MovieChat Forums > Copycat (1995) Discussion > I don't get Helen's behaviour

I don't get Helen's behaviour


Ok, so she got agoraphobia from a traumatising event. Sure. And she freaks out from that email with the video of the next victim, perfectly understandable.

But why doesn't she so much as bat an eyebrow on seeing that red dress laid out on her bed, when she thought she was alone, telling her quite clearly that someone (obviously the serial killer) had been INSIDE her apartment? Andy wouldn't have done anything like that. She doesn't call the cops then, and when she finally does call the cops, she doesn't even mention this. In fact, when she freaks out after the email, the detectives offer her police protection but she refuses adamantly. She even says "this is the only space that I have in the world". She's hysterical that the killer could sneak into her computer, but doesn't care at all that he can sneak into her apartment whenever he feels like it - that in fact, he already has, and she knows it. So what gives?

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If I remember right, she thinks she grabbed the wrong dress without paying attention before going into the shower. She thought she just obliviously did it.

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What she said, later on, was that she wasn't sure at the time, that she had done it in a pill-induced haze. She said she was sure after the second time her apartment was broken into, when she saw the guy... But why didn't she suspect as much when she got the email? At any rate, it's not until she actually talks about the dress that we get to know what she thought of seeing it laid out on her bed. Before that, the viewer is left to assume she just didn't care. They could have done a bit with the story-telling there, for example have a dialogue snippet between her and Andy explaining why she dismissed the incident.

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I think the idea hadn't fully fomented in her mind but the escalation of events made her realize it wasn't the booze and pills.

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She explained this. She had brain issues and pill issues so when she saw it she didn't think much of it. Like she thought she mightve put there or imagined it there.

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I'd just like to thank you for typing "might've" instead of "might of" (even if you forgot the apostrophe). I can't remember the last time I saw someone write that correctly.

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