So many strange things - but why? (spoilers)
There are so many strange occurrences in this movie it's unbelievable! Here's a couple of things I've noticed on my most recent viewing:-
* When Bill first arrives at the Sonata Café he passes by a real estate place and a diner called Gillespie's. When he later leaves the Sonata Café he takes a cab to Rainbow Fashions, but Rainbow Fashions is right across the street from the Sonata Café! Watch the scene in which Bill is talking to Milich on the steps outside Rainbow Fashions; right across the street behind him is the real estate place and Gillespie's! Why does Bill take a cab when all he had to do was cross the street?
* Bill later takes a cab to the Somerton mansion and we see him being driven across a bridge and out of the city. When the cab arrives outside the front gates of the Somerton mansion it comes in from the right. The following day Bill drives himself back to Somerton. He takes the same route; he drives over the same bridge and out of the city. Yet this time when he arrives at Somerton he comes in from the left! If he took the same route why would he arrive from the opposite direction?
* In the scene in the bedroom in Domino's apartment, Domino is leaning back across the bed when Bill gets a phone call from Alice. She is propped up by her elbows and behind her on the bed is a stuffed toy tiger, which is facing her. Bill then moves over to the wall to speak quietly to Alice and the camera moves back to Domino. She is in exactly the same position and clearly hasn't moved, yet the tiger is now the other way round and is facing away from her!
There are many other such instances throughout the movie, with items appearing and then disappearing and furniture suddenly being in a different position, but the question is why? It is surely not continuity errors; Kubrick was known to be fanatically meticulous in setting up every shot. So why all these strange occurrences?
Is it supposed to be emphasising dreams? I've had dreams about places I've been to but they're never quite exactly how I remember them. Rooms are a different colour or there was a door that was not where it was supposed to be.
Maybe it's a symbolic message to Bill; look closely because things are not what they seem. Was Alice lying to him about her fantasy with the navel officer? Was Victor lying to him in the billiard room scene? Was Sally lying to him about Domino being HIV positive? Bill takes pretty much everything at face value and accepts what he is told even though there is no evidence to back anything up.