Having just come out of Woody Allen’s latest film (a full review will be posted soon) I couldn’t help but notice something strange and interesting.
No matter how much movies try to be realistic there are always certain things that have to be unrealistic. One of the most obvious is phone numbers. In American films any phone number in a film usually starts with the fictious 555 code, although Bruce Almighty cheekily flaunted this convention in 2003.
However, in Matchpoint (which opens in the UK on January 6th) one character clearly states a London number. I don’t remember it exactly but it starts 0207, the code for Inner London, where the bulk of the film is set. Off the top of my head I can’t recall something like this happening before. My gut feeling is that they have added an extra digit to make it fictious but if you get a weird phone call after January 6th it could just be a Woody Allen fan…
MORE DETAIL
> Official Site for Matchpoint
> CBS News on the Bruce Almighty phone number shenanigans
> A "Mind-numbingly comprehensive" list of 555 phone numbers in TV and Film
> Wikipedia on the 555 tradition
> The Guardian’s Notes and Queries section on the subject