It was the first feature length film from director and writer james richard kelly.
What is cellar door in donnie darko.
The english compound noun cellar door has been widely cited as an example of a word or phrase that is beautiful purely in terms of its sound i e euphony without regard for its meaning.
In fantasy a mundane door can become a portal to another world as with the wardrobe of the lion the witch and the wardrobe or the rabbit hole of alice in wonderland.
The film is considered one of the greatest cult classic movies of all time and was made with a budget of only 4 5 million.
The words cellar door are written on the chalkboard in karen pomeroy s classroom.
When donnie asks about their meaning she replies that this famous linguist once said that of all the phrases in the english language of all the endless combinations of words in all of history that cellar door is the most beautiful.
This idea is utilized in the 2001 film donnie darko where the phrase cellar door is discussed in one scene and an actual cellar door figures into the plot in a later scene.
Nunberg further suggests the semantics of cellar door are not actually irrelevant.
It was written in the 1903 cyrus lauron hooper novel gee boy that an italian savant believed that cellar door was the most beautiful combination of english sounds in 1920 h l.
Grandma death the ex nun who wrote the time travel book donated by the professor to donnie.
Donnie sees his destiny when ariel gretchen joins his spirit and when he has sex with her at midnight he sees a portal cellar door and realizes his destiny by going to roberta sparrow s house.