The crucifixion scene.......DISTURB ING
I dont care how bad the movie was. The scene where Jane March's hands were nailed to the chair was the most sickening I have ever seen in a movie. I had nightmares about it, it was so disturbing
shareAnd one more thing.....about that scene, the least she could have done was scream to the heavens when Bruce Willis removed the nails from her hands
shareSeems you're not used to watching horrors... But, anyway, this movie is not a family movie, so it is allowed to be disturbing. If you watch thrillers (and I suppose so, why would you watch this one otherwise?), I'm suprised you haven't found more or at least equally disturbing scenes. I found a similar scene more disturbing in Blood Simple (a great movie) and it's also not a horror.
Much more interresting could be discussing about your second remark. One possibility: she was surely borderline psychotic or I don't know how she could play two persons for so many years (such psychosis usually appears at that age or a little older, and the event she had to deal with could provoke it). As split personalities often appear when a child can't cope with his/her situation in reality, other personality(-ies) are created to take away his/her pain, feeling guilty etc. If one of her personalities was nailed, the other unnailed might have come to avoid the pain. It's just a possibility; we don't know which person was nailed. Also, in some scenes we can't be sure if she is really psychotic, she looks too resigned. Comparing them to her scenes with Willis (kitchen, pool...) this theory weakens; those two different moods may look like bipolar psychosis, but that wouldn't explain nailing situation. Also, the changes of spirit in bipolar psychosis are usually not so frequent (though they can be!) and not so depending on reality (not so induced by surrounding factors as in neurotic disorders).
So, I'd ask some psychiatrist to give his opinion (I bet he'll cut me to pieces after a good laugh, but I'm really interested what would a professional conclusion be - or maybe he'd say that the authors made a mistake?).
I guess its all about taste. I have gone from seen bits of brain in Samuel L. Jackson's hair (Pulp Fiction), to people getting scalped (Nurse Betty, Kill Bill Vol. 1). But that scene (in retrospect, a good scene as it makes the villain more despicable), was intense.
Funny isn't it? This was arguably Jane March's best performance. This film should have put her on the map. Instead, she hasn't made a movie since 2003 I believe. And it's sad because she is so young (I think she is around 30 or 32)
Richie is considered to be a split personality Schitsophrenic by both the Willis character and his friend psychiatrist. When the Willis character finds her nailed, she says she deserved what was done to her. Apparently that was the Richie subservient personality talking. That's why he says, "Where is Rose, I need to see Rose."
As far as the hand nailing, it looked like it was done through the fleshy skin between the thumb and forefinger, not between bones or even through muscle. Probably would not cause any lasting damage. It should have been very painful of course, but maybe she was in shock. She also had at least one deep gash on her back. Also, emotional pain can be a lot worse than physical pain. People who are in great emotional pain sometimes hurt themselves, perhaps as a way of distracting themselves from the emotional pain. See the ending of (i)The Pawnbroker(/i) with Rod Steiger.
Semper Contendere Propter Amoram et Formam
There are big variations among people when they are exposed to painful situations, both when pain is physical or emotional. Some cope better with former, some with latter.
Some people become psychotic after certain physical conditions (e.g. after operations, childbirth etc); however this usually happens to persons who have been already instable personalities. Far more often is another direction - people convert psychological problems into somatic ones, with endlessly various expressions and symptoms.
Split personality does not belong to either of this groups. It is usually (psychic) answer to psychic/emotional trauma. But once this happens, it is not impossible that these persons "chance" also when physical pain appears, because this mechanism of changing personalities is "constructed" to help coping with painful situations.
I wouldn't accept that she was in shock. This condition can be a consequence of severe traumas, but as you wrote, there were no important physical damages.
And Rose's traumas started very early in her childhood. We must have in mind that children don't have experiences enough to understand everything that happens around them, and often feel that they have important role in the events. As the consequence they often feel guilty for things that have nothing to do with them, or they surely couldn't be responsible in any way - death of parents (siblings, grandparents...), divorce of parents, molestation (victims can develop feeling of guilt), diseases etc. And if adults are not careful enough, some remarks (that adults are not aware at all) may persuade the child that they should be blamed. Once when problems in child behaving appear it is not easy to bind them with the real source.
Also, it is very likely that children in modern world suffer more. One or more centuries ago there were not so many traumas. Parents didn't lose job (because most of them worked at home, on farms...), divorces were rare, and there were not many communications, so children (and adults as well) didn't have many informations what (bad things) happened outside local community. And, what's more important, big families helped all their members cope with trauma and in a way mitigated its effects. Today, small and more and more frequent one-parent families have nobody to help them and child(ren) is/are almost equally involved in the events as the adult member(s) of family.