MovieChat Forums > Ôdishon (2000) Discussion > Audition explained...

Audition explained...

posted 12 years ago by g6kim
8 replies | jump to latest

According to the director, it WAS a dream. Aoyama just wanted to get laid by some young chick, so his lust for her completely clouded his judgement and portrayed her as a saint. Then once he shot his load his mind did the complete opposite and took all the bits and pieces of information she had of her and whipped up the absolute worst case scenario he could think of for her. And yes, that scene with her and the bag (before they fall asleep) is just him imagining her as being crazy just for a second.. the bag literally and figuratively represent "baggage". It's a commentary on men who get laid and then turn tail and run. In reality, the girls probably just a tad quirky and completely harmless.

[–] Demarates 11 years ago

Great, thanks !

Makes much more sense now.

When I'm gone I would like something to be named after me. A psychiatric disorder, for example.

[–] K_Sear 11 years ago

Except that interpretation doesn't really make sense in the context of what is shown on screen. Where did Miike say this?

[–] g6kim 11 years ago

How does it not make sense with whats shown on screen? He literally wakes up in bed when she went crazy

[–] K_Sear 11 years ago

And then it transitions back, indicating it was escapist wishful thinking, not reality. The film ends with him disfigured and her dead, not him waking up from a bad dream.

[–] purple66 10 years ago

ikr - that seemed to imply it actually was not a dream

[–] naak00 11 years ago

You can never understand how much i agree with you!

[–] deRider84 11 years ago

There's absolutely no way to tell for sure either way. The film is careful to provide enough clues to support both interpretations. Personally, I prefer the literal reading, simply because the ending is much more viscerally powerful and disturbing that way.

I suppose the dream angle makes it more intellectually stimulating and psychologically complex, in the sense that it presents Aoyama as the real creep - a misogynistic monster with deep-seated commitment-phobia. It's just that the film loses much of its insidious sense of dread if I think it's all in his head. After all, physical dread is usually more cinematically satisfying than the existential kind.

A terrific movie either way. There's something so damn menacing about it, even before all hell breaks loose in the last half an hour.

[–] MrFilmJunkie 10 years ago

right, the entire second half of the movie is a dream and it also ends that way (aoyama doesn't wake up before the movie is over).

in the middle of the movie, aoyama and asami go to the hotel, have sex and go to sleep.

main dream:
aoyama wakes up in the hotel and asami is suddenly disappeared. he goes looking for her, makes scary discoveries, goes home and gets drugged (= start of dream within a dream 1).

dream within a dream 1:
aoyama and asami in a restaurant. they have a conversation, but soon the dream turns into a nightmare again: aoyama's deceased wife appears and warns him. more *beep* up things happen.

main dream continues:
aoyama lies on the floor paralysed, asami starts her "kiri kiri"-business. aoyama's son comes home. in shock, aoyama passes out (= start of dream within a dream 2).

dream within a dream 2:
aoyama wakes up in the hotel, asami is there, too, and his leg is unscathed. luckily aoyama falls asleep again (= continuation of main dream).

main dream continues:
in self-defence, aoyama's son throws asami down the stairs. while both, aoyama and asami lie on the floor, they have a last conciliating talk.

-- end of movie --