I think we're so used to being able to find _exact_ answers these days that when a movie doesn't slot everything into a neat and internally consistent timeline we just write that off as a "plot hole". Too bad; there are other ways besides literal events to "understand" something.
With that demurral, I'll nevertheless try to address some of your questions:
There was an argument between the studio head and the lawyer about "for life" really meaning only "twenty years". Eventually we hear the studio head agree to "twenty years" and ask for a legal rewrite. So Robin Wright's contract was up for renewal. Furthermore, Miramount Nagasaki had just perfected extracting the essence of a famous person as a chemical somebody else could drink: "consume this milkshake and be Robin Wright." So the studio had a reason to negotiate for a renewal of the contract (rather than just discarding it). And there was presumably additional money involved, so Robin Wright did too. So she went to Abrahama both to negotiate her contract renewal and to help announce the new capability and her part in it at the Futurological Congress.
The whole edifice (Miramount Nagasaki, Abrahama, Futurological Congress, etc.) was seriously attacked in a coordinated way -beginning with a lone assassin who snuck in and proceeding to hordes of rebel fighters who massed outside. The attack was successful, and the whole chemical regime fell apart. At that point, among other things, all the "rules" we've understood so far were off.
One review I read contained the interesting idea that the ampoule given her by Dr. Barker was Aaron's "memories", which are still of his childhood, which is how she found him. In the end her deep relationship to Aaron was more important than anything else. Al had said much earlier it had not only wrecked her professional life but also intruded on their relationship. (It's also a good guess as to why there's no longer a "father" in the family.) At the beginning we see that her understanding of Aaron is very deep. At the end we find out her thoughts are so much about Aaron that in the animated world she actually takes on Aaron's appearance. (That must be an example of "full circle".)
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10 years ago
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donaldtroll
9 years ago
Hmm If he became the guy that she had sex with, the movie title would take on a whole new meaning :O
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allisonarf
9 years ago
She did not become pregnant by Jon Hamm. She was in her 60s! That whole second hallucination was her seeing life from her son's point of view until she found him in the dream world (or fantasized about reuniting with him).
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mdelvecchio
8 years ago
agreed, but I believe she's in her 80s by then. she's 44 when she signs the first contract. twenty years pass, and she goes into the animation zone to resign the contract at age 64. she suffers hallucination poisoning and is unconscious for twenty years, accord to her animator love interest, who says he loved her for twenty years when he animated her (after she signed the contract the first time), and he loved her for twenty more waiting for her. 84 years old.
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