When the doctor is drilling into his head, we see what I think is a remembered beach scene of an adult (Arthur's father) with a child (Arthur as a child). Is this Arthur remembering one of the few times in life that he was happy? Or what?
Somebody's coming up .... somebody serious
It has often been suggested that Arthur has realised, too late, what really matters to him and the final image is a fantasy of him at play with the grandchild he never had. He admits to the old man that he undertook the operation without really knowing what he wanted from his new life, only to discover his deepest dream at the point of death.
Supernatural perhaps, baloney perhaps not
Frankenhemer explained this in his commentary. He shot a scene of Rock on the beach in Malibu watching a father, his son on his shoulders and their dog. This scene was cut. At the climax, instead of ending with the close-up into the surgical light and the sound of the drill, he included a distorted version of that shot for the fade-out.
shareit is ambiguous but I took it he was remembering playing with his own child years ago. he gave up the relationship with his child and wife to start over and that is what he thought of in his last moments.
share