MovieChat Forums > OXV: The Manual (2014) Discussion > The ending [SPOILERS]

The ending [SPOILERS]

posted 10 years ago by sevastokrator
4 replies | jump to latest

I don't get one thing.

I don't see anything evil in Theo, or in what he says. He explains his conclusions, and Zach and Marie seem happy or at least content.

But he has such demonic expression on his face, and his father such genuine fear. Their father-son relationship and their parting are awkward and somewhat creepy. As if Theo had sold his soul, turned to the dark side, or something like that. I don't get it. I was expecting he would do something diabolical, but instead he found the last part of the equation. That's supposed to be good.

Or is it? 

[–] EgyGirl 10 years ago

Here is what I think as far as I understood.

Theo is the mastermind who controls all events and perhaps everyone whether directly or indirectly.
He has a hand in the relationship between Marie and Zach. When his father suggests that he should get a pet, he immediately thinks of Zach and agrees. He throws Zach's apple at Marie's feet. He tells the waiter to turn off the music, thus allowing the kiss at the restaurant between Zach and Marie to take place. He is the one who invented the manual, gives it to Zach, and before that it wasn't an accident when he hit the play button during their meeting and said some strange combination of words, so as to convince Zach that they both discover the manual by chance.

Then you get to find that he has been seeing the future through the device that he created since high school. He must have perfected it. Not only that, he can manipulate things. He tells his father that everyone will come and ask him what his father should say. His father understands that the conversation has taken place before.
Everyone including Theo's father at the cafe taps their fingers involuntarily on their tables at the same time during their conversation. He even stops the people's chatter at the restaurant. Who knows what he will be capable of after he completely solves the equation, which he does at the end. Absolute power! From the way he looks at us before the end credits, he is up to no good.

From what I understood, all these examples serve to show that Theo is behind almost everything. The couple realize that maybe it is something bigger than fate, that Zach was there just bec Marie needed love. Theo plays God, but now that his father knows the truth, he thinks of him as the devil. Theo is the last chapter that puts all the pieces together.

[–] sevastokrator 10 years ago

Thanks for the response!

I had a similar impression, but I failed to see anything evil in Theo. Cold scientific satisfaction, perhaps a bit disturbing lack of empathy, but no genuine evil. I also had the impression that by solving the equation he got to see, i.e. calculate every single detail in the universe in any given time, ultimately proving that 'there is no free will'* not that he could create one. But even if he could, it would be already set that way, because any change from the beginning of time is impossible.

The finger tapping confused me. Also his father saying something like 'You already know what I will say?' after which Theo answers to what his father was about to say, but never said it. But, if Theo could see into the future and saw his father saying something, and now his father isn't saying it because Theo already knows it, then the future is changed... 

*the 'there is no free will part': I'm following the opinion that there is no contradiction in fixed timeline and free will. We choose our actions and thus shape the future, but because it might be seen what we will choose, it doesn't make our choices pre-determined and thus involuntary. If you are choosing between A and B and it's a tough decision, and I'm the one who can see into the future and see your choice, you are still using your free will. The problem is if I tell you before you make a choice, having seen that it would be B: 'You will choose B'. Could you then make a different choice? And would you? That's why I like films like Predestination and Time Lapse. 

[–] EgyGirl 10 years ago

He doesn't help Zach. He thinks of him as an experiment, as a pet, having the lowest frequency.

[–] sevastokrator 10 years ago

He doesn't help Zach. He thinks of him as an experiment, as a pet, having the lowest frequency.

That part too. There is a difference between a lab rat, and a pet rat. You study both of them, experiment with them, and teach them tricks, but the pet rat is the one you care for. Even if Theo didn't care for Zach, it still eventually turns good for Zach. Or for Marie, because of her high frequency.

Different actors gave different impressions. To me, it looked like small Theo and teenage Theo did care for Zach.