Limited attention is given to the narrative functioning of film dialogue in the research and teaching of screen translation, subtitling more in particular. The present article offers a number of examples of the standard subtitling approach to film dialogue, looks into some basic features of film dialogue, analyses some concepts from dialogue studies, discusses the narrative functions of film dialogue and provides an insight into the link between film dialogue analysis and subtitling. Finally, the article offers an analysis of a sequence from Secrets and Lies.