Scott writes in The New York Times:
"Cumberbatch's] Turing, whom the film seems to place somewhere on the autism spectrum, is as socially awkward as he is intellectually agile. He can perceive patterns invisible to others but also finds himself stranded in the desert of the literal. Jokes fly over his head, sarcasm does not register, and when one of his colleagues says, “We’re going to get some lunch,” Turing hears a trivial statement of fact rather than a friendly invitation. “The Imitation Game” derives some easy amusement from the friction between this “odd duck” and the prevailing culture of his native pond. The film’s notion of Britain — not inaccurate, but also not hugely insightful — is as a land of understatement, indirection and steadfast obedience to norms of behavior that seem, to a fiercely logical mind like Turing’s, arbitrary and incomprehensible."
Of course, the implicatures of
"We're going to get some lunch"
may be slightly more complicated than that. Let's review the screenplay.
"There is in fact something strangely sexy about women in little hats."
John Cairncross gets up and walks into the next room, where he finds Alan, working alone.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: The boys... We were going to get some lunch?
Alan ignores him
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: Alan?
ALAN TURING: Yes.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: I said we were going to get some lunch?
Alan keeps ignoring him.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: Alan?
ALAN TURING: Yes.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: Can you hear me?
ALAN TURING: Yes.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: I said we’re off to get some lunch.
Silence.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: This is starting to get a bit repetitive.
ALAN TURING: What is?
**************************************************************
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: I had asked if you *wanted* to have lunch _with us_ [emphasis Speranza's].
ALAN TURING: No, you didn’t. You told me you were getting lunch.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: Have I offended you in some way?
ALAN TURING: Why would you think that?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: Would you like to come to lunch with us?
ALAN TURING: When is lunchtime?
HUGH ALEXANDER (calling out): Christ, Alan, it’s a bleeding sandwich.
ALAN TURING: What is?
HUGH ALEXANDER:
Lunch.
ALAN TURING: I don’t like sandwiches [IMPLICATURE: "No thank you"]
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: Nevermind.
HUGH ALEXANDER: John was trying to be nice [but he was a Soviet spy -- Speranza]
ALAN TURING: How?
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: Let it go.
HUGH ALEXANDER: You know to pull off this irascible genius routine, one has to actually
be a genius. Yet we’re the ones making progress here, aren’t we?
ALAN TURING: You have?
HUGH ALEXANDER: We’ve decrypted a number of German
messages by analyzing the frequency of letter distribution.
ALAN TURING: Oh. Even a broken clock is right
twice a day. That’s not progress at
all, that’s just blind luck. I’m
designing a machine that will allow
us to break every message, every
day, instantly.
We see his work: ELECTRICAL SCHEMATICS. He’s designing a
STRANGE NEW MACHINE.
ON THE TEAM: A machine? That’s ridiculous.
PETER HILTON: Who’s hungry? Let’s go.
HUGH ALEXANDER: Bye, Alan.
The guys gather their things and walk out...
ALAN TURING: I’m hungry.
They turn.
JOHN CAIRNCROSS: What?
ALAN TURING: Peter asked if anyone was hungry. I am.
They stare at him.
TURING: May I have some soup, please?
CUT TO EXT. BLETCHLEY PARK - HUT 8 - MOMENTS LATER
Hugh, John, Peter, Keith and Charles all exit Hut 8, shaking
their heads and laughing at what an impossible weirdo Alan
is.
O. T. O. H., Grice always relished that Austin was such a literalist!
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