MovieChat Forums > Vanilla Sky (2001) Discussion > Dream at the beginning

Dream at the beginning


The dream at the beginning could be a glitch in LE. Maybe David awoke before the programmed day finished loading since his movements and the locations are exactly the same but completely empty in the dream and full of people in “real life.” Makes me wonder if David has experienced other glitches in his LE service before and chose to go back to the dream.

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I don't believe the opening has any connection with LE. I think it's just showing the state of Davids's subconscious in his real life. It's setting up the kind of person he is. The world is all his, but something's missing. He feels empty and alone.

The entire film is a bit of a Scrooge-esque story, imo. The tale of a man who has everything yet is self-centered, arrogant, spoiled, selfish, insensitive, and inconsiderate of others. He callously steals his best friends girl, he doesn't take his job seriously despite having so many employees that depend on him, he uses a girl for sex when it should be obvious that she wants more than that (and he proceeds to behave insensitively towards her by mocking her with Sofia, scoffing at her attempts at a serious conversation, not taking her music seriously, etc). And when he finds a girl who he thinks he could really care for, he again lets his entitled impulses get the best of him and throws it all away by hopping into the car with what he thinks will be an easy lay. This indicates that even if he hadn't gotten into that wreck, he'd have ruined his relationship with Sofia based purely on the type of selfish person he was.

As Brian says, without the sour David doesn't appreciate the sweet. I.e., he doesn't appreciate his privileged life or the people in it. He takes both for granted and abuses them. And ends up paying dearly for it.

The wreck gives him a massive taste of the sour. And, as we see in his dream state, via his subconscious, he eventually learns to own up to his own behavior, the "consequences" of his actions, and to finally appreciate those who cared for him. He wants to live and be a better person. And I think this is what the film is trying to emphasize, really. It's not so much about the sci-fi element as it is this mans redemption arc.

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