MovieChat Forums > Nashville Discussion > I think Opal was insane.

I think Opal was insane.

posted 14 years ago by The_Film_Cricket
19 replies | jump to latest

Opal has to be the most curious character in the entire film. She claims to be a BBC reporter even though - unless I missed my cue - we never see a film crew. She talks a lot of nonsense and uses the excuse that she is making a documentary about Nashville in order to get close to famous people even though she never shows anyone any sort of credentials.

She has two scenes late in the film that make us question her sanity: One takes place in an automobile junkyard where she talks to herself, lamenting about the rusting metals hulks being tossed away and forgotten like some sort of automotive holocaust (she compares the rust on the cars to dried blood). The other scene takes place in a school bus storage lot where she tries to decide how this lot could properly be described as the stuff of children’s nightmares.

I don't know, the movie never points this out, but I think she's clearly nuts. She wanders through the film explaining that she's making this film but she's never really interested in anything and she's easily distracted.

Opinions?

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] FanOfGood 14 years ago

There is such a thing as a radio documentary... Her ramblings in the junkyard are actually quite brilliant making me see her as more talented than crazy. The fact that she had such recording equipment, not knowing exactly the availability of such things in 1976, would seem sufficient enough that she could work for the BBC.

[–] jimbosims2001 14 years ago

Thats very interesting never crossed my mind. It seemed to me that she was so self-absorbed that talking to cars would appeal to her vanity.

Do you think she was actually british?

[–] The_Film_Cricket 14 years ago

I suspected from the very beginning that she was as nutty as a bag a squirrels but I never thought about the fact that she might not even be British. Interesting.

[–] EdenTrask 14 years ago

I just assumed she was a flaky british woman who happened to be making a radio documentary for the BBC. I found her ramblings rather funny and I think her role was to provide some light comedy.

[–] allenrogerj 14 years ago

Well, Opal says somewhere that she is making a documentary for the British Broadcasting Company, which ceased to exist in about 1928...It could be a script error, but it's much more interesting if it isn't.
The other interesting aspect here is that there were B.B.C. radio documentaries and dramas in the 1950s put together in very much the way Nashville is, as a collage of interconnected stories and music, so Opal and her documentary could be a hat-tip by Altman.

[–] Loomis_Orange 14 years ago

America is a very large place when compared to Britian. When was the last time you were in a giant smash up on the highway in Britian? When's the last time a junkyard full of school buses appeared in a European country. This was obviously her first trip to America. That would make anyone nuts!
That aside.. there are a couple of clues that she is a "roving reporter" There's a scene in the club where the three singers unite on stage leaving their "driver" behind. Opal creates a place to put her portable mic. She digs a hole on the side of a candle and lays it in the crevice. That's something she's done more than once. It looked authentically reporter-ish. And she says to the driver when he says "I could tell you some stories" she quickly dismisses him with a "I never talk to servants" That could be construed two ways.. she could basically just be a star-chaser or she could have some standards as a reporter... or something like that. Just a couple of cents I threw in there.

If Ya Can't Piss In Yer Own Front Yard Then You're Livin' Too Damned Close To Town - Edward Abbey

[–] dlbroome01 14 years ago

I've wondered if perhaps Opal is not only NOT a reporter, but she isn't even British. She's just a looney-toon who is pretending to be British reporter and carrying around an empty briefcase with a microphone sticking out of it. There are lots of people who go to great lengths to be near celebrities or to be a part of the entertainment industry. Opal may be a stalker, just like the guy carrying the "guitar case", but at least she's harmless.

Once a loyal fan, always a loyal fan

[–] CharteredStreets 14 years ago

I seem to remember reading that in the script or an earlier cut of the movie you found out she wasn't working for the BBC.

If I have to tell you again, we're gonna take it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like!

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] The_Film_Cricket 13 years ago

Yeah, I know. Plus, it may have been a while since I've seen the movie, but she claims to be a reporter, but I don't remember seeing a film crew with her.

http://www.armchairoscars.com/

[–] scottythefield 13 years ago

Geraldine Chaplin has indeed stated on at least one occasion that Opal was only pretending to be from the BBC, specifically mentioning that her reference to the "British Broadcasting COMPANY" was the giveaway.

[–] Isaac5855 13 years ago

I don't know if Opal is necessarily insane, and I have to admit after several re-watches of this film that it has crossed my mind that she might not even be with the BBC at all...why would the BBC so interested in Nashville? She might be nuts, but she's definitely on the obnoxious and insensitive side. I hated the way she encouraged Bud to sing her the song he wrote and then walked away from him in the middle of it when she saw Elliott Gould.

[–] The_Film_Cricket 13 years ago

That has kind of been my point. She buzzes around celebrites and talks about making a documentary but, unless I've missed something, there doesn't seem to be a camera crew or anything. I think she's just a celebrity hound, sniffing around the famous just to be sniffing around the famous.

It was that scene where she is talking to herself that made me think that she was a little loose in the shoes.

http://www.armchairoscars.com/The%2070s/1975.htm

[–] Isaac5855 13 years ago

It was that scene where she is talking to herself that made me think that she was a little loose in the shoes.

Yeah, when she's in bus junkyard...totally nuts.

[–] Stirchley 9 years ago

I think she's just a celebrity hound

Totally. Opal had no tape in her tape recorder, she had no film in her camera, she had never been to Cannes.

[–] Ruby_Bale_Desplat 13 years ago

I don't know if she was insane or not but what I do know is that she was a selfish BITCH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4_C7VSbwvc

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Lt_Zogg 10 years ago

She was an outsider, so she didn't know where to start looking. She was a reporter, but she didn't talk to people. She was callow, self absorbed, seemed obsessed with being creative, and she was the last person to know what was going on. A good spot for a reporter to be in.