I wonder why the filmmaker did that? I think I would have preferred to not have seen that, and to have been as surprised as people who don't quickly divide days into years when presented with them on screen.
shareAre you referring to the number presented right at the beginning, in regards to daughter's age? She isn't the first daughter (e.g. all the kids who got the eugenic treatment from mother). so the days don't represent her age. It is implied that Swank's character is another daughter.
shareI am referring to one of the numbers presented, but not right at the beginning (when it was 1, I think). And yes, I understand that she's not the first daughter and that the days don't represent her age. That's exactly my point. When we went from the first daughter as a small child and then jumped forward to a teenager implied to be the same girl a few years later, the number of days made it clear that it couldn't be her, since she was obviously not in her thirties.
shareI'm wondering if the way it was edited is meant to throw us off though. Maybe they show the first daughter, and cut to the current one when she is a teen.
shareI think that's definitely what they do. But they give it away (for, again, the mathematically inclined) by showing the number of days. I'm not sure they should have done that.
shareWait.... so is this the same basic twist as Moon?
shareI really don't think it gave anything away. I calculated it when it came on screen, but without being given any further information, I thought I'd either misread the number, or that some time had passed before the robot decided to begin repopulating. As the film progressed, and we learned about the previous, murdered children, I thought that explained the extended time period. Only after the final scene was it clear that "Woman" was the original baby. I thought that was a nice touch in that it gave the audience just enough information to piece it together. A lesser film would have given a sudden flashback sequence of Mother leaving a baby outside, just to make sure that even the dimmest bulb in the audience gets it.
share