MovieChat Forums > La habitación de Fermat (2007) Discussion > Lets really think about what Oliva did a...

Lets really think about what Oliva did at that boat party...

posted 14 years ago by PopcornLovesMovie
31 replies | jump to latest

Here's the whole conversation:

We played chess dozens of times and he always beat me.
So I got interested in him.
One day the idea came up... of meeting to play face to face.
He invited me to a party where there would be important people.

In his house?

No.
Not in his house-- on a boat.

On a boat? Why?

That's what I wondered too.
Why on a boat?
Then I found out.
It had to be out at sea because at that party... things happened that would be illegal in any country.
You want to know what things?
Come on.
Dare to ask.
No, forget it.
At that party... things happened, and the things that happened made me go back more times.

Wait a minute.
Couldn't that guy
have organized all this?

No.

Why not? He's idle, eccentric, smart, rich. Why can't he be...

It can't be him because he's in here!

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Okay, so we know:

1. It's illegal in most countries.
2. It had to be done out at sea, on a boat.
3. It's addictive.
4. There are important people in there doing it.
5. It has to be something shocking that a smart person wouldn't figure out even after knowing 1, 2 and 4.

What possibilities could there be that meets all 5 criterias?

[–] house1985 14 years ago

Torture comes to mind.

It might be addicting.

[–] PopcornLovesMovie 14 years ago

Possible. It would be hard to explain torture indeed. And it could be addicting. But who's being tortured? If it's BDSM to each other they didn't have to do it far at sea. Perhaps they were torturing unwilling people? Why would Hilbert think Oliva would be interested in such a thing though. Most people would be disgusted and run away.

[–] kinsayder 9 years ago

I agree with the torture theory. I think that's what the movie is implying, rather than some of the sexual fetishes that are being proposed. Hilbert clearly has an interest in creative and nasty ways of killing people (or almost killing them - he leaves a slight possibility of escape).

The victims could be willing participants, offered large payouts if they survived the ordeal, or payouts to their families if they died, and their bodies dumped overboard.

[–] Simon-140 14 years ago

Drugs?

[–] PopcornLovesMovie 14 years ago

Drugs seemed too obvious. Why out at sea? And if it's only drugs, she didn't have to speak in a roundabout manner.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Simon-140 14 years ago

I suspect that the sea requirement is a red herring. While some laws don't seem to be applicable or enforcable at sea (e.g. gambling, pirate radio stations and all the other things that have been tried in international waters) I think that the laws of the country in which a ship is registered still technically apply. So I can't think of anything that can be done legally in international waters that cannot be done legally in some country. (Warning! Bush lawyer opining!) On the other hand, I imagine your chances of being prosecuted for taking drugs in a ship at sea are pretty slim.

I agree that the drug solution seems rather tame and obvious, and I have no idea why Olivia would be so coy about it, but the only alternatives are crimes with real victims, such as sex slavery or paedophilia or murder. I find it hard to imagine a seemingly normal person like Olivia being involved with such crimes. Perhaps I'm naive: after all, for most of the film I had no reason for believing that Fermat was a monomaniacal psychopath, rather than just an unusually self-satisfied and self-regarding academic.

(These threads are brilliant illustrations of why, in horror films, hiding the monsters can be so much more effective than showing computer generated monsters dripping in buckets of gore.)

[–] house1985 14 years ago

"(These threads are brilliant illustrations of why, in horror films, hiding the monsters can be so much more effective than showing computer generated monsters dripping in buckets of gore.)"

Indeed.

[–] Redux006 10 years ago

True, but the only reason I'm interested is because I developed a crush on Elena Ballesteros, so was looking for confirmation that "she" got addicted to some sort of perverted sex out on the boat.

[–] exatera 13 years ago

I believe you are talking about "Hilbert" there, not "Fermat". "Fermat" was the kindly old man with a daughter in a coma.

And I, too, do not think that Oliva could possibly be interested in those kind of things.

[–] Redux006 10 years ago

What's both addicting and illegal. Drugs, gambling, certain sex acts. Murder and pedophilia are illegal regardless of whether or not they are done at sea. Doing them on a boat would be pointless. Gambling, and drugs as you point out, would not be soemthing she would act so coy over having done. Only perverted sex acts would cause her to act that way, and only sex acts would cause him to be so devastated. Most sex acts are perfectly legal, including BDSM. Even bestiality is legal. She things though, plural. So it was probably a combination of soemthing illegal like drugs, and something sexual to make her act coy. So basically, they were partying, taking drugs, and having group sex.

Or if you don't like the thought of the lovely Elena Ballesteros having group sex with a bunch of old men, you could go the gambling route. We know she was addicted to playing online chess with him, couldn't stand losing to him. And we see what he does with his old friends in the beginning, plays chess. So out on the boat they all played high stakes chess together, she lost a ton of money, got addicted, went back and lost more money, then her coyness about was simply the classic symptoms of shame that gambling addicts exhibit.

[–] zachanscom 14 years ago

well, it's really not a frightening thought, just titillating, so i guess you could have compared it to certain types of sex scenes.

oh and it's pretty obvious she was having orgies with under aged people on the boat

[–] vnse 13 years ago

They're Europeans, right. So illegal in any country in the EU.

100 Watt light bulbs!!

They go on the boat and spark up hundreds of bright, beautiful inefficient 100W light bulbs and they burn fossil fuels all day and all night.

Sooooo naughty!!

[–] brenswee 8 years ago

They're Europeans, right. So illegal in any country in the EU.

100 Watt light bulbs!!

They go on the boat and spark up hundreds of bright, beautiful inefficient 100W light bulbs and they burn fossil fuels all day and all night.

- Brilliant! 😂

[–] devonerd 13 years ago

The first thing that came to my mind was sex with children. That's damn near universally illegal everywhere. Besides that there was probably torture, contests that resulted in the loser being killed. And between all that there was probably drugs and regular old group sex and maybe bestiality.

[–] ragnarofl 12 years ago

*Contains Spoilers*

Who knows what happens to the victims that end up on boats where they can be easily disposed of afterwards. They could be kidnapped or trafficked children, women, men, or animals for whatever horrific purpose people like that can come up with for their kicks.

There was an American 'B' (closer to 'C') horror film that came out a couple of years ago where a group of college kids were kidnapped by suppliers of human slaves. An older, wealthy (and clearly slimy) European man showed up to buy some slaves for a "boat party" on his yacht. It's probably a common term.

So, what Oliva participated in, who knows how many times, was clearly meant to be shown as horrible, monstrous. And she recognized Hibert(?) all that time in the room and didn't give it up until they were all nearly sardines. Quite a character, and brains too. In the end when they were on the row boat (haha), after her pretty boyfriend was shown to be a complete tool and plain Pascal the better man, she was making eyes in his direction. I hope for his sake he avoided her. ;)

[–] ifembot 12 years ago

do you mean hostel I and II?

[–] KingAtor42 12 years ago

Umm, that sounds ridiculously close to the plot of Taken. Where a near college aged girl is kidnapped into sex slavery by an Albanian gang operating in France, then she gets sold to a high-class, underground sex slave market.

Boats are not held by the laws of their designated countries if they are in open waters. In Ireland, where abortion is illegal, they have 'abortion cruises' whereby the boat sails out past Irish seas and then performs the operation and then returns. Planes have 'tax free' products when if bought in flight above international airspace, you pay no taxes in any country. Though rightfully, I know my own home state requires you to report untaxed sales on your state income taxes and pay the taxes on it to the state. This is mostly a way to slam the upper-class who buy goods in states like Alaska and have them shipped and pay less in the long run. I can also fly to Amsterdam, smoke up a Canibus marathon and be higher than a kite and not break a US Law. Even I returned and failed a drug test, I could argue I was legally around other people smoking and inhaled it by accident, and so on.

Regardless...my guess given the overall wealth of those attending that perhaps either unwilling torture, underaged sex, or perhaps Snuff/Murder was being conducted.

Aristophanes once wrote, roughly translated...

[–] javi_bcn77 12 years ago

It doesn´t matter what happened on the boat. The very reason why Oliva is in the house is to spice things up, they needed a woman there to give it some sexual input, that's all.

The old guy wanted to kill the brat. He meeded as well Fermat and dog poop guy to give him a alliby. But why the girl? she had done nothing wrong to him...in fact just the opposite, he had done her pretty well on the boat, so why kill her? They just needed a woman in the room, that's all.

[–] Strazdamonas 12 years ago

Rape, jailbait and pedofilia, torture, abuse, mental experiments, contact with aliens, attemtp to overthrow the government, the boat is actually a hovercraft.
ok i got a bit carried away.

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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

[–] jimmye184 12 years ago

It's probably what Hitchcock called the 'McGuffin', just a meaningless audience distraction.

let's go and say a prayer for a boy who couldn't run as fast as I could

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] DurakSuka 11 years ago

Do you own a pet dog? You seem awfully knowledgeable in this respect.

Hama cheez ba-Beer behtar meshawad!