MovieChat Forums > Keane Discussion > KEANE HAD A DAUGHTER

KEANE HAD A DAUGHTER

posted 17 years ago by gazbomb
7 replies | jump to latest

Although there are good arguments for whether keane did or didnt have a little girl i believe that he did . A cruel twist of fate took his daughter from him , and we see this at the end of the film where he takes his eyes of keira for the same interval of time but she returns safely to him .
Additionally in mcdonalds he recoils for a second when he realises he has left the girl alone BUT she is still there when he returns to his relief. He starts to understand that this is something that happens in the world all the time but yet he tortures himself over it .

I think his daughter got lost and was snatched while visiting him in NYC - his illness had resulted in estrangement and divorce (as happens often in this situation)
Keane sees a woman abandon a child for 2 days (with a man she clearly knows is ill ) while he only took his eyes off his little girl for a minute and lost her . Keanes reenactment of his daughters disappearance finally confirms this shattering truth - this was not something compelled to constantly happen to him over and over again (like it does in his mind) but a shocking random incident in a cruel world.
Keane has survived through medicating himself with alcohol and drugs and attempts to return to the real world with work but is rejected again and again . I think keane was a good man in agony inventing scenarios surrounding the abduction to relieve his pain to keep him from totally collapsing.

The final scene gives him the chance to finally apologise to his daughter and to say goodbye , but not to his illness and pain which will haunt him forever.

Fantastic film - great performance .

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] judikin 17 years ago

I agree with you completely, Jan-66 - this is the only interpretation that makes sense to me.

[–] Baby_Claire 16 years ago

There are plenty of explainations. We could run in circles all day and night. I honestly have no idea what I believe. His daughter Sophie could be a figment of his imagination, or simply a story he read in a newspaper about a girl who ran away or was abducted, which he, lonely, focused on; but I don't really think this is the intended explaination. Another is of course, perhaps he had a daughter but he is actually the one who murdered her, but due to mental illness actually believed/made himself believe that Sophie had been taken from him cruelly and almost randomly by a complete stranger and Kira is now his next victim. The other is that he had a daughter and she was really abducted, so now he looked out for Kira and her mother as a type of penance almost, to prove to himself and perhaps the shadowy presence of his ex, felt in the back of his mind (???) that he truly was a good father. I am with either the second or third explaination, since when he is watching Kira approaching from the sweetshop I noticed a tiny "switch", that made the viewer think perhaps the point of view had changed. This could maybe be that Keane is "turning" into a child killer - the person he really was all along - or is watching to see if the real kidnapper will strike again so now he can watch Kira and will now be a hero, saving his daughter in the process.

"Innocence Has A Power Evil Cannot Imagine"
Pan's Labryinth

[–] LaraCroftLegacy 16 years ago

Babycaire
Iagree on two your psts

1 Keane accidental kill his girl and in his mind she been kidnapped

2 he watch Keria and see if the real kidnapped whom he resume took his daughter and hoping he be a hero and find his daughter again

DarkAlessa now the end of day and Iam the Reaper:silent hill

[–] Buwzo 16 years ago

I think the same as the OP. It makes sense. I think there is nothing to back up him being a killer... where did that come from? He's mentally ill, there is nothing in the movie that makes him out to be a bad person at heart whatsoever.

[–] hppg 16 years ago

I assumed that interpretation too - he did have a daughter, she was abducted, this lead to a break down in the relationship with his wife and he spiralled out of control into mental illness and drugs. I hadn't even considered other interpretations until I checked out this board though there are some interesting ones that could make sense.

[–] decalsrus 15 years ago

Yes Keane had a daughter and he used kiera as a substitute and also as a way to remedy the tragedy that had happened by letting her go to buy candy alone while he hid and watched ...hoping to see someone approach her and he would finally find out his daughter's fate. He wasn't portrayed as a killer just a disturbed person who was hanging on to reality by a thread.