MovieChat Forums > Spellbound (1945) Discussion > question about JB 'dream'

question about JB 'dream'

posted 18 years ago by Markatta
7 replies | jump to latest

*Spoiler*

First, I think J.B was patient to Dr E. Probly from his burned hand from the war, or maybe even for his schizofreni(?)

I didnt get the blank card cheating in black jack. Did Dr M cheat to get J.B broke, because he knew he would go out for skii with Dr E after ?
What about the eye on the wall that was cuted in half ?
I have a hypotes it could be symbolism that J.B was under "obeservation" because of schitzofeni (thats why they was cut in half, symbol his two half personality) but its more a guess, I didnt get this part.

[–] heat22000 18 years ago

It was explained that the eyes on the wall represented the Manor's guards.
The dream included a girl who went round kissing everybody and a man cutting the eyes. Remember, early on in the film we see that the manor residents include a very flirtatious female patient and a male patient who would cut his own throat.
In a nutshell, the gambling house represents the Manor.

Dr M was having a breakdown and accused Dr Edwards of 'cheating' him out of his job (i.e. Dr Edwards was going to replace him.) even though he wasn't really.

[–] mikemitchelluiuc 18 years ago

I think that the girl who went around kissing everybody was actually Dr. Petersen- when Dr. Brulov asks JB who she looked like, he admits that she looked a lot like Constance; Dr. Brulov remarks that this part of the dream was wishful thinking (and Dr. Petersen says that she's glad that he didn't dream of herself as an egg beater.)

[–] Hag_Sibylle 18 years ago

He wasn't Dr. Edwardes' patient, they'd only just met. Ballentine asked Dr. Edwardes for help, and since Dr. Edwardes was about to leave on a skiing vacation, he invited him along. I don't think they had any proper psychoanalytical sessions before that.

[–] suckerdwsp316 17 years ago

Yeah let's just call Dali a weird *beep* genius and get it over with.

What was it with him and dreams and fantasy and the bizarre? how did he come up with such brilliant stuff? a muse of some sort? drugs? pure insanity? God given talent? what? what?? how?!?!!

[–] annisgian 17 years ago

He was an brilliant artist that used surrealism: dream imagery in his work.

"I want to be able to trust you. You know; It's about trust". -A.Rothstien

[–] jtyroler 16 years ago

I used to know more about the symbolism in the Dali dream sequence, but that's been decades ago. I can't remember what the number 7 represents. I think 8 represents infinity (8 sideways is the symbol for infinity), 10 represents perfection. In a lot of his paintings, there are converging lines on the ground - the number of lines is supposed to clue the viewer into a deeper meaning to his work.

[–] staucody48 16 years ago

Though I agree Dali is a genius, he didn't actually "come up" with the dream sequence. The script was written first, with the help of psychoanalytic professionals. Then, Dali was contacted and given the dream sequence and asked to make sketches. Some details were, naturally, from him- things like the table legs being ladies legs, for instance, but the major symbolic pieces (eyes on the curtains, 7 of clubs, man with no face, nearly naked girl, etc.) were already scripted. The Criterion Collection of this work has a great essay about all of this. It also includes the fact that, though JB says the woman resembles Constance, it is, in fact, that lady from Green Manor who is shown at the beginning- the woman who scratches the orderlies hand.