I thought it was James who jumped and survived at the end? Because there is the quick shot of one of them tied to the bed with the other standing over him. The one who is in the bed gets a band aid peeled off his neck reveling the cut on is neck and as wee see earlier in the film, James gives Simon a cut on the neck. This would mean that it is simon who is tied to the bed and dies, while James jumps and survives, having fully stolen Simons identity.
I agree with starcraft. Him peeling off the bandaid was his way of confirming that damage transfers, because the only evidence he had was after punching him. The end was Simon not taking back his identity, but actually stealing James' identity. Simon no longer existed, but not Simon is James, who does exist.
It appears that in the reality of this film some people have a doppleganger that is the polar opposite of themselves, either that or their *self* is split into two beings. That simon/James are identical in form but opposite in personality, whilst the security guard/doctor appear to follow the same model suggests this is the case. These doubles or split individuals would appear to be innately tied together but there's nothing to suggest that everything experienced by one carries over to the other - simon sure didn't seem to share in James lady time experiences! So it might be that only when they affect the other directly does the experience transfer to both. If one hits the other both feel it, but if a random dude hits one of hem it doesn't have the same effect. Nothing in the film shows shows this to be the case but if any old random event will effect both then surely making love would be felt by both? And that clearly isn't the case.
The other possibility is that the movie follows the same essential plot as Fight Club with simon exorcising his own inner demons. In that case anything can be interpreted as a figment of simon's illness (accounting for the security guard/doctor) but I don't think this is the case personally.
In either case Simon jumped knowing full well he'd get to hospital in time to be saved but that James wouldn't. He was told that if you get to the hospital before your brain swelled with blood you'd survive the fall, but James stood no chance. I figured he'd take over James life after this point and live to be the person he wanted to be instead of the one he became.
For me this film is about breaking out of the person you are if you don't like who that is and becoming the person you want and need to be. It's also about how people can be imbalanced; though both opposites or arguably halves of each other neither Simon nor James was a complete balanced and rounded individual. they each had something they needed from the other and in the end pushed to desperation Simon stepped up to take on both halves to become the one complete person neither could never be by themselves.
Yes. Hopefully the "dweeb" in Simon combined with the "douche" in James would finally balance Simon's personality, allowing him to become a person of neither extreme, thereby improving his life.
"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)