MovieChat Forums > Donnie Darko (2001) Discussion > Sci-Fi element aside, I think this movie...

Sci-Fi element aside, I think this movie is more an experience of mental illness

posted 10 months ago by holly61 (957)
2 replies | jump to latest

You can go with the the time loop theory or you can also go with another theory... that this is a schizophrenic experience. Obviously the main character dies, but we get to experience ''Schizophrenia'' as the viewers through the film. I think the movie theater scene in the film made me realize the film was more about mental illness. Donnie's behavior in that theater, laughing and smirking and behaving ''disconnected'' when seeing the giant rabbit and then when being asked by the ''hallucination'' to burn down a house, him smirking again. Something just seemed so... unsettling about it. I don't think this is a time travel, time warp, end of the world film - I think it's an experience of schizophrenia. Here we get to see hallucinations, layered delusions and time distortion.

[–] 123Guy (7281) 10 months ago

It's a well MADE movie but I think it's just a slog of a mess. Even thought I get it and follow what it did.
Watched it several times, won't bother again.
You have to sit through the entire directors commentary to discover all the things you miss because they were not put in the movie. That's just dumb.

[–] Seperatrix (1220) 10 months ago

That's a valid interpretation and I've read/heard it before. I even remember someone wrote an article suggesting that the film was largely a manifestation of Donnie's feelings toward his sister (we'll let that be option #3).

For myself, I don't even try. I do like films that require some heavy lifting from time to time, such as Lynch's Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire, Lost Highway. Even slightly tricky films like Inception, Swimming Pool, Vanilla Sky, etc. But Donnie Darko is one of those I don't even care to think about. I just enjoy watching the spectacle and letting it swim around in my mind.

Whether it's time travel, mental illness (or both?), I just chalk it up to a weird film dealing with the sacrificial aspect of saving the person you love.

But I also love and enjoy reading various interpretations nonetheless. Ah . . letting others do the heavy lifting for me on this one . . .