Original artwork, not a still
Christopher Morcom to young Alan Turing, Turing to Joan Clarke, and Clarke to Turing, The Imitation Game (2014)
Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine.
— The Imitation Game ‧ 2014
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The sentence is the film's thesis, and it works as a relay: a boy who is told he is odd hears it, an odd man repeats it to a woman nobody expected to be a codebreaker, and she returns it when he needs it most. It sits on posters and in quote lists as if it were Turing's own, but it is screenwriter Graham Moore's line, written for a fictional version of the story, so it is not a documented saying of the real mathematician.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for The Imitation GameShow the scene
The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum, 2014) says this sentence three times, passing it from person to person. First, in 1928, schoolboy Christopher Morcom says it to a bullied young Alan Turing. Then at Bletchley Park, Turing says it to Joan Clarke when she asks why he is helping her stay on the team. Finally, in the 1951 framing story, Clarke says it back to a broken Turing and tells him she is glad he was never normal, because the world is better for it. The film is scripted by Graham Moore; the Morcom scenes are among the film's inventions.
Sources (3)
- Wikiquote: The Imitation GameAlan Turing and Other sectionsReference checked
- Springfield! Springfield! transcript: The Imitation Gamethree places in the scriptReference checked
- Wikipedia: The Imitation GameHistorical accuracyReference checked
Context reviewed