MovieChat Forums > Gothika (2003) Discussion > Some people need to see this movie again...

Some people need to see this movie again (spoilers)

posted 14 years ago by imdb-5712
39 replies | jump to latest

1. There is nothing supernatural in this film. Barry's character is insane and it is told from her point of view.

2. There are no plot holes in this movie. The story is told from the point of view of an insane person, but you only slowly become aware of that fact. The "plot holes" you see are just you not getting the movie.

I think the most interesting aspect of this film is what drove Barry's character insane. She is a good person who gradually realized that she was married to an insane serial killer. She couldn't handle it and it drove her crazy.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] imdb-5712 13 years ago

You are precisely the person I originally posted for. No, YOU need to rewatch it.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Starriknyghts 14 years ago

Nope, you're a little wrong.

Summary- "Ghost story in which a repressed female psychiatrist wakes up as a patient in the very asylum where she worked with no memory of why she is there and what she has done."

It's a supernatural thriller.

[–] imdb-5712 13 years ago

Sorry, no. The "ghost" is a manifestation of what Barry's character already knows in her subconscious but can't bring herself to admit because the truth is so horrifying. As she tries to confront the truth, she goes insane. It is her subconscious knowledge that she can save someone that forces her to confront the truth and results in her breakdown.

The gradual realization that Barry's character is insane is what makes this movie a really good one for me. Supernatural BS is unnecessary and screws up the plot.

You might even look at it like this: Barry's character subconsciously knows that she must take some action. Her mind knows that it is in danger of going insane and tries to protect itself by manifesting the data as a supernatural apparition, the burning girl on the road. It was a heroic effort but it is not sufficient. Barry must take action, and in so doing she looses her mind. She is shown in therapy at the end, and presumably she gets better, but I doubt that she ever completely recovers. She was driven insane.

When she wakes up in the asylum, as a viewer you get a horrible feeling, oh no, how could they have made such a terrible mistake! As you watch on, you realize, uh oh, no mistake, they got the right person in the padded room.

[–] bunty-hoven 13 years ago

This has got to be a joke.

"Here be beauty, there be...pie charts"

[–] imdb-5712 13 years ago

I will say it again: some people need to see this movie again. If you think there was anything supernatural in this movie, you didn't get it.

[–] sign543-6-320217 13 years ago

Thanks for your opinion.

[–] imdb-5712 13 years ago

If you disagree with my opinion, then you need to watch the movie again.

[–] sign543-6-320217 13 years ago

You said: If you disagree with my opinion, then you need to watch the movie again.

Me: LOL. Hardly.

[–] heat_like_burning 13 years ago

I think you need to watch it again, maybe you will learn who Halle BERRY is!!!

Think you're wrong, its just a crappy movie, you're trying to make it deeper than it is. Hence the picture of the boy at the end of the movie!

"When lightning strikes the sea, why don't all the fish die?"

[–] imdb-5712 13 years ago

Heh, Halle Berry is the actress with the Oscar and the nice chimichangas.

[–] Starriknyghts 13 years ago

So, then what happens to the Chloe if there's no ghosts? She attacks herself?

[–] scyza 13 years ago

Wasn't Chloe actually assaulted by that guard who went around raping inmates..?

[–] Starriknyghts 13 years ago

You're right. I remember now, thanks.

[–] gilper536 10 years ago

This is the end of your theory.

http://www.screenplaydb.com/film/scripts/gothika20021208/

[–] scyza 13 years ago

I really don't quite see why some people are so stubbornly arguing whether or not she was possessed - I think that both interpretations are possible and that it was indeed the intention of the film makers to actually leave this ambiguous.

Personally I slightly favor the interpretation of her being possessed by the girl's spirit, mostly because she really didn't seem to have a clue about her husband and I just didn't think her to be the type to go hack someone to pieces when finding out about such a thing. I would have figured that she'd rather go to the police.

BUT I think the interpretation of her having gone insane over it is completely valid and every single "supernatural" event in the film could easily be explained otherwise.

[–] imdb-5712 10 years ago

I agree about the complexity. Good movie.

[–] jsttc 13 years ago

No, she's not insane!
If she were insane, only she would be able to see the ghost(s).
But at the end the rapist sheriff sees her, too.
Then he yells: "You're already dead!" before shooting at the monitor and causing the explosion.
Otherwise both would share the same insanity.
That's stated nowhere in the movie.
Halle is possessed, end of story.

So, the OP should rewatch the film instead!

by imdb-5712 (Tue Jan 31 2012 01:21:32)
"If you disagree with my opinion, then you need to watch the movie again."

should read like this:
"If you disagree with my opinion, then I tell my mum and I'm going to cry."

[–] empress-true 12 years ago

Hahahaha, you're spot on & made me chuckle!!!

[–] imdb-5712 10 years ago

There was no ghost, it was all in her own mind.

[–] koffeenkreame41-1 8 years ago

No, she's not insane!
If she were insane, only she would be able to see the ghost(s).
But at the end the rapist sheriff sees her, too.
Then he yells: "You're already dead!" before shooting at the monitor and causing the explosion.
Otherwise both would share the same insanity.
That's stated nowhere in the movie.
Halle is possessed, end of story.

So, the OP should rewatch the film instead!

by imdb-5712 (Tue Jan 31 2012 01:21:32)
"If you disagree with my opinion, then you need to watch the movie again."

should read like this:
"If you disagree with my opinion, then I tell my mum and I'm going to cry."

This. LOL 

"I'm the ultimate badass,you do NOT wanna f-ck wit me!"Hudson,Aliens😬

[–] kjr20032003 12 years ago

Explain to me the Ghost kid.

[–] imdb-5712 10 years ago

You notice the "ghost" was of a person who was still alive. Berry put together all of the data in her mind and knew that she was still alive. That is why she knew she had to act. Why didn't she just go to the police? She was insane. She gradually realized that the man she loved for years was a psychotic killer. Perhaps that wouldn't drive you insane, but it would mess me up, maybe completely. This would be especially true if you were a good person to start.

[–] IrishEyes1989 12 years ago

First off, the OP is a troll. Secondly, as everyone else besides the OP has already stated, she was NOT insane. She just had a hard time convincing anyone otherwise because no one would believe a ghost story, at least until she had some concrete proof.

Think about it imdb-5712, if she were really insane, would Parsons and Pete have apologized for not believing her originally, as they ended up doing? Would she and Chloe have both gotten out in the end? Also, if she was insane, how do you explain the fact that everything she suspected led her to the truth?? That sick f_ck of a sheriff ended up being her husband's accomplice in the crimes. There is no way she could have uncovered that if she wasn't in her right mind.

She was POSSESSED by a spirit, NOT INSANE.

In other words, go home OP, you're drunk....and watch this film again.

"I'm just a f_cked up girl looking for my own peace of mind; Don't assign me yours."

[–] imdb-5712 10 years ago

There is no such thing as concrete proof of a ghost story, that is just silly. The fact that she was right about everything doesn't change the fact that she was insane.

[–] dp021904 11 years ago

There is nothing supernatural in this film. Barry's character is insane and it is told from her point of view.

You need to rewatch.

Halle Berry's "insanity" didn't open her cell door for her.

"Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream..."

[–] imdb-5712 10 years ago

The ghost didn't do it, either.

[–] ToxicShockTaco 10 years ago

The writers wrote it as a supernatural film, deliberately. They intended for Halle Berry's character to be possessed. It's a work of fiction, and in a fictional world, anything is possible.

Personal beliefs about the real world do not apply to movies such as this. You're judging the movie as though the supernatural doesn't exist, but in the ethos of the film, it does.

[–] Punkinberry 10 years ago

Exactly!! The OP needs to stop projecting their skepticism about the supernatural into this FICTIONAL movie!! Granted, I find that perspective to be very close-minded in the real world as well, but the OP really needs to drop it! I'm watching the film right now. Is Halle Berry magically beating herself up in her cell and throwing herself up against the walls too?

[–] imdb-5712 10 years ago

Oh quit. I am plenty open minded about supernatural topics. I like crime thrillers too, and that is exactly what this is.

[–] imdb-5712 10 years ago

I suppose you were in on the final cut, too.

[–] cjchamp2001 9 years ago

I agree she suffered from a psychotic break and there were no ghosts. Unfortunately this movie fell a little flat for me

[–] sofkat 8 years ago

hey mate (imdb-5712)
You're getting a lot of flak over your perceptions of this movie. You have to expect that on a site like this.
Kudos to you for seeing the movie the way you do.
The insanity thing holds up well, because the movie is told through her point of view, and thus everything can be explained according to her 'insane rationale'.
Seeing the movie again with your perspective in mind, actually shifts the movie into a whole different level, indeed maybe a different genre. It becomes no longer a supernatural horror movie, but a psychological thriller. All in all, it improves the movie no end.
Well done!