MovieChat Forums > The Killer Inside Me (2010) Discussion > Did Lou kill his mother?

Did Lou kill his mother?

posted 13 years ago by dansemave
30 replies | jump to latest

Has anybody but me had that thought? We're told that his mother died young, and considering that she encouraged him to hurt her, it doesn't seem unlikely to me that it all got out of hand. Remember the asphyxiation scene with Joyce? Maybe his mother taught him to do that - and from what I've heard asphyxiation can quite easily go wrong and cause death. So couldn't that have happened with his mother? I think perhaps it would go some way towards explaining why he feels compelled to kill the women he loves (or thinks he loves). I'm not an expert on psychology, but I imagine there could be a connection. In any case I think it's pretty clear that he associates violence with love when it comes to women, in some way or another. Although, in that case, one wonders why he apologises to Joyce...? Maybe he feels like it's the way he needs to ultimately express his love, but at the same time is aware that she doesn't want it? Some people in this forum seem to take it for granted that he thinks Joyce (and perhaps Amy as well) enjoys the final beating. I don't think so, no matter how much she (they) enjoyed the S&M sex they had. If he thought Joyce wanted him to beat her up so badly, he wouldn't apologise, would he?

Another thought about his violent nature: His mother says to hurt her 'like Dad does'. In other words, his dad was violent towards women, and Lou knew this from an early age. Now, seeing as most men have a role model in their father, those facts could have contributed to the development of his character. Couldn't they?

I'd love to have greater insight into psychology, 'cause this story provokes so many half thoughts in me - thoughts that don't lead to proper theories, simply because I'm not clever or knowledgeable enough within the field.

So it would be great to hear someone else's thoughts on the issues I've brought up here.

[–] little_wing 13 years ago

That wasn't Lou's mother - it was the housekeeper who also watched Lou and his brother.

Reaction time is a factor in this, so please pay attention.

[–] dansemave 13 years ago

What??? Where else does she appear?

Well... Maybe he had a strong love for the housekeeper, and my semi-theory still kinda holds water. :D

[–] katiekeene 13 years ago

dansemave asks:

What??? Where else does she appear?

Well... Maybe he had a strong love for the housekeeper, and my semi-theory still kinda holds water. :D

Your theory has legs; it's a well thought out, substantial theory, but it's still a theory.

You previously stated: “Another thought about his violent nature: His mother says to hurt her 'like Dad does'.”

The actual line his housekeeper said was “hurt me.....like your Daddy does.”

Lou tells the Sheriff early on that his mother died when he was an infant. He was six when his dad brought home his older step-brother. By then Lou has already been sexually abused by the nanny. She also “appeared” in the smut black & white photos Lou found in the Bible he'd chosen to read one night. (Lou was quite the Reader.;) Interestingly, Lou burned the pornographic pics in the sink immediately which shows he had a sense of shame about whole matter. Furthermore, you're correct that he was a full blown misogynist, as well as, (another commenter posited) a categorical sociopath.

katie keene

[–] aliastaken 13 years ago

I think it's pretty clear that it's not his nanny, but his mother. That's why he bristles when called a 'son of a bitch'.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] aliastaken 13 years ago

No, I'm not joking. Incest could certainly explain how he got so twisted in the head and if you remember, when he tells his story to the lawyer, it starts with his mother.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] aliastaken 13 years ago

Apparently it's made clear in the book that it is a housekeeper, but the movie definitely does not make that clear. Incest is not an unreasonable assumption for the film though for the reasons I've already stated.

[–] katiekeene 13 years ago

aliastaken posted: I think it's pretty clear that it's not his nanny, but his mother. That's why he bristles when called a 'son of a bitch'.
......
Apparently it's made clear in the book that it is a housekeeper, but the movie definitely does not make that clear.

Speak for yourself. It was clear to me that it was Lou's housekeeper who taught him to beat her during sex. I did not read Thompson's novel The Killer Inside Me, but watched the film twice and it showed Lou learned to associate sexual pleasure with inflicting pain because his masochistic housekeeper got off on it.

nb: Everyone "bristles when called a 'son of a bitch'." ;)

katie keene

[–] aliastaken 13 years ago

I obviously am 'speaking for myself' when I post my opinion on message boards. We seem to be in agreement that it was the woman how taught Lou to beat him during sex who damaged him. I watched the film twice (but only select scenes the second time due to the violence), and I'd forgotten that he had said his mother died when he was a baby when I posted my comment (although given how much he lied in the film, I figured maybe she died when he was a little older and that it was possible that he lied about it to cover up that it had been her, not a nanny who we saw in that scene in the film). I've now read the book, which makes it clear that it is indeed a nanny, even detailing a conversation she has with his father (who, as it turns out, is not exactly the great guy he was portrayed to be throughout the film). I think Lou's natural feelings of abandonment by his mother, added to the abuse of his caretaker, and the betrayal of his father are at the root of his mental illness.

[–] katiekeene 13 years ago

Fair enough, aliasT. Your explanation adds up to why, how and what made Lou the unrepentant, psychopathic killer he was. Although (and this is paramount) many people have been abandoned, abused, and betrayed growing up and they didn't become serial killers. In any event, you have to love the guy - in a way. As far as evil goes, Lou was consummate at it. ;)

The Murder Inside Me is one of - if not THE - best film i have seen in recent memory. I thought Casey Afflect was sublime as Lou. IMHO, his prosaic brother Ben "Afflict"ion is not in his league as an actor. The director, Casey & his women & entire cast made an outstanding film from Jim Thompson's pulp fiction novel.

katie keene

[–] aliastaken 13 years ago

Yes, I agree that many other people have been abandoned, abused, and betrayed, but I think what makes Lou's case different is the specific type of sexual abuse that he suffered. It caused an obviously damaging correlation between love and abuse and sex, which is ignited when Jessica Alba's character smacks him out of nowhere.

I agree that Casey Affeck is superb in the film, but I can't say I love his character.

[–] katiekeene 13 years ago

Agree, the housekeeper messed him up big time. However, Lou has been a psycho/sick-o long before he runs into Joyce (Jessica Alba.) Remember he sexually assaulted a little girl in the back of a car when he was still a boy and let his brother serve time for it. Not exactly filled with conscience from the start.

From his boyhood to a 30+ year old sheriff deputy, it's hard to imagine Lou being the epitome of probity. As a true sociopath, he undoubtedly injured and killed along the way.

katie keene

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] aliastaken 13 years ago

Right, he was deeply disturbed long before Joyce, but her smack triggered his past psychosis into an active state. The book explains it a little more clearly than the movie.

[–] ariellibra 13 years ago

it's also made clear in the movie since lou said that his mom died when he was a baby

[–] aliastaken 13 years ago

True, but Lou is a liar, so how was the viewer to be sure?

[–] taleeya 13 years ago

I agree with many posters here that the woman's identity was not clearly shown. But I don't think bristling at being called a "son of a bitch" would be good evidence of her being his mother.....

If his mother died while he was an infant, he most likely has a very idealized and perfect view of his mother, he has no reason to think otherwise! Also, depending on his father, his father may even have said stuff to him like his mother was great (and that other women, like the nanny/housekeeper, were sluts).

Didn't read the book though....

[–] dead_doll00 12 years ago

It is his nanny/housekeeper. Watch the movie again. It is stated at one point that she was the housekeeper the father had hired and he was into kinky sex/domination.

Thus the, "hurt me like YOUR daddy does!"

[–] tconnolly40502 12 years ago

Okay, I have it on Netflix streaming, so I'll watch it again. It was mesmerizing...and sickening. A little too much brutality even for me, but don't kid yourselves that s*** happens, ask any victim of spousal abuse, the ones that are still alive.

[–] DrLibertyBelle 12 years ago

She looked like a teenager...too young to be a mother of a boy his age at least.

[–] cagneychick182 13 years ago

I didn't assume he burned the pornographic pictures due to shame. I assumed he burned them so that if anyone looked through his things, they wouldn't find them. The police would certainly ask questions as to why he'd have naked pictures of his babysitter, especially if she looked bruised in some of those pictures.

It would be more likely that his father killed his mother--she died when he was a baby or during childbirth (I can't remember). Perhaps this is where Lou's sociopathic behavior started.

***
Truth be told, I had to see you one more time, even if it was from a distance.

[–] tconnolly40502 12 years ago

Where did I go wrong. I totally thought it was his mother. Where was a housekeeper mentioned?

[–] dazeerae 12 years ago

I was also mixed up on who exactly had encouraged young Lou to hit her, because I'd missed the part about his mom dying when he was an infant. About the reasons for burning the photographs of the housekeeper...others have mentioned it was possibly due to shame or to cover evidence. I took it as another form of "killing" a woman he was attracted to, getting rid of her - the memory of her - by burning the pictures.

While he is driven to kill anyone (men, women, children), his target of choice is women that he cares about. I can understand the things in his childhood causing his sadistic behavior (sexual stuff with housekeeper & having a father who is sadistic), but I don't think we have enough information on his childhood to know exactly what propels him to kill. A lot of people IRL go through tragedy & sexual abuse, but don't turn out to be sociopaths. I wonder if the book goes more in depth on the subject of his childhood.

While the violence in this movie is disturbing, I was completely engrossed in the story. I was much more disturbed with the violence in A Clockwork Orange and Natural Born Killers than in this movie. I thought Casey Affleck did a great job... a much better actor IMO than Ben who seems to play himself in every roll. Kate Hudson did a good job, too. It was good to see Hudson stretch her acting abilities beyond the romantic-comedy rolls that she's been doing so much of lately.

Anyhoo, sorry for the rambling post...this is just one of those movies that stuck with me.

[–] dansemave 12 years ago

I don't think you're rambling; it's a good comment.

It is my belief that psychopathy/sociopathy (and probably other mental illnesses as well) results from a combination of nature and nurture. That would go a long way towards explaining why some people become violent deviants after a horrible upbringing while others don't, wouldn't it?

[–] forevergreen69 11 years ago

I don’t think he killed his mother. But I think it is quite possible that his father did. We know for a fact that he was a sexual sadist as well.

[–] gorgsharpy 10 years ago

Winterbottom keeps talking about Lou killing the two lovers that loved him unconditionally - like a mother - so a certain relation to the mother's death would seem natural. Maybe the loss of the mother's love was too much and finding unconditional love later in life revives the trauma.

"You couldn't be much further from the truth" - several

[–] secure-h 10 years ago

The book may have portrayed the woman as nanny, but in the movie it could easily have been his mother, I thought it was. Either way she was his mother figure, she molested him and she was a masochist who introduced him to violence associated with sex.

A boys first sexual experiences will mold his sexual identity. His mother figure enjoyed pain and violence in her sex life which is fine for adults (maybe) but start a little boy out that way sexually and combine it with other factors in his life and there no telling who he will end up harming later.

Furthermore,he burned the mother figures pornographic pictures as he was realizing why he had become the way he was and who was responsible. The mother figure was responsible, she sexualized him as a child in a violent nature. He looked at the photos of his abuser while realizing he was screwed as a human being, he had become a monster because of this woman and his own actions afterwards. Hence the suicidal ending. He actual had a wee bit of redeeming quality there by burning the pics and committing suicide.

Before you say: "No he was responsible" just imagine if the genders were reversed and he was a little girl who was raped/sexualized in a violent way by a father figure and then tell me that doesn't affect the girls psyche after she has grown up.

No double standards.

[–] dansemave 10 years ago

Good post.

[–] duongdogg 7 years ago

She was the housekeeper/nanny. He was pretty fkd up.