}

* Applied liberally in Roberto Begnini's ''Johnny Stecchino'', where many, many people converse with Dante on the actions of his [[Identical Stranger]], the titular mob informant which he is unwittingly playing [[Body Double]] for, while Dante himself is talking about something much more innocent, like the banana he stole.

* This trope is the basis of the ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' game "Press Conference", where one of the players plays a certain person holding a press conference, but has no clue who he is or what he's done, whereas everyone else playing reporters does, and must try to clue him in on it.

* Done for rare dramatic effect on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Buffy and Xander go to talk to Spike, who seems distracted and occasionally says things that don't make sense. Since he's been a bit nuts since getting his soul back, we don't think anything of it. Then we see that Willow is also there, having unconsciously cast a spell that prevents her and the other Scoobies from sensing each other at all.

{{quote|'''Avon:''' Stand still! Have you betrayed us? Have you betrayed *me*?

'''Blake:''' Tarrant doesn't understand.

== Theater ==

* Most of the Alan Ayckbourn play ''Relatively Speaking''.

* In an relatively old Norwegian theater piece, ''Rett i Lomma'' ("Right in the Pocket", referring to money easily obtained through fraud), the [[Villain Protagonist]] (Erik) has spent the last two years making up fake personalities to cash in on their various "illnesses" and subsequent state support money. Then a tax inspector shows up and wants some signatures on a few papers in order to confirm the next payment to "Mr. Thomasen". Erik promptly says he is Thomasen and signs the paper. But the inspector also needs Erik's signature. He asks his friend Normann to do this, but the attempt is thwarted as Normann is forced to take on another role as the inspector mentions other people and Erik begins lying about them too. This leads to him and Normann having to play various fake roles in order to cover up the fraud as more and more oblivious people arrive at the scene and begin asking questions. [[Hilarity Ensues]] as they take on more and more ridiculous personality traits and come up with more and more complex excuses. Most conversations are then misunderstood as the roles become too complex to keep track of. Several scenes have not double, but ''multi-layered'' conversations.

* In [[Moliere]]'s play ''[[The Miser]]'', Harpagon and his steward Valere are talking about the supposed thievery Valere has done. Harpagon is talking about his stolen money box, while Valere is talking of Harpagon's daughter whom he's in love with. Harpagon is so fixated on the stolen money that he takes unusually long to realize what's up, even when Valere begins talking of the "fair eyes", "modesy" and "purity" of the daughter.