Stutterer (film)
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''Stutterer'' is a short drama film written and directed by
Benjamin Cleary Benjamin Cleary is an Irish writer, director and producer from Dublin. He is best known for his short-film '' Stutterer'' that earned him an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 88th Academy Awards with producers Shan Christophe ...
and produced by
Serena Armitage Serena Armitage is a director and producer from North Yorkshire, UK. She is best known for producing the short film '' Stutterer'' that earned her an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 88th Academy Awards with director Benjami ...
and Shan Christopher Ogilvie.


Plot

Greenwood, a lonely
typographer Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...
, makes a phone call to discuss a bill issue, but his
stutter Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who ...
keeps him from getting his words out, and he is hung up on. Later, in a conversation on
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
, his online girlfriend Ellie says she has a surprise for Greenwood and will tell him the next day. In public, Greenwood makes "snap judgement" observations about strangers he sees, clearly speaking the thoughts inside his head. While walking to his father's house, he practises in his head a quote he wants to mention to his father. While the two play a game of Go, Greenwood manages to get the quote out, albeit slowly, and his father is pleased. Later that night, Ellie nervously messages Greenwood, announcing that she is in London for a week and wants to meet him in person. Greenwood, on hold to attempt to deal with his bill problem still, does not respond, fearing to show her he has a stutter. The next day, Greenwood is at his father's home and his father is on the phone arguing with the company about communicating with his son about his bill. Ellie sends another message, sad that Greenwood has not replied. He begins to craft a response with a made up excuse as to why he cannot meet her but changes his mind and does not reply. The next morning, Greenwood begins learning
sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...
, pretending to be
deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
to avoid speaking, though in his head he clearly answers people and wishes he could talk to them. He later has a moment of clarity and responds to Ellie, telling her he would love to meet her. That evening while waiting for a bus and nervously waiting for a reply, Greenwood intervenes when a man is assaulting a woman. The results of the intervention are seen when Greenwood has a bandage across his nose. That night, while lonely and practising his sign and waiting for a reply from Ellie, Greenwood makes a snap judgment on himself, Greenwood observes that he is a poor communicator and is full of self-pity. But just as he is about to go to sleep, he hears the alert of a message reply. The reply is not shown, but Greenwood looks nervous and pleased. The next day he is shown getting ready and then travelling to see her, all the while practising what he will say to Ellie in his head. Once he arrives, standing across the street, he witnesses as a stranger attempts to speak to Ellie from behind. She does not respond until he taps her shoulder and she turns to sign to him, showing that she is deaf. She makes eye contact with Greenwood and they both smile. She waves and signs to ask him to cross the street. He smiles and nods.


Cast

*
Matthew Needham Matthew Needham (born 13 April 1984) is a British actor. He has worked on stage and screen, appearing in television series such as '' Casualty'', '' Endeavour'', and '' Sanditon.'' As of 2022, Needham portrays Larys Strong on the HBO fantasy ser ...
as Greenwood Carsen *
Chloe Pirrie Chloe Pirrie (born 25 August 1987) is a Scottish actress. Her most notable performance was in the film ''Shell'' (2012). Other credits include '' The Game'' (2014), and ''An Inspector Calls'' (2015), '' War & Peace'' (2016), ''Youth'' (2015), ' ...
as Ellie Parks *
Eric Richard Eric Richard (born Eric Smith, 27 June 1940) is an English actor and presenter. His theatre work includes plays at the Royal Court Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, as well as seasons with the Royal Exchange, Manchester, Birmingha ...
as Greenwood's Dad *Richard Mason as Angry man at bus stop


Critical reception

''Stutterer'' won
Best Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under numerous names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, ''Best Short Subject, On ...
at the
88th Academy Awards The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. D ...
in 2016.


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * , posted by ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' {{Stuttering Stuttering Stuttering in popular culture 2015 films 2015 drama films 2015 short films Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners 2010s English-language films English-language drama short films