MovieChat Forums > Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002) Discussion > Red coat, brown coat. SPOILERS!!!

Red coat, brown coat. SPOILERS!!!

posted 20 years ago by sxr71
8 replies | jump to latest

Near the end Harbours expresses that he wishes that he had the Red Coat instead of the Brown one. If I remember correctly the brown coat was bought for Wilbur. This is also when Harbour talks about how when their dad was on his deathbed, he mistook Harbour for Wilbur and that for that moment he became Wilbur.

There seems to be a whole theme where Harbour becomes Wilbur and Wilbur becomes Harbour. This shows towards the end when Mary brings Wilbur a decoration and he says that Harbour was into those things but when Harbour comes out home he clearly says that Wilbur made it. Wilbur during his rant sequence on Christmas complains about how Harbour is the only one who knows how to Roast the Duck, and do all the responsible things around the house. He knows at this point that he has to become Harbour and let Harbour become him (the one destined to die).

[–] SingleBlueRose 19 years ago

Perfect point of view. Couldn't agree more.

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[–] woopingli 19 years ago

I felt that too and it also hinted that the brother's were always jealous of each other, Wilbur had more love and affection from their parents, at least in Harbour's mind, and Harbour was always the responsible one while Wilbur was a screw up.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] AriArnold 17 years ago

That's a really interesting point, both that they 'become' each other and that they are jealous of each other, as another poster wrote.

I see why they 'switch' roles in the end, when Wilbur has to become responsible and Harbour has to die.
But I still don't understand the thing with the X-mas decoration or if that has anything to do with switching identities. I just reckoned that Wilbur always refused anything that had to do with their past, just like he always denies to remember anything. Maybe he also wanted to give Harbour some credit.

[–] spinaned 15 years ago

My take on it is one person with a split personality. There are about 10 places in the film where this identity confusion pops up so I'm sure the director was saying something. Regarding the red/brown coat, notice the scene towards the end where Wilbur is in a brown coat with red scarf indicating that he is becoming whole again.

[–] Diogenes_of_Sinope 14 years ago

I interpreted the decoration thing as Harbour wanting to give Wilbur some credit, knowing how Mary looks up to him.

Seems more likely that the ever-altruistic Harbour would do it than Wilbur.

'I am not a citizen of Sinope, I am a citizen of the whole world.'

[–] mountainlover 12 years ago

Just watched it last night on a recently purchased close-out sale DVD. The funny thing is, I came here to start a new thread: Why the heck does the picture of the guy on the front cover in clouds with arms outstretched look neither like Wilbur nor Harbour. Then I see this thread on the two becoming one, or one becoming the other, etc. Regarding the cover, it could be a case of bad continuity from filming to the marketing of it and they got someone other than the actors to be on the cover, but it's interesting to read some of these messages on stuff I didn't see when watching it.

[–] Princess_Ashmi 11 years ago

Also the scene where he sees that girl from his suicide group attempt to kill herself in the river and jumps in to save her. Then offers to take her for an ice cream. i dunno, i think that the old Wilbur would have been happy to let her drown herself but this scene symbolised the beginning of change in the character.

...Even if he did go home to screw his brothers wife again

Ashmi any question