MovieChat Forums > Swimfan (2002) Discussion > What was the back story with Madison and...

What was the back story with Madison and Jake Donnelly?

posted 16 years ago by Eric-1226
3 replies | jump to latest

I don't think the movie fully explained this, but, do you think Madison had a "normal" love with Jake Donnelly, but, after that accident in which Jake was seriously injured, and Madison walked away apparently unhurt, that she then turned into the obsessive freak that we see later, when she was rejected by Ben Cronin? Maybe it was the earlier tragic loss of a loved one that drove her over the edge, and made her unable to deal with Ben's rejection?

Or, was she exhibiting obsessive behavior with that Jake fellow as well? Maybe she just worshipped him because he was her boyfriend and he was also a champion athlete. Then after he was critically injured, she mentally cracked. Anyway, an interesting psychological study, because these things can and do happen in real life. You can't just say "it's just a movie."

Your thoughts?

[–] spectrx 16 years ago

Actually, I was wondering the same thing. I never really caught that, and I've seen it a couple times on TV. Hmmmm...

[–] plucko 16 years ago

I always thought the same thing happened to Jake, so history just repeated itself. But I've never thought about it that way. You could be right!

[–] fiatlux-1 16 years ago

I wondered about that too. Then someone pointed out up here that if he had gotten in an accident where there was nothing suspicious about it, the stepbrother wouldn't have taken Ben to see him so urgently.
I also thought that by the way the nurse says "You should wear your seatbelts. His girlfriend did, and walked away without a scratch!" that Madison had set this up, or she got in a screaming match ith him while he drove, either unbuckled his seatbelt carefully (or he never had one on) and started pulling at the steering wheel.

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