The two movies An Angel at my Table and The Sweet Hereafter tell stories about the trials of being human. They both show the viewer a world that they with any luck do not have first hand knowledge. Though they both talk of the human condition, they do so by using stylistic differences that in their own right pull the viewer into the story. The way that time is manipulated is the most obvious way the two films differ in the way their respective stories are shown to the audience. While Atom Egoyan use time, in The Sweet Hereafter, to alter the way the viewer sees the different characters, while Jane Campion, in An Angel at my Table, uses it so the viewer can feel the hardships the main character has had to endure.

The cutting continuity of the films differs greatly and gives each film a distinct tone. The Sweet Hereafter's use of time is especially interesting. The film winds through about five different periods. The viewer watches and is sucked in to the story by all that is not known. The viewer is told of an accident long before it is ever shown. They see two scenes of fathers and daughters interacting in ways that do not seem like we are being told the wh

Egoyan and Campion manipulate time to draw the audience into their stories. While Egoyan floats through time as if it is water going back and forth up and down at will. Campion, on the other hand, uses time like a conveyer belt; it is fixed and can only move in one direction. They both use time to draw the audience into their respective stories.

The three actresses that play the different ages of Janet are remarkable. They allow the viewer to move along the time line with out being distracted by different people playing the different roles. Although the film encompasses a large time, the viewer does not feel that it is contrived. It is very natural feeling, without the distraction that reminds us that this is a film. The viewer flows through the story.

Nicole is the character that we learn through as the narrator of the pied piper poem. After the accident, we are supposed to see her as the lame boy who could not keep up. We watch as she goes from being the center of her father's attention to being a way for him to get rich quick. The sequence we see this happen is not linear. One step does not necessarily follow another. We learn of her incestuous relationship after we learn she has survived the accident even though this is not chronological. This adds suspense to the proceedings. It also bends our perception of Nicole from seeing her as

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Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)