My argument in favor of all of the girls being real

I've held it as in my mind that there could have been or not.

I think the very first one was to be fake. Which is what Berkeley comes to realize and it builds his certainty. When the second one comes along he just thinks she is fake too. I just feel if I were in the situation if I knew my friend did this fake, and then more kept coming I'd believe they were all fake.

I think it leaves it so much more mind embracing of "when did they start becoming real. We know Amber was real but it goes so much further of how long or was it non consistent. Was one fake then the next real or whatever?

I also believe it could be possible to argue if the girl on the bus is even real herself. She only has a small part but only is seen reacting to Mason.

IMO, I believe there was a turning point that they stopped being fake and became real. This has become one of my favorite movies and I love to watch it over again and I really like the uncertainty it presents.

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I don't think they were real, simply because the first time he showed up at Berkeley's door with something resembling blood all over his hands, I think Berkeley would have taken more of an interest in it.

The only reason he jumped to the conclusion that it was paint, was because Mason has come to him before with paint on his hands claiming it was blood and that he killed a girl he had been painting.

Maybe just the first one wasn't real, or some amount of them were fake until a point where they started to become real. But I seriously doubt that ALL of them were real.

Also, when it pans across his apartment still trashed, and then moves in on the door, I think it's safe to assume that Amber's body is still in there. I don't think Mason has ever disposed of any of the previous bodies.

He likely goes through the whole situation, Berkeley tells him the girls aren't real, he "recovers" and moves on until his next breakdown where he starts painting another girl and the cycle starts again.

So after he tells Berkeley, he probably still thinks the body is still in his apartment, and then he recovers, goes home, and sees no body knowing it wasn't real. If he went home and found a body after he recovers, it would be a completely different situation, and someone would probably find out about it.


And the bus at the end was significant because Amber is the one that gave Mason the bus tickets as a Christmas present so they could go somewhere together. Maybe he knows that she really was real? Is he going to continue painting women, and possibly killing them in a new place? Who knows?

My initial feeling was they all were real. However the one comment at the basketball court leads me to believe only amber was real since he says "this one is different"