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Harry Caul believes he's hallucinating but he isn't

posted 8 years ago by edlitz36
5 replies | jump to latest

This is a paranoia thriller. Characters in such films are paranoid and have a tendency to lose their grip on reality. Harry Caul is racked with guilt, anger and frustration over the "welfare scandal" of his DC assignment.

He believes the same fate awaits the couple he is currently assigned to bug and seeks to prevent it-- and this paranoia coupled with the guilt is causing him to lose his grip on reality and he knows it. He chalks up the horrific images he sees to his fractured mental state (the bloody hand grasping the window on his hotel room balcony, blood welling up from the toilet etc.)-- Coppola even films these horrific images in a surreal fashion to mislead the audience into believing that Harry is simply hallucinating. But the twist is that he's NOT hallucinating-- but Harry and the audience are led to believe so. The blood actually did well up from the toilet, the murder did take place next door in front of Harry's eyes-- these images are replayed in the climax when it's revealed that Robert Duvall was the one being conspired against.

And that's the twist. A brilliant twist. How many times have we seen in other movies where it's revealed to the audience that certain events that we believe to have occurred are actually figments of the characters' imaginations? Countless times. But The Conversation does the opposite. What the main character (and we the audience) believes are figments of his imagination actually did occur. That's my interpretation. Thoughts?

Religion should be made fun of. If I believed that stuff, I'd keep it to myself. -Larry David

[–] dgr1971 8 years ago

Completely disagree, I'm afraid.

The newspaper headline and the press asking questions. The governor dies in a drink driving accident.

All the rest is in Harry's mind as he struggles with the possibility of further deaths which he blames himself for.

Still, a thoughtful and interesting ending to a film that I expected more from given that it was 70's Coppola written and directed and the ever impressive Gene Hackman starring in.

[–] YourMomLikesMe 8 years ago

Completely agreed OP. Can't believe there'are idiots who think that it was all in Caul's head.

[–] morganseer 7 years ago

Harry Caul believes he's hallucinating but he isn't

It's a theory worth considering. But if the murder is real, why is there no investigation into the blood in the hotel room? If there were an investigation, Harry would be questioned, partly because he had booked the room next door, and partly because he left his fingerprints all over the murder room.

Also, if he thinks it's all in his head, why does he tear up his apartment looking for a bug?

BBL

[–] edlitz36 7 years ago

When he actually witnesses the murder, Caul believes he was hallucinating. However, when he returns to the hotel at the end and sees that the police had cordoned off the crime scene, he then realizes that the murder HAD taken place. When he's searching for the bug at the end, he's aware that he's not crazy.

But if the murder is real, why is there no investigation into the blood in the hotel room? If there were an investigation, Harry would be questioned, partly because he had booked the room next door, and partly because he left his fingerprints all over the murder room.

Well, it's a movie. Not every loose end has to be addressed. It's a character study, not a crime procedural.

Religion should be made fun of. If I believed that stuff, I'd keep it to myself. -Larry David

[–] morganseer 7 years ago

However, when he returns to the hotel at the end and sees that the police had cordoned off the crime scene, he then realizes that the murder HAD taken place.

Hmmm, I did forget the cordoned off hotel. And maybe the questioning comes after the credits.

BBL