Can anyone tell me who really killed the singer?

I saw it at the Toronto Film Festival and you can add my name to the list of confused viewers. I am hoping that once I get the dvd, I will be able to figure out a few things. I did believe that he killed Charlotte, but only because he did not believe she really existed. He was so delusional that he thought she was part of his dreams. They found the real killer of the singer, so it was not Ben. Other than that, I am still confused.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is how to love and be loved in return.

Haha! I ended up having to turn on the *Spanish* subtitles to try to understand many of the lines.

Ok, I am totally with you on the 'not being able to hear' thing...I am pretty good at understanding accents and so forth.... but man! The accents were thick and we had to turn it up so loud to hear all that mumbling Colin Firth did!!...lol....
Yes, "huh" describes the movie. I logged on to find out what the heck was going on in that film and like the film "The Machinist", I will never know....<sigh>....ah well, I liked it well enough...nothing like a movie that makes you think...just when you think you've got it....you don't.....

Same experience. I reran a couple of scenes and found the dialogue no clearer.

The singer was killed by a man named Gareth Carwood. He isn't even in the movie and not found until the end.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who is still a bit confused over this movie though. It certainly does make you think. You can make a good arguement for most of this being a hallucination or only small bits of it. I can see it several different ways.

I have watched it 4 times now and am not entirely positive what to think yet.

Good luck everyone.

BTW-Wonderfully acted by Colin Firth, as if he could be bad in anything!

The directors commentry and comments by various cast members are only on Region 2 dvds. There is a lot of symbolism in this film and a lot of filling in the gaps. Personally I think this film is extremley underrated, most people get confused simply becasue they haven't paid attention, miss bits of vital information and want to be spoon fed every single detain instead of working it out for themselves and coming to their own conclusions. Colin is, as usual, fantastic, and those critics who says he's typecast and then does something like this to "try and get away from it" are so wrong and clearly know very litte of his career, many of his earlier films - pre Pride and Prejudice - were along this sort of vein. If you enjoyed his performance I highly recommend you see Where The Truth Lies, a new film where he plays a pill-popping bisexual! WARNING - it conatins explicit sex scenes, but it is still a fantastic film and he and Kevin Bacon are brilliant. May I ask why you say "rather shy" when you give your opinion about Colin? There is absolutely nothing wrong with admiting your a fan of his work or of him, believe me I think he's fantastic - oh and gorgeous! Below is just MY interpretation of the film. I'm not implying that it is right but it's just what I believe to be so, you may find some of what I've written useful.

My basic understanding of the film is that everything we see did happen to Ben.
Everything that we see is real.
It is all told from Ben's memory who is in the mental hospital.
The first thing we see is the accident. Ben and Elisa had an arguement, Ben abandoned Elisa then crashed the car.
Ben then wakes from his coma to find that Lauren Parris (a famous singer) has been murdered.
At the same time Ben thinks he has killed Elisa and may also have something to do with Lauren's murder.
He can't remember the recent past.
Elisa (his wife) was a dancer with Lauren (the famous singer).
Once the detective starts questioning Ben this convinces him even more that he has something to do with the murder. He collects the newspaper cuttings to try and work out how and why Lauren was murdered.
The voice of the psychiatrist is in his mind. Ben had real sessions with a psychiatrist when his parents died but now he is recreating those sessions from memory and placing them in the context of Elisa's 'death'.
Charlotte is real. It is just coincidental that she has the same name as his aunt who was also real.
The imagined voice of the psychiatrist and the 'death' of Elisa convinces him Charlotte is just a figure of his imagination and a replacement for Elisa.
The funeral Ben watches is actually that of Lauren Parris, but he is told that it is Elisa's funeral.
Elisa turns up alive.
Carrie (Elisa's sister) and Emery (Lauren's manager) both tell Ben that Elisa is dead knowing that she is not.
Emery has a relationship with Elisa.
When Elisa turns up this convinces Ben even more that Charlotte is not real so all he has to do is get rid of her so he can get back with Elisa.
To Ben by killing Charlotte all he is doing is killing an hallucination, sadly Charlotte is real.
The film ends with Ben in the mental hospital where he has been all the time.

About the shoes. In the directors commentary, the director mentions that when the shoes are seen it is nearly always one single shoe belonging to a pair, that things that are meant to be in pairs end up being single, and applied this to the situation between Ben and Elisa. So I took it to be a metaphor and that Ben thinks that he and Elisa should be together but he has ended up single, much like the old shoes.

Some of what follows is taken from the director's commentry:
Not everything in the film is significant. Many things are shown several times(shoes,polythene,mirrors) and Ben is unsure what is important and what is not. The story is told from Ben's point of view and from his memory (the final scene also implies this),and how he remembers events. Ben's flat and hospital ward are identicle in shape and size,so did he leave the hospital? The sessions with the psychiatrist are recreated; the voice Ben is hearing is in his imagination (although he really did have sessions as a child. The pyschiatrist was called Dr. Manor, and the voice we hear is actually that of a friend of CF). The polythene makes the surroundings feel cold and lonely,much like a morgue/prison. The surroundings of the hospital, flat and the city are seen as Ben sees them; showing his distorted mental geography. The contrast between the ants and Ben. The ants are sociable whilst Ben is isolated. Charlotte has an angelic aura,and has spiritual beliefs. The director states that Charlotte is REAL. Other influences for Ben's mental state are urban society; which is isolating, and the influence of the media and celebrity death. The knocking on the door is seen as an intrusion into Ben's world. The CCTV adds to his paranoia,he feels that he is constantly being watched. His aunt was REAL,also shown in the photograph (which he finds in the book). He becomes delusional when he thinks the TV is talking to him (the bit where he's watching Lauren Parris's manager). Ben may be seen as an unreliable narrator; he tells his story but as he remembers it. The imagined voice of the psychiatrist convinces him the problem is Charlotte and this may have gave him the idea to kill her. The director raised an intresting point that the police detective in the final scene may be a figure of his imagination.
It was also intresting to listen to Colin's view of Ben. He believes that Ben's mental state is understandable and justified and that his reactions are sane according to his perception of things, and I have to say I agree with him.

I hope it's helped.

No Brian, I'm the Easter Bunny!

I Thought the picture showing the drawing of Lauren Pariss's killer looked like the caretaker..

Thought there was something fishy about him the whole movie

Of course he could have lifted her!! She tiny, he's a normal/tall man. My boyfriend is only a couple of inches taller than me and can lift me. And that's without the added element of murderous rage.

Usually.