"Things are not what they seem," in the movies?

January 12, 2005 12:41 PM

Can anyone help me locate movies that contain the phrase "Things are not what they seem." in the dialog?

"Things are not as they seem" is good too, and if anyone knows one
with "events are not as they seem" that would be helpful too.

posted by milovoo to Media & Arts (30 answers total)

I like Mulholland Drive's "No hay banda"/"There is no band."
posted by blueshammer at 12:46 PM on January 12, 2005

Response by poster: Are you saying that Mulholland Drive has the phrase "Things are not what they seem" in the dialog?

I'm looking for audio samples of that phrase. I'll track that one down if you are saying that it's in there.
posted by milovoo at 12:49 PM on January 12, 2005

Best answer: There is an episode of Twin Peaks where Agent Cooper gets a message: "the owls are not what they seem."

Sorry if this is no help at all.
posted by Hillman Cobs at 12:58 PM on January 12, 2005

Best answer: I have not yet seen the film, but apparently the line, "Things are not as they appear" can be heard in House of Sand and Fog (see the sixth paragraph of that review).
posted by arco at 1:14 PM on January 12, 2005

Response by poster: Those are great - thanks.

Any more?
posted by milovoo at 1:31 PM on January 12, 2005

Best answer: Not a movie, but Pink Floyd's Sheep contains that exact phrase.
posted by OneOliveShort at 1:47 PM on January 12, 2005

Best answer: There's a song from HMS Pinafore that starts, "Things are seldom what they seem". Track 19 here. Not sure if that's at all helpful. :)
posted by agropyron at 1:48 PM on January 12, 2005

May I ask why you need to find this out? Just curious.
posted by noius at 1:55 PM on January 12, 2005

Response by poster: May I ask why you need to find this out? Just curious.

It's for an audio project. Should be interesting when it's finished, but there's a lot of other elements yet to find.

I'm hoping to locate about 5 or 6 more versions of the phrase or close to it.
posted by milovoo at 2:06 PM on January 12, 2005

The Matrix, when Morpheus first meets Neo (I believe).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:16 PM on January 12, 2005

Best answer: There's a line from the Beatles' Help where Ahme says "I am not what I seem." Sorry if that's of no use.
posted by cmyk at 2:21 PM on January 12, 2005

Jesus, this is really bugging me now. I seem to remember a movie where the protagonist meets up with someone and is startled because he sees his arch-enemy or something, but then the guy says "Things are not as they seem," and pulls off his face to reveal another face. Something like that. Or maybe, I think there was a scene were this guy who everyone thought was dead was actually pretending to be dead and someone says the TANATS.

GOD THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:22 PM on January 12, 2005

Or maybe it was something like, the protagonist meets up with someone who's trying to help him, and he smashes some really expensive artifact, only to reveal that it's not a priceless artifact, cue: TANATS.

AAAAARGH. I'm SO CLOSE.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:24 PM on January 12, 2005

I believe the guy who says it is an old dude, and the younger protagonist yells something like "No!" before realizing whatever it is that's leads to the TANATS.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:28 PM on January 12, 2005

Response by poster: Civil_D: I'm feeling the same feeling only more diffuse and spread over three or four different films. I can picture them in my head, but Twin Peaks was the only one I knew for sure.
posted by milovoo at 2:29 PM on January 12, 2005

The phrase appears in a well-known poem by Longfellow called A Psalm of Life. Perhaps you could find a recording of it?
posted by barjo at 2:40 PM on January 12, 2005

I found a list on Amazon, but I doubt all of those movies have that quote in them. So, that's probably not helpful. I'll be back when I find more.
posted by bDiddy at 2:51 PM on January 12, 2005

It's said repeatedly in Labyrinth.
posted by unreason at 2:52 PM on January 12, 2005

Response by poster: Actually that damn Amazon list has been making all my searches more difficult!
posted by milovoo at 2:53 PM on January 12, 2005

Here's a recording of a musical version of Psalm of Life containing that line.
posted by jessamyn at 3:25 PM on January 12, 2005

Suggestion: you need a big database of subtitle files to search (not the ones straight off the DVD, they're video not text, AFAIK).

There are at least a couple of subtitle archives out there (Google isn't much help, but I know they existed in the past - anyone?). I suggest you contact the admin of one of these, and ask him to run a quick grep on his files. Maybe if you can search for the French or Spanish version of the phrase too, you'll get more hits (for English films).
posted by Leon at 3:32 PM on January 12, 2005

There is an episode of Darkwing Duck that is a parody of Twin Peaks, and contains the line, "The Cows are Not What They Seem". (Yes, I am a nerd, and yes, I have used this phrase in conversation with other nerds.)
posted by Hildago at 3:45 PM on January 12, 2005

Oh my god I remember it now.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:45 PM on January 12, 2005

(It's the scene where Kevin Spacey tells Samuel Jackson, "But you still killed a cop," and then Jackson opens a door and you see the cop is tied up but still alive.)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:46 PM on January 12, 2005

Best answer: Close like a grenade:

Luke: "Well Arletta, things are just never the way they seem, you know that. Sometimes a man just has to go his own way." -- Cool Hand Luke

Trevor Goodchild: "There can be no justice without truth. But what is truth? Tell me, if you know... and I will not believe you. Things are never what they seem. Clean gloves hide dirty hands - and mine are dirtier than most. Justice will be done!" -- Aeon Flux

"On Mulholland Drive, things are not what they seem." was supposedly on the trailer

Maybe a character quoted Longfellow:

"Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
and things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art; to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"
posted by ?! at 3:58 PM on January 12, 2005

I'm not certain, but I think Willie Wonka said it at least once.
posted by bruceyeah at 4:07 PM on January 12, 2005

Best answer: The closest Labyrinth gets is "Things aren't always what they seem" I think (I have the Labyrinth poster, I'm allowed to be geeky about this).

IMDB also suggests Aeon Flux and if you're prepared to be more flexible, Cool Hand Luke and The Invisible Man.
posted by fvw at 4:08 PM on January 12, 2005

Google says that IMDB says that:

site:imdb.com "things are not what they seem"
site:imdb.com "things are not as they seem"
site:imdb.com "events are not as they seem" (0 results)
posted by bitpart at 4:37 PM on January 12, 2005

Of course you already know that every Star Wars movie contains the line "I have a bad feeling about this." Which isn't the same thing at all, so that's probably useless. Unless you could tweak your needs, and then you have five versions of that one. And bitpart solved it nicely anyway. House of Sand and Fog, hey?
posted by muckster at 8:22 PM on January 12, 2005

Damn, cmyk, I didn't think anyone could possibly have mentioned Help!, but there you were within the first several comments. Now I don't get to be the biggest geek. How disappointing.
posted by librarina at 10:15 PM on January 12, 2005