A Beautiful Mind

[caliburncy]

Borrowing
Barb's
...
Spoiler 
space 
if 
you 
haven't 
seen 
this 
wonderful 
film 
and 
don't 
want 
to 
know 
some 
pretty 
important 
details.
(And also some stuff about "The Sixth Sense," so if you haven't
seen that either...yeah right!)
 

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "blpurdom" <blpurdom at y...> wrote:
> When it was over, I immediately wanted to see it again.  It felt 
> similar to the first time I saw "The Sixth Sense."  I wanted to see 
> it again to look for the subtle clues that I missed the first time 
> that when the main character was seeing a ghost/hallucination, no 
> one else was seeing it.

Actually, in terms of clues (misdirective foreshadowing), there are 
relatively few that I am aware of.  Some, certainly, but not on the 
level of something like "The Sixth Sense", probably because 
ultimately this twist is not the point.

But what I think would be *really* fascinating to look for upon 
seeing it again is . . . what event inspired the creation (and 
reappearance) of each of his hallucinations?  This may not come 
through as clearly in the movie as I expect it would in the book, but 
I am almost positive that there must be an important (probably highly 
emotional) event that precedes each figment's first appearance.  
Having only seen the film once, I am a bit limited to remember these 
things, but I did notice a little, because I guessed (during the car 
chase) that the whole thing was illusionary, so after that it was 
easier to pay attention to such things.  It was when the little girl 
first appeared that I began to wonder . . . why would that girl 
suddenly demand creation?  What in Nash's mind caused that?

So after the film, I pondered these things.  The roommate is easiest 
to place, because if I recall correctly, which I very well may not, 
he appeared after Nash had lost the game to his competitive little 
friend (forgot his name).  Losing that game clearly upset Nash a lot 
and could easily have led to the appearance of the roommate.  The 
first time that Ed Harris's character appeared, again only if I 
recall correctly, was when Nash was at the Pentagon decoding that 
sequence.  Was the sequence then real, as I might assume, thereby 
creating sufficient paranoia and stress to lead to Parcher's 
creation?  Or was the sequence itself not real?--In which case, one 
would have to know what scene preceeded it in order to speculate on 
how that event may have contributed to the Pentagon scene.

And then, again, why does the roommate, after so long out of contace, 
reappear (and with the little girl, no less)?  I can't remember 
exactly what this followed, but presume it was at a time when he 
really needed to draw upon the friend's (imaginary) strength again.  
Or something along those lines anyway.

I highly suspect *something* like this is going on, at least in the 
book version (which would have more time to develop a pattern like 
this), and probably in the film version as well--but I would need 
more of a chance to study it in order to tell.

Any thoughts?

-Luke