MovieChat Forums > Revanche (2008) Discussion > Splash at the beginning of the film (pos...

Splash at the beginning of the film (possible spoiler)

posted 16 years ago by Lou_Arevalo
12 replies | jump to latest

I saw this tonight at the Spokane Intl Film Festival. Afterward the audience was discussing various topics and someone mentioned that when he threw the gun in the lake it was a re-showing of how the film began. I thought it was a rock that gets thrown into the lake in the beginning and symbolizes the whole ripple effect of what is about to take place. Anybody else who has seen it remember those two scenes and have a comment or thought?

[–] kipale78 16 years ago

I just saw the movie, and I must say that I thought of it too. But the first image depicts some still water, while in the second there is a strong draft in the river.

[–] thao 16 years ago

It was the gun, I think. That's how I understood it at least.

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[–] chris_vienna_austria 16 years ago

It is the gun.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] salmo365 16 years ago

I thought the act of cuckholdry and the knowledge he had fathered him a child was also an element to the revenge.

[–] mackjay2 16 years ago

The film uses ordinary sounds as shock effect. I jumped several times when a quiet scene suddenly was interrupted by a loud sound. The first one is of course the object falling in the lake. Is it the gun? Maybe. We can think this if we want, it makes a connection across the film, a film which is about unexpected connections (among other things). I really liked how this story does not go as predicted. It's really intelligent and makes some demand on the viewer to understand it. A film you can watch more than once. The film uses sound in this subtle way, there is no music score. And it's beautifully shot too.

[–] ruopollo-1 16 years ago

The first image symbolizes the gun that he throws to the lake, the one who said that was right, but they used a cube of ice for doing it, and accelerate that part so most of the viewers couldn't watch it (i stopped it and saw the reflect of the cube in the water before it hits) it is not the first time I see this in a movie, they use a big cube of ice so they don't have to contaminate the lake, and also it is probably illegal be throwing things at lakes and rivers, in places like this.

[–] gnolti 16 years ago

I agree with the OP. It is both: literally the gun being thrown into the water, and metaphorically a representation of the "ripple effect" of the protagonist's errors of judgement.

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[–] shroomn 16 years ago

It doesn't matter what it is. It is what it is. It is in the whole of the film.

It is easy to construe is as the 'ripple' effect of his life but the filmmaker himself as stated he just knew 'that was how it had to start'

[–] oneseat 16 years ago

It does matter in the sense that it's icing on the cake when a thematic metaphor can also be a plausible plot element.

[–] shroomn 16 years ago

If you saw the film, which I assume you did, you realize by the very end its not a plot element. It is either the gun or it isn't. It doesn't subtract nor add from the plot by the end. It is whatever you want it to be.

[–] ndhand 15 years ago

As one poster has mentioned, the second time (at the end) when we are certain he throws the gun it is followed by a very specific ripple effect that we don't see the first time.

It's clear that they are supposed to reference one-another, but also clear that they are supposed to be very different times. Read into it all you want, but the fact remains that there is a clear indicator.