So I see the part where it is explained that the lodger (Simon Baker) is just a part of Ellen's (Hope Davis) mind. So please explain what the lodger was doing in the last scene walking up to that house? Was he in fact real? Did Ellen escape? Is this some form of infectious mental disease where Ellen's psychosis has transferred to someone else? It made no sense to me (did I miss a scene?)
shareI could be completely off,but the way i viewed it was that the lodger was in fact real. Ellen probably wasn't all there but at the part where she says "timmy's been dead for 7 years" or something to that effect i believe it's shows that she's not really all that crazy. That in the scene where the lodger is getting ready to leave and she tells him no one has to know and takes his bag. I believe she agreed to take the fall so he could continue and not get caught. Now I don't know if it's that they were doing it together and she really was a wackadoo or if she just fell for him and took the fall and killed her husband who didn't understand her to begin with.
shareI also understand the guy is real. So Ellen killed her husband, but not all the women. But according to me, she doesn't know (or she is not sure if) Malcolm is real. So she totally endorsed the crimes.
But I don't like this kind of movie where we don't know what is real or what is dream! 6/10 for me.
Movies like this require close attention to detail and irreversible focus.
shareI do believe the lodger was real. But her child was part of her imagination. That's why she needed her medication.
She took the fall for the lodger as she believed that he too was part of her imagination and she had done the killings.
That's just my guess though.
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Fad2004, I agree, she doesn't know he's real so she takes the blame.
(And it would have been really easy for him to leave the knife for her to find)
I had the same doubts that u experienced... and i guess it's what everyone says.. Ellen does not know if the lodger is real or not.. so she takes the blame for the murder.. but he is infact real.. and Manning knows it too when he says in the last scene that she is not the murderer.. the ending of the movie ruined the whole movie for me.. when doubts arise like this and we have to look someplace else for answers.. wtf??
shareMy take:
The Lodger did exist. He killed everyone but the husband. Ellen killed only her husband.
Was her husband dead though? They took him away in an ambo.
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i say he is real. the profiler kept saying 8 yrs 8 yrs. ellen said that he has been dead 7 yrs. why such a huge gap? malcolm is real.
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Watch the movie until the very end and I mean VERY end as in all the way through the credits. At the end of the credits there is a map of Santa Monica and a drop of red ink makes a small spot on the map. Remember, Malcolm, in the last scene of the film rented another room and the landlady asks if he's new to - Santa Monica. Malcolm was the killer and the police had the wrong person for the second time.
shareI agree the lodger was real and she only attacked her husband. I don't think he was dead becuase his face wasn't covered when they took him out of the house.
share> Malcolm was the killer and the police had the wrong person for the second time.
I'm glad it was just me not getting it, and the movie wasn't really the giant WTF it seemed to be.
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Excellent response, FilmNoirOnline. I agree 100%.
And will add that this means 'Jack the Ripper's legacy has been carried on, by the fact that the perpetrator was never caught.
by - FilmNoirOnline on Sat Dec 11 2010 18:23:50
Watch the movie until the very end and I mean VERY end as in all the way through the credits. At the end of the credits there is a map of Santa Monica and a drop of red ink makes a small spot on the map. Remember, Malcolm in the last scene of the film rented another room and the landlady asks if he's new to - Santa Monica.
Malcolm was the killer and the police had the wrong person for the second time.
Ok here's a thought. Yes the lodger did exist and was the killer, however that doesn't mean that he did exist as the lodger who rented out their guest house. She could have run across him somewhere in her daily travels and conjured up the fantasy of him renting out the guest house and having an affair with her. She was a mentally unstable neglected housewife so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that her unstable mind might go there. Anywhoo because in her fractured mind at least he really does exist and they really do have a relationship, she decided to take the fall for her non-existent/existent serial killing lover. The attack of the husband I believe was nothing more than a red herring which was supposed to reinforce the belief that she is a psycho capable of being a serial killer. In reality this was probably nothing more than a really bad domestic disturbance. Under this theory, the plot holes are cleared up yet the theory still fits nicely within the framework of the plot.
Just my .02 cents.
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Great thought :-), i wonder if he came to check out the guest house but declined taking it, but in her mind he rents it and they have an affair.
share