MovieChat Forums > Haute tension (2005) Discussion > You've all completely missed the plot

You've all completely missed the plot

posted 12 years ago by Stardust21
5 replies | jump to latest

I have read the forums and people's take on making sense of this film.

I'd like to point out that I am French and I have seen the original version.

Everything is said in the first 5 minutes of the movie and you've all missed it.

The film opens with Marie at the mental institution about to tell her story of what happened. And she proceeds to explain she was chased in the woods.

She then wakes up in Marie's car saying she has had an awful dream about being chased in the woods. Adding: *the weirdest thing was that it was ME chasing ME*... clearly stating that Marie is NOT insane.

The next, and 2nd time the bad guy appears is when ALEX wakes up and says: *I swear I saw someone in the corn field*

The third time the bad guy reappears is when Marie is about to go to bed....

Every time the bad guy appears, is when one of the protagonist is near or has just slept. It is done in a very subtile way unlike some American movies of the 80's (which were the inspiration for this film as stated by the director)and this is in fact where the twist is.

The idea of Marie being in fact the killer, is a very modern idea and does not explain anything. (hence all the plot holes if you want to go down that road)...

The twist is in fact the most simple explanation: it was all just a bad dream.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Stardust21 12 years ago

Marie said it as her!

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] sm-meehan 12 years ago

The first scene in the film is Marie being questioned and video taped by police to tell her story. this happens before her dream in the car and therefore take precedence in my mind. she has wounds on her back adhering to some of the events to later follow. if it was all a dream, why was she scarred up? My take is the very beginning sets the tone for Marie's story which is told up until the gas station video scene. After that all events are actual. So between the very beginning and the gas station video scene is Marie's re-telling of events, basically we know she killed the family and kidnapped Alex, which is how things happened in her version but she replaced herself with a maniac. people struggle with the car chase, etc, but that was obviously contrived in her re-telling since it was only her slaughtering and kidnapping the family. the wounds in my opinion, are when she has a fight club style fight with herself - a kind of battle between her split personalities and the other wounds are when alex gets her at the end.

[–] polysicsarebest 12 years ago

because her story is a lie. she is mixing fantasy with reality. perhaps the scars came from victims fighting back. not all the pieces are there; as with any lie, we don't have all the answers, nor ever will as she doesn't plan on confessing for real... still the film is interesting in that it shows the lie version f evens and then the real version of certain events...

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Shuji Terayama forever.