A girlfriend of mine was over for dinner tonight and we talked about this movie at one point. We had both seen it separately within the past few days. We mainly discussed the ending, whether he truly relapsed or not…I was of the opinion that he chose to relapse because he couldn’t handle living with the truth of what had happened to his family, because he seemed to know what was going to happen to him, since he had seen the ice pick they were going to use for the lobotomy and was actually leading the orderlies, not following them or being forcefully led away. My girlfriend, however, thinks he was faking the relapse based on his statement “is it better to live as a monster, or die a good man?”, and I have to say I eventually agreed with her. He was faking the relapse so that he could be the “good” man (Teddy) and not be Laeddis, who was the monster for not getting help for his wife, thereby killing his children. He knew that if the board and directors and everyone saw that his treatment was a success then he would either be let go or would stay at the hospital as a sane person, living as the monster Laeddis, and he couldn’t live with that, so he faked regression in order to die (aka, become a “ghost” through the lobotomy) as Teddy, the good man. Again, his reaction (or lack thereof) to seeing the ice pick, as well as seemingly knowing what was going to happen by leading the orderlies and calmly walking away from Chuck/Sheehan, is pretty good evidence for that.
I thought it was a pretty good movie. I’d like to see it again now that I know how it ends so I can watch for more signs that foreshadow the ending. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting though…from the commercials, it seemed like it would be more of a supernatural/semi-horror movie. But I did enjoy it.