The undisputed definitive explanation to the end of the movie
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Under Suspicion
sporthub — 16 years ago(January 14, 2010 10:28 PM)
OK, a lot of the theories offered up until this point have been bunk. I listened to the director/Freeman commentary to the movie & no where throughout or @ the the end do they say the wife set him up so
- He gave a FALSE CONFESSION out of a broken heart that his wife thought him such a monster to rape and kill little girls. Morgan Freeman says this IN THE DVD COMMENTARY @ the end!!
- The wife DOES NOT SET HIM UP. Freeman nor the director make any mention of such a thing. Furthermore, it would be ridiculous for the hard nosed veteran detective Freeman plays to let Chantel go waltzing out of the police station if he even slightly suspects that she set up one his BEST FRIENDS. He just spent 4 hours grilling the most wealthy lawyer in all of Puerto Rico and defied all the local brass by refusing to finish the interrogation the next day. If he thought the wife framed his BEST FRIEND she wouldn't be going anywhere.
- Stranger things have happened than Jackmans character having photos of both the girls. Its not that big of a coincidence considering he adores little girls like his wife's daughter. He says he likes young girls, that doesn't make him a pedophile, neither does having sex with the 18 yr old Chantel while paying for her to finish college. Photography is also a great love of his. In the scene where the Opie detective finds the photos there are at least 10 other archives of photos taken ALL OVER THE ISLAND. Those probably weren't even the only girls or ppl in all those pictures. Puerto Rico is not that big ppl. We also know that the photo of the girl who was killed in La Perla is an archive labled "The History of La Perla" Duhhhh, why is it labled that? b/c Jackman says in first 5 minutes of the movie he likes recording the history of the island, it makes perfect sense that the photo of the girl murdered in La Perla would be in the La Perla file B/C obviously he goes there and many other places to take photographs.
- The most RIDICULOUS theory I've hear proffered is that the wife planted pictures or hired a killer or both to frame Jackman's character. WRROOONG. Freeman mentions at the end of the commentary that the movie confuses some ppl at the end, but he says its b/c it appears Chantel will commit suicide at the end not b/c Chantel is setting up her husband. Just walk w/ me for a second. If she would have hired a killer that would be huge detail for the movie never to mention at any point. If she commanded this mysterious killer to commit all 3 killings it would all be off of the anger and certitude she felt that Jackman was a molester/creep after the 3 seconds she saw of her husband siting on a bed with her niece. NOT LIKELY. Also, why would she have the mysterious killer commit a 3rd murder after Jackman is clearly under suspicion and thereby absolve Jackman. And having the mysterious killer commit only two murders or one this just makes no sense
- He rejects his wife hug at the end to signify that the damage his wife has inflicted upon their marriage is irrevocable. B/C she has suspected her husband of fondling her niece and so forth she rejected him sexually for TWO YEARS. And in the ultimate sign of contempt she lets Freeman search the house to confirm her long held beliefs of her husband's supposed predilection for molesting young girls. This story is about jealousy growing wildly out of control and wrecking a beautiful marriage
Word.
-
caga13 — 16 years ago(March 21, 2010 06:01 PM)
pretty much except you forgot one thing:
the wife knew he took photos of the girls as a hobby, and she knew if she let the police search the house, they'd nail him as the killer. she only allowed the police to search the house after the detective reminded her of her husband's relation with her nephew, Camille. She was jealous of Camille or any other women (recall scene when she approaches the two men that she knew were married at the charity event, as she could see them checking out this other chick) This was because she met him when she was 11, hence probably afraid and jealous of little girls relations with him as well, thinking it might develop into something more later on -
hyena-6 — 15 years ago(September 20, 2010 12:46 PM)
the wife knew he took photos of the girls as a hobby, and she knew if she let the police search the house, they'd nail him as the killer.
You cannot really state what she knew. If she gave an indication that she knew something (like saying it) it is still not proof that the character actually knows it.
her husband's relation with her nephew, Camille.
Pretty sure that was her niece. And it wasn't a relation/relationship. It was a perceived relationship with her niece.
I do agree with the indications of jealous as being the likely motivator for Chantel to allow the police into the house.
Even if they do not find something, as a prominent attorney, the police searching your home is greatly damaging. He was such a prominent attorney that the Commissioner (or whoever that guy was, i forgot at the moment) was pushing for his release (even if he WAS the rapist/killer). They likely could not even get a warrant to search his home, and therefore needed permission. Her allowing this was siding with the police on assuming his guilt.
http://www.sighedeffects.com -
wop0101 — 15 years ago(July 02, 2010 04:17 AM)
"1. He gave a FALSE CONFESSION out of a broken heart that his wife thought him such a monster to rape and kill little girls. Morgan Freeman says this IN THE DVD COMMENTARY @ the end!!"
This doesn't explain why after Hackman has been shown the pictures he took of the girls says "I can't believe she would go to these lengths to make this kind of point." That sentence seems more to me to lean towards him believing he was set up by his wife to look as though he really does have a problem with liking little girls, thus making her correct for the past 2 years for shutting him out, or correct for not wanting to have his children. If he's just brokenhearted, what would that have to do with her going to lengths to accomplish a point? Maybe Morgan Freeman intended for that moment to mean something else, but he threw in a nonsensical couple of sentences that don't match up, and those are probably the most critical sentences in the movie said seconds before the climax so they have to mean SOMETHING.
Edit: I just rewatched it on Netflix and I see what you/Freeman is saying now. "I can't believe she would go to these lengths" = his wife bringing the pictures out of the darkroom to the police, which didn't happen but Freeman lied to Hackman and told him that. "to make this kind of point" = to prove he would be capable of doing something so awful. Well I feel better unraveling that, maybe I can finally stop drinking. -
IEatWords — 15 years ago(July 18, 2010 04:11 PM)
Yeah, I just made a shortened version in another thread.
It was pretty easy to understand why he did what he did. But eh, some people like to make stupid theorys to sound relevent or some beep
RetardoArona-gone but not forgotten. Nvr4get. Send me your thoughts on this unjust tragedy. -
daphne_daphne_daphne — 15 years ago(January 22, 2011 01:31 PM)
I really believe this is the case:
They have someone else kill the 3rd girl and had him caught red handed on purpose.
On the party where Henry has his speech he talks to the host and says something like: "make sure they catch the right monster, otherwise the monster will turn against you." meaning he has so much power on the island that the host will do anything to keep him out of jail.
He is so powerfull that someone else turns up for his crime. -
nex-9 — 13 years ago(August 22, 2012 03:24 AM)
i actually took that statement as to mean "if he's the killer then he is a monster", but if he is not the killer then he would be a very bad person to have suing you in court, for wrongful prosecution, as in a 'monster of an opponent in court' that he would not be the person you would want to have against you .
-
Random Terrain — 15 years ago(February 12, 2011 05:50 PM)
I stopped reading when I noticed you were too lazy to spell out the words
with
and
because
. Thanks for trying, though.
http://www.randomterrain.com/- Free nude pixels.
-
auctionmaestra — 15 years ago(March 19, 2011 09:22 PM)
It's interesting that the wife's character is criticized for her jealousy. Her husband was engaged, actively, in sexual behaviors (rough trade, in fact) with, essentially, children. She was college educated and saw her husband in a compromising positionsitting on the bed, remember, with an underage girl, taking her picture, with a history of having sex with young girls. This type of behavior does not usually arise all of a sudden, but is habitual. Molesters habitually molest. The wife was not eaten up by jealousy, I think, but she knew or intuited that her husband had this pedophile tendency. Perhaps that's why she refused to have children and why she was vigilant for her niece. Let's criticize the Hearst character for his flaws, not his wife.
-
rachel-filmer82 — 10 years ago(October 11, 2015 03:30 PM)
I actually agree with this. Just because he didn't murder those girls doesn't mean he's not attracted to children. It was heavily implied that he fell in love with his wife when she was a young child, he admits to liking women who look underage, and he talks to freeman about it as if every man would shag teenagers if given the opportunity. He clearly has an issue.
-
filmbuff1974 — 14 years ago(May 19, 2011 09:11 PM)
Excellent summation. I wasn't exactly sure what happened at the end. Now I realise that the wife had inflicted tremendous cruelty on her husband and that the husband had come to see it and finally had had enough of her behavior towards him.
Live Full & Die Empty. Tap Your Potential and Realise Your Dreams! -
mrbsays — 14 years ago(May 28, 2011 09:06 PM)
sporthub,
Were Freeman and Hackman best friends? I got the impression that they were friends, but mainly through the justice system, Hackman a lawyer, Freeman in the police. It's a small island, so they saw a lot of each other, but I didn't get the best friends impression.
This drink I like it!
More! -
jmrc — 14 years ago(July 28, 2011 08:43 PM)
Sorry, that's not what I think the end is about at all. And if Morgan Freeman says otherwise in the commentary, then I'm pretty sure he didn't get the message of the original French film either.
He confessed to the murder because he thought his wife had killed the girls out of jealousy after seeing their photographs and knowing he talked to them. That's why he says 'I never thought she would go to such lengths'. He lied to protect her.
He knows she is extremely jealous of him because he is aware he did nothing with her niece and never intended to. His recollection of what happened at Christmas is totally true while hers is only her twisted interpretation of what really happened, fabricated by her own insecurity and fueled by what her mother had told her all those years ago: "there is always someone younger, someone prettier".
When he confesses to a murder he did not commit, his wife really believes he is the murderer and that validates her jealousy, which is why she spits at him through the glass.
It's only when the real murderer is caught that she (and Freeman) realize that he was only assuming himself as the murderer to protect her. She finally realizes how much he really loves her - so much that he would take the fall for murdering two innocent little girls in order to protect her.
By realizing this she must now face her own guilt and the fact that she, and she alone, had destroyed their lives based on something that had never happened except on her own jealous imagination.
So she finally goes to him - but by now it's too late and he rejects her. She alone had destroyed that which she wanted so much - as unfounded jealousy always does. -
whitesheik — 14 years ago(August 08, 2011 11:47 PM)
As someone in another thread mentioned, Garde a Vu, the film on which this film is based (as well as the novel Brainwashed) ends with the wife committing suicide. And I don't know how anyone in any of these threads cannot see that that was the original ending of the American version - clearly, she goes up on a hill and is poised to jump. I think the film tested poorly (this is truly one of the lowest-grossing pictures in the history of film) and the little coda with Hackman and her was added. Just watch - she's getting ready to jump from a great height.