MovieChat Forums > Half Light (2006) Discussion > CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN....EVERYTHI N...

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN....EVERYTHI NG.

posted 19 years ago by ElFiNAnJiL
19 replies | jump to latest

I don't get it. I have just about a gizabillion questions on my mind right now and it's extremely bothering and I don't think I'll be able to get some sleep tonight. I get mixed up with the Patrick and Angus thing and the whole Sharon and Brian being dead...who's Robert? Who's the ghost at the lighthouse? Falling from the balcony twice? What's with all the money-dealing here and what is it for?

Anyways, can someone just give me a whole complete summary on what went on [or what you think went on] in the movie? If you answer by Q&A format, I'll have even more questions.

Please?
:]

[–] vhsf 19 years ago

Ok,

Sharon and Brian were conspiring against Rachel with the paid help of Patrick. Patrick was to pretend to be Angus (who really had died 7 years before) so that the townspeople would think that Rachel was mad. Brian wanted to get hold of Rachel's money by making it look like she killed herself. (he was her husband and would inherit the money).
(The "money dealing" was simply paying patrick for tricking Rachel).
Sharon only pretended to die the first time around.
The ghost at the lighthouse was Angus who probably possesed Patrick at the end when he killed Brian.

Hope this helps.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] brenswee 18 years ago

Clarify please: So as part of their plot, Patrick & Co furnished the lighthouse with living essentials to make it appear lived in, and then, when the time was right, cleared it all out so that Rachel would think she was losing her mind? Isn't that right?

[–] renata77 14 years ago

Yes, and so the townspeople would think so as well. They all knew no one had lived there since Angus' death.

[–] terrino1 19 years ago

I was thinking after watching it again that since Angus was seen diving from the balcony in an earlier scene, and I don't think ghosts would be seen lying dead on the rocks, it was Patrick's body on the rocks in the end and Angus diving over as he would do anyways replaying the events of his death.

[–] COTCgirl 19 years ago

About the whole Patrick/Angus death in the end. Patrick had fallen in love with Rachel during the course of things. Remember they even made love, although this was part of the ploy. Anywho. Remember they go to the beach that day and bury the "Mother of pearl" shell and Rachel tells him that later if one of them goes back to get it and finds it it means they are suppose to be together. Well Patrick goes back to get it because he has feelings for her.

When he comes back though he has either thought about the Angus thing a lot, considering he had to study up on Angus' death to actually play him (remember the library newspapers were missing). Anyway, he either felt guilty for what he'd done to her and killed himself just like Angus had, or somehow subconsiously the ghost of Angus in a sense haunted him and made him commit suicide for what he'd done to Rachel. Because remember, Rachel never found out that he wasn't Angus so when he hands her the shell and then does a nose dive off the balcony Rachel screams bloody murder because she loved him.

I hope that makes sense. And they are right about about Rachel's husband and best friend conspiring against her for her money. Patrick was a "hit man" that was made to help Rachel along in her process to get her to commit sucide. Hope that helped at least somewhat. I loved this film by the way.

"A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM"

[–] venus_spice 19 years ago

so, then why the library women didnt want to show to rachel the news paper that report angus died? why?

[–] Tony-54 19 years ago

They were talking in Gaelic so you don't really know what they are saying.Probably just that she's a nutcase for wanting to see the newspaper reports and by then everybody in town knows that she thinks she'a seen Angus.

[–] allitopia 19 years ago

Can someone please tell me HOW at the end the newspaper says that the 3 conspiritors came clean and admitted what they did...if they are all DEAD??? Its driving me crazy!

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] Honeymud 19 years ago

It didn't say they came clean,it was probably due to the photo on the film Angus/Patrick had,the chain with the ice cream cone that I'm sure she wouldn't drag around with her if she blamed herself for her sons death,her husband & best friend being in Scotland when they both were supposed to be in London in an abandoned lighthouse with a man who had a load of cash and a file of paperwork giving him loads of pics and info about Rachael.Plus the fact that if you're going to lift a 200lb man on a hook high above the ground and throw another 170lb man over a balcony you are probably going to be a little bigger than Demi Moore who weighs about 100lb soaking wet. Just a guess really but I'm thinking it was common sense.

[–] lipvixen 18 years ago

You are my hero/ heroine! You had the best explanation of all that really made me understand the plot hole. I am still doubling up in laughter whilst gaining knowledge.

[–] michael-vickers-1 18 years ago

To resurrect this one- can someone please explain then how whilst Patrick (Angus?) is speaking with Sharon towards the end of the film she mentions ad libing and his appearence at the top of the balcony (whom Rachel followed) to which he replies that he was NEVER at the balcony?

Can someone also explain why there is no mention in the credits of Patrick- only Angus. No mention whatsoever. In most movies with this type of twist both characters are listed or am I just reading too much into it?

I kinda took it as there was no Patrick- rather there was only ever an Angus (the conspirators employed a Scotish sailor previously unknown to them). Maybe in the wonderful wide, all seeing world of the afterlife, Angus saw a situation developing not too dissimilar to the betrayal he faced and decided to act against it- preventing Rachel's suffering. Sure, there is a bit of a problem with this as we saw Patrick (Angus?) cowering from an unseen being.

I guess part of me wants to say it was a good twist, but part of me thinks it was a bit silly because it wasn't exactly a cut and dry 'this is what happened' ending. Hopefully you'll be able to point out something I missed and make me think it WAS actually a good twist.

[–] alwynhuk 18 years ago

It was the real Angus on the balcony not Patrick.

I don't know why it wasn't "Hans Matheson .... Angus/Patrick" on the credits. Maybe incase it went onto the cast list on websites like IMDb which would obviously spoil the film for people who hadn't seen it!

Alan
www.halflightlocations.com

[–] hy-wng3 18 years ago

Agreed.

Remember the scene where Patrick was alone in the lighthouse and the radio switches itself on and the hook goes up on its own? After that the camera shows something confronting Patrick, striking him in fear.

I guess that suggests it was Angus's ghost who possesed him.

If Patrick had feelings for Rachel and decided to help her against Sharon and Brian then that scene wouldn't even exist

[–] parra_princess_92 18 years ago

this probably isnt going to make any sense but when sharon and brian went into the lighthouse after 'drowning' rachel, we see them coming downstairs saying that no one was there. later on when rachel has ran onto the balcony and brian is walking up the stairs to get to her we hear squelching footsteps and then see angus/patrick walking towards brian and he is wet. i think that patrck was possessed by angus because 1 he is wet and 2 where did he come from. he had come from upstairs but sharon and brian had already said that no one was upstairs which implied that he was a ghost. i hope that made sense and helped anyone who was wondering about this movie. i'm stll not sure if angus' ghost or partick jumped off the balcony though.

[–] renata77 14 years ago

My take was that the "person" seen at the top of the lighthouse was Angus' ghost.

Patrick was real, pretending to be Angus to Rachel, whilst never showing himself around town. He, Sharon, and Brian plotted against Rachel to get her money after passing off her murder as a suicide, which no one was supposed to question, since she'd been all over town talking about having seen the dead Angus (crazy) and also in mourning over the death of her son.

Sharon mentioned seeing Patrick at the top, and asked why he ad-libbed by being up there, but he told her he wasn't. She'd actually seen the real ghost of Angus. Patrick gets accosted by something which I assume to be the ghost, at which point perhaps he was possessed. It seemed to me the ghost of Angus, perhaps in Patrick's body, killed Brian, which was a re-enactment of what he'd done in life when he discovered his own betrayal.

Patrick, sans Angus, committed suicide after becoming guilt-ridden about what he did to Rachel because he realized he loved her after all. He knew there was no future for them after what he had done, and that he'd be jailed again, which he said earlier he could not face, so he took the plunge.

I felt the twist was that while Brian and Sharon were trying to make Rachel seem crazy by hiring Patrick to pretend to be Angus' ghost, Angus' ghost really was there as well, and killed Brian, instead of Rachel dying at their hands.

Hope this makes sense!

[–] COTCgirl 15 years ago

The women tell her that the newspaper article is missing. Later we see that Patrick has a file on Angus Macoullugh to study up on him. Patrick stole the newspaper cliping of Angus' death from the library.

I made this vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOngsP1FN4Y

[–] micirisi 12 years ago

Thanks for a quick wrap-up. I got most of it except for the ghosts. I thought it was just cheap hallucination-like imagery to add a spooky(no pun intended) atmosphere. Your explanation brings it together for me.