MovieChat Forums > Quid Pro Quo (2008) Discussion > Ending Explanation (Spoilers)

Ending Explanation (Spoilers)


I didn't catch this until I rewatched the end scene a couple of times (I have a bootleg copy :-/). The director completely rushed it (rather poorly executed) through so some of these revelations occur within a couple seconds and are difficult to string together:

1. Fiona confesses that she was the girl who caused the accident

2. As Isaac is trying to leave, Fiona tells him that his paralysis is hysterical, as in it's psychologically manifested, not physically caused.

3. She asks, "What makes a person want to be paralyzed, who isn't?"

4. He has a flashback of the accident. Prior to this (as he mentions in an earlier flashback), his memory of the events leading up to the accident end at where his mom kisses his dad and throws him a hard candy, and he doesn't remember anything that happens after that. This time he finally remembers:

In the (slow-mo) seconds leading up to the accident, he had been playing with the lock on his side of the door. IMMEDIATELY after he pulls up the lock, Fiona's car plows into theirs, killing his parents. There's a brief shot of him as a blood-splattered boy waking up on the ground.

It's meant to imply that even though it's obviously only a coincidence that Fiona killed his parents right after he pulled the lock, as a little boy he internalized it as somehow he had caused the accident. Paralysis was a manifestation of his subconscious guilt.

The adult Isaac isn't conscious of this, obviously. Earlier though, his subconscious motivations are hinted at when Isaac is throwing "Ginger Jake" at Fiona and telling her that "You don't deserve to be paralyzed!" whereas she retorts, "And YOU do??" Fiona doesn't know about what happened during the crash, but the fact that Isaac was already equating paralysis with something deserved gives a clue.

It's essentially the same reason that Fiona consciously WANTS to be paralyzed by Isaac--guilt over the accident, tit for tat, penance.


5. Isaac, angry and emotional either because of her prodding, because of his sudden revelation, or because he's remembered for the first time the exact moment she drove into him, throws aside the coffee table and lunges at Fiona.

6. Fiona easily throws him out of his chair onto the floor, and walks over and sits in his chair looking at him. Thematically, this shot represents how the blame Isaac felt and internalized has now been properly transfered to Fiona.

7. She throws the shoes at him. But his legs start to move independently because now that he remembers the accident, he's conscious that he had subconsciously blamed himself and knows as an adult it's completely unreasonable. HE obviously hadn't caused the accident, Fiona had.


I hope this helps. I thought the acting was good but the plot kind of hokey, and that this climax was poorly executed. As a psych major though, I appreciated the psychological depth and accuracy the director/writer put into it.

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[deleted]

Fantastic post. Thanks for the effort.

Only one small quibble with the fifth point -- Isaac throwing the tulip at the wall happens before the flashback.

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He threw the tulip which was in a vase, that if I remember correctly when Isaac first visited Fiona´s apartment she mentioned something like: "Dont touch that vase, its worth more than this whole building..." So when Isaac threw it, I dont remember if it was before or after he threw it, he said something like: "You want me to hurt you?" So I thought that when he was breaking the expensive vase he was hurting her in that way, instead of paralyzing her with the ginger jake.....

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Good explanation, ty for that because i didnt fully understanded the ending, now i do :)

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I agree with your global interpretation.

It's meant to imply that even though it's obviously only a coincidence that Fiona killed his parents right after he pulled the lock, as a little boy he internalized it as somehow he had caused the accident. Paralysis was a manifestation of his subconscious guilt.

I'm not sure of this. You're probably right, but tha way I had interpreted it is that perhaps he wasn't only joking, he actually wanted to throw himself out of the car to hurt himself.


It's essentially the same reason that Fiona consciously WANTS to be paralyzed by Isaac--guilt over the accident, tit for tat, penance.

I agree. And I don't think she knew about him, and she actually wanted to be paralyzed, she wasn't pretending (see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414426/board/nest/107256319#111615346), but she's "healed" by the final revelation.

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Your post is well thought out and those final scenes are very important. However, I did have a different interpretation of that scene about the playing with the lock. The boy playing with the lock provided the explanation as to why he survived because the door was unlocked (and he was thrown from the vehicle) when the car was hit. He didn't do anything to cause the accident.

He may have felt guilty because he survived and his parents did not. It's like the guilt that a soldier may feel when everyone in his unit is killed but somehow he survives. In addition, Isaac may have initially been paralyzed and felt no physical sensation in his legs, but the doctors may not have known this was temporary.

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