During that scene, at first I thought Van was going to try to kill her, but when he saw the painting of the man with the gun pointed to his temple, it triggered something in him that made him leave. I always wondered what's the significance of that painting and why did it affect Van so? I feel that maybe he secretly wants to committ suicide, but couldn't do it.
no thought, no reflection, no analysis, no control, no intention, let it settle itself.
Wow, good question.
I thought that maybe when Vann saw that painting at that gal's house, the focus on the gun made him think that the gal might be a difficult person to kill. (example: did she have access to a gun somewhere??).
Vann liked to take people by surprise when he killed them, and possibly, he thought that the gal might be a difficult victim candidate....so he freaked out and ran away.
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It was just something put in the movie to make you think... and talk (which it obviously did since we are discussing it here on imdb!)
shareI only know he couldn't risk having a sketch of himself made. But, he did seem legitimately creeped out by her and her weird paintings as well.
shareYes I think you are right also when Meg Foster invited him into her home I think he was afraid of her painting him and he didn't want her to do that. Her painting skills were awesome, she may even do a pencil sketch without him knowing
shareI think you might be right. I was just about to post that I think the gun to the head freaked him out, possibly because he thought she wouldn't be easy to kill. Or possibly because it reminded him of something that had happened in his past. But when I saw your post, I thought that might be it. It's not the GUN that freaked him out. It was that he realized how good she is at painting faces.
OTOH, even though she's an excellent painter, what difference does it make, since she would be dead in a few minutes?
In the book, he mentions his father and has some flashbacks. I didn't finish the book, so I don't know if the flashbacks continue throughout the book, and I don't remember what he recalled about his father. It's possible it had something to do with his father or other traumatic event in his life.
Or maybe it WAS that he thought she might be violent with him. Then again, like I said before, he slips them poison and they fall asleep, so it's not likely she'd be able to fight before succumbing to the poison.