I'm sure the OP is probably gone by now, but since someone recently resurrected this thread:
I work in a psychiatric facility and a few glaring things stick out. Yeah, no big surprise, it is Hollywood and they don't get everything right.
1. No way a screwdriver would be sufficient to easily break a window in a psychiatric facility. The glass door she broke shattered as easily as a window pane in someone's home. The glass in facilities like that are tempered/shatter proof...and are usually unbreakable, at least without a tremendous amount of force being applied...and then they would usually just crack.
100% agreed. Even "ordinary" hospitals seem to have sturdier glass than portrayed in the movie.
2. After she is found in the shower, after having allegedly slashing her arm 35 times, she is left virtually alone in a room of some kind (observation room?) with a plethora of electronic and other equipment around her, by her side, behind her, etc. Anyone who has worked in a psychiatric facility knows that patients are rarely left alone with anything that could easily be used to self harm.
The only thing I can think of is that they were guilty of having too much familiarity with Miranda. Sure, she's a patient. Sure, she's tried to harm herself. But she was a doctor there for much longer than she had been a patient at that time. Other than that explanation, it's just shoddy movie-making.
3. At the beginning, when she is working late in her office...why is she working alone in the dark with only a small desk lamp emitting light? Who does that?
People with headaches. People with eyestrain. People who are cooler in a dark room. People who want to cast as little light as possible to remain undisturbed. Just tossing some ideas out there. :)
4. Psychiatric facilities are not dark as portrayed in this film. In real life, they are largely illuminated...no dark shadows or places to easily hide. But, for the mood of the film, I will allow it. :)
Anyone who works in a psychiatric facility knows they are well-lit places. Unfortunately, most of the general public does not. As the OP said, it's just for the film's atmosphere, since I'm sure that a lot of research was done for this film. Despite some of the nitpickier nitpicks, the errors in this film are not as egregious as in some.
5. The "extras" in the film cast as orderlies or staff...would suck in real life at their job. None of them know how to properly restrain a person.
Yes, I agree. The thing is that extras are nothing but window dressing. No one is supposed to care much about them.
reply
share
LovecraftLass
11 years ago
I always wondered if it was realistic that she would be put into the same mental institution as her own patients. That never seemed right to me. I would compare it to an imprisoned police officer being thrown into general population. Or am I wrong?
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=24109349
reply
share
IrishEyes1989
11 years ago
I definitely agree with you there gdck. I felt so bad for her when she had to go into the cafeteria and showers surrounded by all of her patients. I actually commented on it to the other people I was watching the film with.
Another couple of things that we (myself and the group I was watching it with) found unrealistic in the film were:
1) When Miranda was sitting in Dr. Parson's office and saw the picture of his daughter (making the realization that it was the same girl who was haunting her), she didn't know who Rachel was. Only a few moments earlier, Dr. Parsons had said "We know you have no family left. We're your family now." This would lead one to assume that she and Parsons knew each other fairly well. How on earth could she not know that he had a daughter who died only four years earlier? Especially as we see later in the film that there was local media coverage revealing the girl's identity. Even if Miranda had met Parsons after his daughter's death, would a person really keep something like that such a secret? It just didn't seem to make sense. But of course the writer(s) took necessary liberties to move the story along, so it's understandable (if not entirely plausible)
2) There is no way in hell she would have been able to get all the way up to that summer house after escaping the hospital. Let's be real here. The first place the administrators/cops would look for her would be her own house, which is the first place she went after getting out. We know she stayed there for probably at least an hour or two because the sun had come up by the time she left. That seemed a bit ridiculous to us, but again, the writers took liberties.
It's been very interesting reading this thread and seeing other implausibilities that people were able to spot.
"I'm just a f_cked up girl looking for my own peace of mind; Don't assign me yours."
reply
share