MovieChat Forums > Session 9 (2001) Discussion > Gordon is an insane patient in the menta...

Gordon is an insane patient in the mental institution ...

posted 10 years ago by the_headspace
14 replies | jump to latest

From quite early on, I thought that Gordon is actually a patient at the institute, undergoing some form of therapy or lost in his madness.

He keeps being told to "wake up".

The photos in the isolation cell are of his (murdered) family and friends.

The institute being closed and abandoned is all in his mind. He's actually in it as a real patient.

He's probably strapped into the creepy-looking chair we see at the start and throughout the movie.

I don't think it's synchronous time, so what happened when to whom isn't really relevant as far as the deeper meaning is concerned. (For example, some people here wonder why the cops didn't arrest him, looking for rational explanations such as no one noticed his wife and kid were missing - I think that's taking things too literally.)

The Mary multiple personality thing represents the invented nature of the characters in the film.

Just my theory :)

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] BunnyCake 9 years ago

Interesting theory! I never thought of it that way before.

I still think the characters were real, and Gordon - "the Zen master" as his nephew put it - finally snapped under pressure and killed his wife and child, and then the others in his crew. I think he placed the photos in the room as he went mad.

Gordon was a man who kept his cool for too long without an outlet. The mental hospital served as a backdrop for insanity in general and possibly a catalyst - in a paranormal sort of way - for his eventual killing spree.

As far as the session tapes, Mary explains that madness can invade "the weak and the wounded" - people like her after her accident, and people like Gordon who are a powder keg waiting to explode. No one is immune.

These kids today, with their hula hoops and fax machines.

[–] swlabr 9 years ago

Wow what great insights. I'm watching it for a second time now and will use your explanations to get more out of this very creepy movie.

[–] hannahrose313 9 years ago

This movie is great for those who enjoy analysation. I agree with your theory, and it is all the more believable when one takes in account the similarities between Mary's recordings and Gordon's situation. Before Mike is killed he jots down some notes about Mary's "personalities". He concludes Princess correlates to innocence and Billy to an informant. I think we can all conclude Simon is the dictator/person who gets things done. These can also be correlated to Gordon's workmates.
Let's imagine Gordon is Mary. Princess seems more closely related to Mary than her other personas, this parallels to Jeff who is Hank's nephew. Not only that, but he is the most "innocent" out of everyone. Mike is obviously an educated man who informs viewers of Mary's past, he is Billy. Lastly, Carusos character is Simon. Not only are they similar, but their voices sound the same. His character proves to be a "go getter". As for Hank, he is Peter...or in Gordon's reality his wife.
The events as they happen just don't seem to make logical sense. If he killed his family prior to taking the job, someone had to find out. As a new mother, she most likely wasn't working, but her family and friends were probably calling in to see how she and the baby were.

[–] Smug_Grinch 9 years ago

You guys are overthinking it. We find out in the very first scene that he's sleep-deprived from the baby being sick with the ear infection. And he's struggling financially, so he makes the deal to get everything done in a week: he'll say anything to secure the job. But he's so stressed out that he just sits in his truck for five minutes of peace and quiet. Gordon was already susceptible to his environment in his fragile state. He took the tour, saw the isolation room, and was told that they're supposed to be cathartic in patient recovery. Mary's tape says that madness can infect the weak and wounded. Gordon is weary from being exhausted and then snaps when he is scalded with hot water.

We find out in the flashback that Gordon killed his family the same day as he got the bid, but his psychotic break mentally blocked it all out and made him go back to the asylum. He repeatedly states that he wants to go home, but his own psyche is protecting him by creating the scenario that the wife has kicked him out. Gordon just slowly slides further and further into madness. Talking on the broken phone at the end just confirms that his mind was imagining him talking to his wife throughout the movie. I think the Mary tapes are just an incredible coincidence that also provide a great narrative for what is also happening to Gordon. It's a parallel, sure, but I don't think the whole thing was in his mind.

I did think, though, the way he looked at that wheelchair and heard his name spoken, that maybe he'd actually been committed there with Mary at one time or another. But I guess we'll never know.

---
We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

[–] Danimal_77 8 years ago

I fully agree with all that you've said and to your last point, I believe that Gordon was once a patient, due to the fact that the very first scene of the movie, we have the security guard telling Gordon and Phil that old patients come back to the hospital and that's what I believe was Gordon's case. He was once a patient there and probably was released in the mid 80's when it closed down and when he's doing the first tour and he sees the chair and is greeted by the voice, his memories of the place are re-awakened and in turn begins his tragic downward spiral back into madness.

[–] tbonesays 7 years ago

, I believe that Gordon was once a patient I kept waiting for them to reveal that. What are his christening pictures doing in the asylum?

[–] joseph-argenio-622-182606 8 years ago

Or not thinking hard enough.
There is no asbestos job, and maybe no other characters either besides Gordon. Like Mary, he has a multiple split. They are all him, except perhaps Mike who is the only one not killed:

Mary = (the "normal") Gordon
Princess = Gordon as Phil
Billy = Gordon as his nephew
Peter = Gordon as Hank
Mary's parents = Gordon as Phil
Simon = the mental hospital, the director, or the film itself

Gordon killed his wife & kid, so no one was on the phone, ditto Amy, he likely killed her years before he killed his wife, because she was cheating on him with one of his other personalities!

[–] KutWrite (1220) 3 years ago

Interesting, but how do you get that Mike wasn't killed? Did you mean Hank? I inferred he died during the removal of that "lobotomy thing." But Gordon wasn't killed either.

[–] Danimal_77 8 years ago

Jeff is not Hank's nephew. Jeff is Gordon's nephew.

[–] craigh01 9 years ago

I agree with that theory.

Otherwise how did the pictures get into that cell?

Also, did anyone notice, at the very end, you see the asylum from a distance and it looks brand new? (Not all falling apart, like a new institution?)

Or was it just me?

[–] FourthYear 9 years ago

This movie is great for those who enjoy analysation.

I've seen this movie easily a dozen times, and every time I appreciate the complexity of the story, the hints and information, and the support it gives to MULTIPLE interpretations.

Looking at this board, it's so cool that people all have opinions and thoughts on what's really going on in this film - it's an unsung masterpiece.

[–] kurdilmr 7 years ago

exactly what I thought when i watched it for the first time last night. i've done a lot of acid so i thought maybe i was just extrapolating, but the walls are covered in pictures of all of them. i think it's also probable that mary and simon and all of them are actually personalities of gordon's, along with the other guys. they're all different personalities, and as the doctors kill off each personality, he seems himself killing them. he's taking his mind back.

[–] rushington (728) a year ago

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