The invigilator asks "Are there any questions?" The ONLY answer to this question is NO. This is because this question was indirectly open-ended, and when she looks at the exam, she sees that beside Question 1. there is no actual question. Ergo the answer to are there any questions would have to be no, since no questions were asked on the exam.
shareOhhhhhhhh
shareThnx for the explanation :) ...... But invigilator asks " any questions ? "
shareSo when he said "any questions" if someone simply answered no they would have gotten the job?
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If they simply answered no, they would have lost for speaking directly to them. I believe they would have had to wait until the exam was over to provide the answer.
sharewell actually he hadn't started the timer yet..so...maybe not?
shareIf they simply answered no, they would have lost for speaking directly to them. I believe they would have had to wait until the exam was over to provide the answer.
There unresolved problems with what supposedly is The Question.
The movie forces The Question to be "Any questions?" with the given "correct" answer being 'No'.
Here are the open questions.
• What was The Question?
• OK. If "Any questions?" is The Question then (a) why?because given the context in which that question was asked suggests the Invigilator was seeking if anyone needed clarification and (b) why not accept the examinees's tacit silence as an answering The Question: when and how were they suppose to give the answer?
The examinees's silence answered The Question whether or not they understood "Any questions?" as The Question and they were obeying the non-communication rule or they understood "Any questions?" as asking if everyone understood the exam procedures, again, their silence answered that question.
In other words, regardless how the examinees interpret "Any questions?", they all gave the correct answer do why did not the Invigilator accept their answers then and there?
• Also, addressed in another thread, what if they did ask questions? For example, "Can more than one person be hired? or "When hired, when do we get our medication?".
• Now, suppose there was a very clever person who figures out what The Question is.
Are they expected to sit and waste 80+ minutes waiting? Why could they not submit they answer early. Why have a plenty for early submissions?
• Then there is the single answer problem.
If "Any questions?" is The Question, then answering 'one' is perfectly valid answer because there is one question, The Question asked.
So these are the sort of open questions, problems some audience members have after watching this movie.
My explanation
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258197/board/thread/200230952
Yea they are expected to wait the 80 minutes until answering. The Invigilator talks about patience at the end, which to a small degree can be shown by the ability to wait for a mere 80 minutes.
shareThe line was, "There is one question before you, and one answer is required."
If they had asked questions, they would've been disqualified.
If they figured it out, yes, they'd have to wait. I don't see why that's a problem.
They didn't say that there was only one correct answer. They said that only one answer was required. I think answers like "yes," "one," or "no" would've sufficed.
None of these are problems at all.
If they figured it out, yes, they'd have to wait. I don't see why that's a problem.
They didn't say that there was only one correct answer. They said that only one answer was required. I think answers like "yes," "one," or "no" would've sufficed.
That's not really what I meant by "problem." I meant that it's not an issue that has to be raised by the audience.
Anyway, _my_ problem with the movie is that one of the reasons they had for hiring Blonde was that she had "compassion" for her fellow man. The woman who pretty much stood around when people were in danger. Black, Dark, and Brunette did more. Dark herself was disqualified for showing compassion. It's not "showing compassion for fellow man" to put the exam before the welfare of others.
There are many problems with the movie "Exam".
share[deleted]
thanks for the moot contribution
You win the troll award for the month.
"Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change?" -- "Die Hard"
[deleted]
"GeneralGent", I said you won already.
What more do you want?
[deleted]
I gave my "intelligent" reply with my original post, but your snarky offer of "what if they were aliens" contributed nothing to the discussion.
Again, you will.
I let you win with the final word. I shall yield to your superior mind and fail to reply.
[deleted]
"..(b) why not accept the examinees's tacit silence as an answering"
Silence can't be tacit. Silence can be a tacit answer.
there are a couple ways to look at this.
the answer should have been 'YES'. there is physical and audio proof that there is a question. with the simple fact that the line 'Question 1.' is on the paper they were given proves that there is in fact a question. it doesn't matter if there is nothing after 'Question 1.'. also, the invigilator informs them to pay close attention to every word he says, and then he explicitly states 'there is one question before you, and 1 answer is required'. therefore the answer would have been 'yes'. if you answered NO, you'd have to be a complete idiot, when the invigilator explicitly says that there is a question before them.
in addition,is 'Are there any questions?', the question for the exam? because technically when it was asked the exam didnt start yet. the invigilator asks 'Are there any questions?' and then starts the timer. if we assume that the 'Are there any questions?' is part of the exam then, it contradicts the 80minute exam time they were given, because it would mean that they were given more than 80minutes. or if we assume that they were given exactly 80minutes, and that the 'Are there any questions?' is the right question, then it would mean that 'white' should have won because when he answered the 80 minutes were already up.
on top of that, if we assume that the exam question is 'Are there any questions?', and you answered 'No'. then the company should immediately fire that candidate. because after everything they've gone through, and considering that they are entering such a powerful and secretive company, the right candidate should have PLENTY of questions.
and finally, the most likely explanation for the question and the answer given in the movie, is that we assume the question for the exam is in fact 'Are there any questions?', NOTICE the 'S' after question, and since there is only 1 question, then the proper answer is 'NO' because QUESTIONS in plural, and there is only 1 QUESTION, not QUESTIONS. this explanation makes the most sense, in term of why they chose to show the scene of the invigilator asking 'Any Questions? again at the end, and also why the focus on the '1' at the end of the 'Question 1.' on the paper, as well as why the during the count down of the timer, they lingered on '1' before going to black. as well as why the invigilator at the end says 'the ONLY question asked of you' with an emphasis on ONLY.
The way i saw it was
"There is one question before you" (Are there any questions?)
"And one answer is required" (No)
Since No was the correct answer, we need to assume then that the question was a literal inquiry whether the exam had any questions on it. Since beside question 1 is nothing, there are no questions on the exam. Your idea of thinking is logical and makes sense, but the logic to the answer 'no' also makes sense, and since it is correct in the movie, that was the correct answer for this specific test.
Regarding the 80 minute time limit, it could just be that the 80 minutes were to figure out the answer, nowhere is it mentioned when the exam begins, only when the time starts.
Regardless of how many questions the right candidate should have, he already stated that they may not speak to him directly or they would be disqualified, so asking him anything would disqualify them.
Yes, I'm sure you are correct.
The logic is simple, the trick is to realize that what seemed like familiar question from the examiner to the candidates is actually the question they have to find the answer to in the context of the exam.
Presumably if someone had asked a question at this point as invited or had tried to venture an answer they would simply have been removed. This would have been a useful clue.
Clearly they are looking for someone who is very literal...
That's what I thought as well, someone who is very literal. The CEO looks like he is on the autism spectrum and taking things literal and paying obsessive attention to details is one of the signs one might be on that spectrum. However the CEO was also looking for someone compassionate and empathetic besides having that obsessive attention to detail and logic. When put in a stressful group situation like that people would either function best being either all logical and "cold" or empathic and the logic eludes them. Basically Blonde only found the answer when all other team mates were taken out; and not by time itself but by the CEO fiddling with the timer to make it go faster thus tricking White into believing he and Blonde were the only two finalists tricking him into addressing the examiner. Now, I admit of course the examiner explicitly says there are no rules except theirs, so they can use any trickery and deceit, but doesn't that go against logic? Also even if they set the rules, how is one supposed to obey them if they change these rules mid-exam?
share"Question 1." is not a question, it is a statement. "Question 1?" would be a question.
shareFrom reading this thread and a few others like it, I don't think anyones confused any more about how s.h.i.t.e this film is!
I don't mind movies where i have to think. But when we have to use playground logic, it just fails. We're not in the little school any more. I liked this movie, until the end. It's more of a punchline than an actual definite answer. There's very little replay value to it.
Sorry to interrupt for anyone still discussing this :)
I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake
I tend to agree with synthninja-251-43212. Now, this particular movie isn't such a great turd when compared to the miriad of other movies nowadays. However, the driving force of the Exam is the nature of the "question". And what is obvious from all the discussions here is that there is effectively no absolutely right answer.
Whether the candidate says "yes", "no", remains silent, makes a fart, the company in the movie could always find a lame excuse.
From our, "normal life", point of view the best answer would be to leave the exam and tell the company to go fornicate themself.
The purpose of the exam was not the question, but to learn about the candidates from what they did in those 80 minutes. This much is made clear by the invigilator listing the attributes they were looking for.
shareI actually wish there was no tiny-only-decipherable-by-wearing-the-glasses print on the back of the papers. Then Blonde could have still answered "no" because the papers were blank. They couldnt see anything written on the papers so she still could have just said "no...no questions are on the exam paper" and still been right. They didn't need to have the "Question 1." printed on the back...it wasn't needed.
Now, I also agree with the the theory that she could have answered "one" (especially when the Invigilator agrees that that was "the ONLY QUESTION asked of you").
I agree that "no", "one", or "yes" could have all sufficed. Man, so confusing, but I did love this little psychological thrill ride. Sometimes it ruins it for me to read TOOOO much into any movie. My gut reaction was that this movie was awesome, so im ok with not being clear on everything.
CLEARLY they were looking for more than just a NO to the question. He explains at the end that they are looking for someone who pays close attention to DETAIL, has good listening skills AND has compassion for others. None of which the other candidates possessed based on their actions, with exception to the blonde!!!!
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