MovieChat Forums > Stay (2005) Discussion > unanswered question (spoiler warning)

unanswered question (spoiler warning)

posted 14 years ago by NicholasDeLima
4 replies | jump to latest

I really like this movie. But after seeing this movie I was left with some questions. I read almost every topic on this board. Some of the questions were answered and some not. Maybe I have missed them, but please, I´d like to discuss some of them.

1. Is there a symbolic explanation for the blindness of Henry´s father? Why is he blind? Is it caused by the accident? And I was wondering why (not how) did Henry make him able to see again?

2. I found the scenes between Henry´s mother and Sam a bit out of place. I get the part with the bleeding. The whole scene sure helped making the movie mysterious and Sam´s character mysterious, but it just seemed a little bit too Sixth Sense-esque to me. And the part with the dog? I honestly believe he was dead, Henry knew he died. So why wake him up? He was not a part of the accident, and therefor he had no direct reason to be in his dream.

3. I know many people have talked about the planned suicide of Henry. But I just find it a little too easy to say: It´s all in his head, it´s because he feels guilty. Aren´t there other explanations possible? And what about the suicide history of Lila. I can not understand how Henry combines the Lila character in his imagination with a his own feelings of guilt? Because somewhere in the movie he tells Sam that he bought his girlfriend a ring. And how it was the same as Sam bought for his girlfriend. I guess the Lila character in his head is a mix of Henry´s real life girlfriend and Henry´s perception of the real life Lila. That makes me wonder why he imagined Lila, his girlfriend, as a suicide surviver.

4. Just wondering if Henry had some sort of therapy before the real accident happened? Because when he first met Sam he talks about his previous therapist, probably Beth, and how he feels she left him. And the Beth character seemed to be a person involved with the accident. I don´t think he was in therapy, because he was just making a whole world and history in his head to cope with the accident. And he seemed happy, he was gonna propose to his girlfriend.

5. What would have happened if he did not shoot himself in his mouth? Was he gonna wake up anyway? Or die? The mind is a powerful thing. I know that sometimes the mind is able to convince the body it is in pain or not in pain. People who can walk on shattered glass. Or in some cases a woman can convince herself she is pregnant and her body will show symptoms of pregnancy.

6. And throughout the movie it seems as if Henry is coping with the dead of his loved ones. And blaming himself for what have happened. He is also planning on killing himself. The Sam character is constantly busy with proving those three people are not dead, to himself and to other people. And trying to convince Henry not to commit suicide. It´s all happening in Henry´s mind, but it is so contradicting. Has this something to do with selfprotection or is he in denial (which I don´t believe is the case). It could also be that a part of Henry still has hope/believes they survived the accident. And that part is manifested in the Sam character.

7. Throughout the movie we Sam several times sitting on an empty bridge, with nothing left but burning cars. I was wondering if Sam knew, after the accident, his parents were dead. Was there a moment he sees them being dead? He is the only one not being in the car, and I know they have moved him, but I am not sure if they actually pulled him out of the car. Because if he was unconscious during or after the accident how did he know they were dead, besides of what he could have heard from the people around the accident. From the start of the movie he is claiming to have killed his parents.

8. What is the timeline of the movie? Because some of the things that were said after Henry wakes up are also in his dreams. For example: when the little boy says "Is that man going to die?" or when Henry tells Sam what the voices are saying he say: "Stay with me Henry". Does that mean that the dream takes place after he wakes up or when he is awake? I know that there is no logic of time or space in dreams. Many dreams seem to last longer than they actually are.

9. And I did not get the joke about the moose and the farmer. Anyone can explain this to me?

I am sorry for my English grammar. I am a bit tired and English is not my first language.

Thanks for answering.

- Nicholas

[–] dpeisback 14 years ago

1. Henry is already disconnected from his family, thus the father is blind and also* doesn't acknowledge being Henry's father. He, much like the rest of the characters within the reality/dream Henry is manifesting is a fragmentally constructed projection of people Henry lost in the crash, along with those who were surrounding him as he died. All of these projections are Henry's atttempt to cope with what is happening to him.

2. The projection of the mother, much like the dog, is a projection from Henry's subconscious, and due to the chaotic nature of the experience he has gone through, many fragments of his earlier life can manifest themselves. When Henry is told of Olive, he acknowledges that she died a long time ago. This fact does not keep his mind from projecting the dog, most likely associating it with his childhood home where his mind projects his mother.

3. along with 6. Henry is indeed creating the world the film portrays from the very beginning. He is aware that something tragic has happened, and feels responsible for it, hence walking away from the scene of the crash. The rest of the movie is Henry attempting to cope with his guilt, which he associates with the accident, blaming himself. His plan to commit suicide is a result of his guilt.

4. Probably not, it doesn't seem like Henry had reason to be depressed/suicidal before the tragic accident. He was an art student about to propose to his lover, going to dinner to celebrate with his parents..

5. His plan from the moment of the crash was to torment himself in this self-cunstructed reality until his moment of truth. The suicide was inevitable, given all that lead up to it. Had he not shot himself? My guess is, he would have most likely died anyway. The point is, he made a conscious decision and stuck to it. He no longer wanted to live, and who can blame him.

[–] dpeisback 14 years ago

[–] NicholasDeLima 14 years ago

Thank you.
I find it interesting to hear other people´s thoughts about this movie.

I'd rather be hated for who I am. Than loved for who I am not.

[–] faithfulnes 14 years ago

I have a different take on why the father could see again. I think the son was so close to death at that point that he was able to see the dead (his father who had just died in the accident) and the father could see because he was no longer restricted by the human body. He also said that the Buddhists were right, that life is just an illusion. I think he said that because at that point, being dead, he realized that the afterlife is much more real and less of an illusion than life actually is. Many people who have died and come back to life have said the same thing.