Abstract
This paper will focus on Atonement and how the sound world is so inexplicably linked to our interpretation of events. In particular, I will investigate how the typewriter acts as a pivot between diegetic sound and nondiegetic music. What becomes clear in Atonement is that the typewriter sound is indicative of an imagination running wild. It is initially connected to Briony in the opening scene, but it is also used when Robbie types his explicit letter to Cecilia, Briony’s older sister. To aid his writing, Robbie puts Puccini’s “O Soave Fanciulla” on the record player, but as he pours his desire onto the page, the sound of the typewriter and the record blur the lines between diegetic and nondiegetic sound, thereby calling into question what Robbie can and cannot hear. This is not the only occurrence of this technique, and just as the typewriter acts to blur the lines between diegetic sound and nondiegetic music, so too does the film blur the lines between reality and fiction.
