DoubleTalk

Duration:

Year Published: 1975

Creator: Learning Corporation of American

Complete Record: In this live-action satirical sketch, a boy comes to pick up his date and gets stuck making small talk with her parents in the living room. Overlapping soundtracks transmit the real thoughts of the three trapped and wary people, almost simultaneously with the banalities they manage to exchange. There isn’t a moment of sincere and spontaneous conversation. The fast phrases tumble over each other as the tennis-playing mother and tense father appraise the boy and reveal their own marital tensions. The effect of the dialogue is funny, but the underlying situation is awkward and sad. The nervous boy gets through the seconds-that-seem-like-hours until the girl comes downstairs and they make ready to escape. Hand-in-hand they take a deep breath outside her front door and go off, seeming to find real communication in silence.