This is William Thacker’s (played by Hugh Grant) introductory voiceover narrative in Notting Hill (1999). In this monologue, he introduces himself and Notting Hill, as well as covers some things that can be supportive to build an upcoming narrative and an aura of the whole film.
Let’s see the monologue of William Thacker with the interruption of minor and major scenes in between this.
⚫
William Thacker narrating:Off course I’ve seen her films…
and always thought she was, well, fabulous.
But, you know, a million, million miles from the world I live in..
Which is here, Notting Hill, my favorite bit of London.
•••
There’s the market on weekdays selling every fruit and vegetable known to man.
Rock hard bananas, five for a pound!
The tattoo parlor with a guy outside who got drunk…
and now can’t remember why he chose “I love Ken.”
The radicle hairdressers where everyone comes out looking like the Cookie Monster, whether they want to or not.
And then, suddenly, it’s the weekend, and from break of day hundreds of stalls appear out of nowhere, filling Portobello Road, right up to Notting Hill Gate.
And wherever you look thousand of people are buying millions of antiques,
some genuine and some… not quite so genuine.
And what’s great is that lots of friends have ended up in this part of London.
That’s Tony, for example, architect turned chef,
and recently invested all the money he ever earned in a new restaurant.
•••
And so, this is where I spend my days and years…
In this small village in the middle of the city in a house with a blue door…
that my wife and I bought together before she left me for a man,
who looked exactly like Harrison Ford.
And where I lead a strange half-life with a lodger called–
•••
Spike!
[Conversation between William and Spike]
SPIKE: Hi, hey you could.t help me with an incredible, important decision, could you?
WILL: Is this important in comparison to, let's say, whether they should cancel Third World debt?
SPIKE: That's right. I am at last going out on a date with the great Janine, and I just wanna be sure I've picked the right T-shirt.
WILL: What are the choices?
SPIKE: Well, wait for it.
First, there's this one.
[Growls] Cool, huh?
WILL: Yeh, It might make it hard to strike a really romantic note.
SPIKE: Point taken, Don't despair.
If it's romance we are looking for, I believe I have just the thing.
WILL: Yeah, well, there again, she might not think you had true love on your mind.
SPIKE: Right. Just one more.
True love here I come.
WILL: Well, yeah. Yeah, that's--- that's, um, perfect.
SPIKE: Great, thanks. Wish me luck.
WILL: Good luck.
•••
And so it was just another hopeless Wednesday, as I walked thousand yards through the market to work, never suspecting that this was the day that was gonna change my life forever.
⚫NOTES & OBSERVATION :
After the monologue, William’s conversation with Martin in his bookshop has the same pattern as the previous conversation with Spike in his flat. The purpose of both scenes is to develop both supportive characters and most importantly both locations; the bookstore and the staircase aria in the flat where two upcoming introductory scenes with Anna Scott are going to happen. After the conversation with Martine, he goes to the coffee shop and then Anna enters the bookshop. Both William and Anna encounter them for the first time.
Before this monologue, the film opens with montages of Various days in the life of Anna Scott. A big celebrity. Exquisite footage of Anna Scott. The great movie star of our time. An ideal. Perfect star and women. Her life is full of glamour and sophistication and mystery.
William’s monologue starts after the end of the montage of Anna Scott’s life. William, 35 years old, relaxed, pleasant, informant guy from Portobello Road, Notting Hill, London. In the first set of this monologue, which contains four lines, he compares Anna’s life with his one. He gives information about his distance from her physically and by status also. The whole individual walking sequence of Will is covered in a single follow-cam shot.
After the first set of this monologue which has been taken in a single follow-cam setup, the next part has been divided into seven parts of a montage. As they previously made the foundation for this setup in the opening scene of Anna Scott’s life introductory montage.
In the montage sequence, they use dissolve cuts which contribute to making the silent feel-good aura of the film with the calm and cozy soundtrack. Also, they intentionally made choices for what they gonna show in those seven parts. They use those parts in the montage as the foundation for future setup. Notting Hill and the Portobello Road market. The unusual fellow from the tattoo parlor for his flatmate Spike. The radicle hairdresser girls like Cookie Monsters for his sister who exactly like them. And the guy called Tony for the friends.
After these parts of the montage, the narrative continues with the first set. follow-cam on William walking on the street. He continues to talk about himself—his divorced life and being a 35-year-old single guy. The weightage has the same as the first set of the montage.
Intentional Small and Large Interruptions:
- When the first set of four lines is complete, the montage patch starts, there is one small minor interruption of the fruitseller on the road selling his fruits.
- After the montage and before the last patch of the monologue, the large interruption is made by the introductory scene of Wiiliam’s place, his flatmate, and the staircase space where his introductory scene with Anna has been going to happen.
- And after the last part of his narrative, the introductory scene of the bookshop and his co-worker Martin has the same weight as the previous scene with Spike at his flat.
Developing William’s Sense of Humor:
The following lines by William developed humor in his character. (Ordinary information got a new aesthetic through his sense of humor)
- There’s the market on weekdays selling every fruit and vegetable known to man.
- While describing his divorce and single life-
In this small village in the middle of the city in a house with a blue door…
that my wife and I bought together before she left me for a man,
who looked exactly like Harrison Ford.
The line “a man who looked exactly looked like Harrison Ford” mixed organically in the flow because of the pre-development of Hollywood life while introducing Anna.
And we got the hooking point by this – What if… A film star falls in love with a normal guy whose wife leaves him for the clown like a film star.
Similarity and Reputation, Difference and Variation:
- Montage of Anna Scott’s life and overview of Notting Hill while William’s narration.
- The same type of scenes are for the buildup of the space. Both are used to introduce supportive characters Spike and Martine respectively. On the other hand, it is preconstructed for Anna’s track, for the encounter in his bookshop, and for the space of the staircase in the house.
- The matching vibe between the tattoo guy from the parlor and Spike and the Radiclle hairdresser girl who looked like a cookie monster and his sister.
- The camera movement (single shot, follow-cam) in the before and after part of the montage in the monologue patch.
Minor details that beautify aesthetics:
- There are a lot of commas in the dialogue. Pauses like which, well. Hugh Grant has a natural style of taking pauses while talking. This point also adds another value to the narration.
- The flow of introducing supporting characters by their importance – Notting Hill crowd >A Fruitseller > A friend from Portobello Road > Spike > Martin.
