MovieChat Forums > The Secret of Crickley Hall (2012) Discussion > Speaking German...

Speaking German...

posted 11 years ago by julie_robin2
6 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone else not think it a little unusual that Nancy is able to speak German so fluently to Stefan? She is only 19 (from her gravestone) and her background is that she was raised in an orphanage so it is unlikely she had a classical education or teacher training.
Plus, to be honest, it is 1943, anyone who can speak German would likely be keeping very quiet about it as there would be a danger they might be thought a spy (especially if they were a recently arrived stranger in a rural area).

I prefer Imaginality to reality.

[–] scottiew69 11 years ago

She dose not speak German in the original book, but he also dose not escape at end he is killed first

[–] captmuk 11 years ago

I wondered about that too. Maybe she was herself German? Possibly a refugee who arrived in England as a young child around the time Hitler came to power in 1933 and ended up in an orphanage, her parents having been killed. In which case, she had some 10 years to become completely fluent in English and to have picked up a Lancashire accent. Or maybe she learned German at some point. She certainly seemed intelligent and educated enough to be a teacher to the orphans. I haven't read the book, so don't know if there's more to her back-story than was shown in the TV adaptation.

[–] julie_robin2 11 years ago

Perhaps, though I don't think the Cribbens would have employed her if she was, (given their comments about both Stefan's Jewishness and him being German -the 'enemy') and if she was hiding this part of her background from them then she certainly wouldn't have spoken German anywhere near them in case they asked her how come she was so fluent.

Sadly I think it's just something the programme makers added to intensify her link to Stefan, without thinking of whether it would make sense. (A bit like the age thing -as others have commented on these boards if you take Percy's age as 18 in 1943 then he is remarkably spry for someone approaching 90 in the present day).

I do think though it was brilliant of the film makers to use a German child actor for the part of Stefan -it really shows when he speaks German that it is his mother tongue.

I prefer Imaginality to reality.

[–] hannah_dru 11 years ago

Found it a bit odd too, her German skills were much better (in terms of pronunciation and fluency) than Percy's.

http://www.insanedrusilla.deadtime.net

[–] kaz-jones 11 years ago

Did anyone else notice that when Stefan let Nancy in the front door, he called her 'Mama!' If she was his mother, albeit a very young teenage one, if he was 6 and she was 19, then it would explain how she could speak such good German.

[–] captmuk 11 years ago

She could just have been his actual mother, although maybe he merely saw her as a mother figure: the first person who'd shown him love and kindness since he lost his real parents.