Spoken English in film and television

My partner and I watched a recording of the film “Atonement” last night.  'Watched' being the operative word.  We both got the impression that the actors were ashamed of using their organs of speech - they hid so much sensual enjoyment by mumbling and swallowing their consonants and croaking their vowels throughout the film.

It is strange to have to remind actors and actresses that tongues and lips are used in sex and speech.  I thought it ironic that Vanessa Redgrave, appearing right at the end of the film, and seemingly at the end of her character’s life, to give what was, in fact, a short master class on how it’s done.

I remember a fellow theatre director in 1969 complaining that theatre schools no longer taught their students how to speak on stage – now they seem not to teach them how to speak to any effect other than to irritate.