The Machinist : I didn't understand the film

I didn't understand the film

I didn't understand the film can someone help me understand it?

Re: I didn't understand the film

what you didn't understand?

Re: I didn't understand the film

I didn't understand why all the things happened again, and why Ivan was created, and what the hangman notes were for.

Re: I didn't understand the film

Basically, Trevor is tormented by his past, he had a hit-and-run accident where a boy is wounded (possibly killed). Trevor blame himself so bad for what happened that he can't sleep, and almost don't eat. With his condition of bad health he start to show signs of dementia. He's seeing thing, and people, he invented Ivan as a personification of the "bad Trevor". His love interest and her son are just creations of his mind, because he is blocking the accident, and his brain is giving hints. The hangman notes were there as a progression of Trevor discovering himself as the killer, more he dig the hole more he found out hints, and the word "killer' would get near to completed

This movie is really good, if you see another time, with that in mind you might enjoy it :)

I hope that helped. And I hope that isn't much confusing, english is my third language, sorry for any mistakes

Re: I didn't understand the film

What this poster ^ said.

Also the hangman notes were written by him. But the end of the movie you could see that he finally picked up the same marker and filled the word in with the same hand-writing. He stopped using pencil because he was not in denial anymore.

When you're insomniac AND have a bad case of schizophrenia you see or do things that you don't remember.... I think. I've been insomniac for three straight months....but never schizophrenic... wait, have I?!?!?!

Re: I didn't understand the film

Trevor was dead all the time of the movie...

take a look

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361862/board/flat/215853333?p=1

by black_mass » Fri Jun 14 2013 10:01 Flag ▼ | Reply
IMDb member since June 2013
After he kills Nicholas in the flashback scene towards the end of the film, he continues driving: shock sets in and he dies in a car crash (in the final scene, he is seen driving through the tunnel toward a bright light). From what I gather, he died at the spot leaving the tunnel, where earlier in the film he barely missed a vehicle while chasing Ivan on the wrong side of the road. At that point his truck cut out and he found himself off-road, at the site where his life had ended in the crash.

I guess the reason Reznik looks so horrible throughout the film is that he's actually dead. There are other clues, like on the Route 666 ride (which basically tells the story of his life with hands being cut off, a whore house and a child being run over) a red car is overturned and burning with a body nearby; the police officer mentioned that Reznik's Firebird had been "totalled in a wreck". Then there's the "Highway to Hell/Road to Salvation" hint. Time is not a factor in purgatory which is why the clock stands still.

Just a thought. Anyone agree or disagree?

Re: I didn't understand the film

I respectfully disagree. I never got the impression that he was in an accident immediately after, there's no look of surprise on his face at all, just relief. I saw it again and it's just him coming out of the tunnel and seeing the light, to coincide with the theme that he has just found salvation. I also got the impression that he totaled his own car in an attempt to distance himself from what he has done. He also stops caring how he dresses and drives a modest pickup, because he is "not that guy" anymore. On route 666 the victim looks to be a boy and not a grown man, and the red car is shown because it links the car to the accident for the first time for us, signaling a connection. But there is more to it than that. I think in part it shows his guilt by substituting himself for the boy. It should have been him in that crash. This is further reinforced by the photo at the fairground. He substitutes Nicholas for himself, perhaps to show how he identifies with the mother as if she was his own mother. But he also tries to pay penance by getting hit by the car, inflicting the same punishment upon himself that he dealt to the boy, thus the substitution again. But self-flagellation will not set things right, only justice will.

Finally, unlike the Sixth-sense, if you approach it from the standpoint he is dead on a second viewing, there is a lot that just doesn't make sense. In terms of him interacting with real-world people. On the other hand, there are hints his delusions aren't real. Ivan is not acknowledged by the bartender or Trevor's coworkers. There is also a deleted scene where Trevor visits the grave of the boy and is seen by the mother who figures out who he is and goes ballistic on him, which shows clearly that kid is dead, but doesn't make a lot of sense in the context of Trevor himself being dead.

Re: I didn't understand the film

No problem ian!

This is the good thing about boards, read another people point of view.


I also got the impression that he totaled his own car in an attempt to distance himself from what he has done. He also stops caring how he dresses and drives a modest pickup, because he is "not that guy" anymore.



Finally, unlike the Sixth-sense, if you approach it from the standpoint he is dead on a second viewing, there is a lot that just doesn't make sense. In terms of him interacting with real-world people


I understand, I need to rewatch the movie again! Specially for the second quote

Re: I didn't understand the film

i'm a little late, but just wanted to note how delighted i was by your pleasant conversation. you two were of a different opinion but didnt swear and insult but really discussed. i sure hope more users were like you

Re: I didn't understand the film

Hey screw you man, I was really upset to see how pleasant that whole exchange was. Delighted?? Now I'm infuriated.

Re: I didn't understand the film


Trevor was dead all the time of the movie...


So what you're basically saying is that he was in some kind of an afterlife state or it all happened in his mind just before dying on the highway in the car crash..

The first might explain his skinny body throughout the film but so could malnutrition due to insomnia. And during both the car chases, the two cars jerk to a stop to avoid his. Also the cop does say that Reznik's Firebird had been "totalled in a wreck" but he doesn't mention anything about anyone being killed in that accident. His car may have been wrecked badly but Reznik may still have survived. The Route 666 ride, clock stopping etc could have just been a hallucination, once again he was a insomniac and a schizophrenic.

Re: I didn't understand the film

The original poster was "black_mass"

And yes, it make more sense the theory of

he was in some kind of an afterlife state or it all happened in his mind just before dying on the highway in the car crash..


I'm between that theory and the other one your posted

The Route 666 ride, clock stopping etc could have just been a hallucination, once again he was a insomniac and a schizophrenic.

Re: I didn't understand the film

i'm so happy someone else asked the question. i've seen it twice & after watching the 2nd time, my confusion was worse than before. i feel like the person who doesnt get the punchline of a joke & when it has to be explained its sort of ruined. not to mention how u feel like "DUH" oh now i get it. i hear its a good movie but maybe its just over my head. thanks for answers.

Re: I didn't understand the film


not to mention how u feel like "DUH" oh now i get it. i hear its a good movie but maybe its just over my head. thanks for answers.


You're not the only one for sure!

Re: I didn't understand the film

i agree, plus the cross on the poster shows there are christians themes. I was also able to pick up other subliminal christian themes that i have read in the bible

Re: I didn't understand the film

Trevor ran over a little boy by accident, and fled from the scene. The guilt ate at him to the point where he barely eats and hasn't slept in a year. The lack of sleep has resulted in him being delusional and creating split personalities for himself. It was easier for Trevor, emotionally-speaking, to believe that an imaginary man Ivan was the killer - rather than him owning up to it himself.

The hangman notes are a result of this. In his Ivan personality, he would create these hangman notes. In his normal Trevor personality, he would try to solve them.

Another example is the prostitute woman. In one personality (as Ivan) he abuses her. In his regular Trevor personality, out of guilt, he pays her money as a prostitute.

Re: I didn't understand the film


He killed the woman & her son while on his phone, and left the scene (hit & run).
It was so traumatic that he blacked it out...and then began hallucinating.
He also had a nervous breakdown/psychotic break.

He believed the waitress in the airport was 'real'. She was the mother, the woman he killed. Her son was the son he killed.
He kept leaving 'her' big tips & hallucinated a relationship with her because of SUPREME guilt.
The ride through the amusement park was pure hallucination too: It was a manifestation of his entire life, all the events played out.
The 666 theme & voice he heard was his subconscious tormenting him, his guilt again.

The biggest showing of his guilt to us are his THINKING he has not slept in a year.
Of course he has slept, he just thinks he hasn't. He doesn't sleep well, but he does & must sleep.
His not eating is guilt too.

The entire film is his guilt.

That is why when he finally confesses, he can sleep. He's let some of it go now that he is being punished.


"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

Re: I didn't understand the film

Agreed.

I like this film cause its realistic and doesnt need a supernatural after life part to it. Just try to stay awake for a couple of days and you will see how you will hallucinate. Add to that the massive guilt and the mental break down that comes from it and you have all you need for an awesome mystery thriller.

Great great movie. Just love it. And the music! So haunting and mysterious. I was lucky that i had forgotten about how it ended a couple of years ago and i got to see it without knowing. :) I want to see it again but now i know everything. But the movie is good anyway. Its a nice twisted ride.


"If only you could see what i've seen with your eyes"

Re: I didn't understand the film

This is also supported by the fact that Ivan waves at Reznek as he is submitting to the police. This is, as you mentioned, Reznek coming to terms with what he's done, and finally saying goodbye to his guilt (represented by Ivan).

Re: I didn't understand the film

He didn't kill the woman, only her son.

Re: I didn't understand the film

Been a while since I've seen this start to finish, but here's the basics, for people who didn't "get" it.

A year before the movie begins, Trevor hit and killed a young boy with his car. He is wracked by guilt, and unable to sleep. The lack of sleep (possibly compounded by his guilty conscience) leads to him begin hallucinating. His hallucinations are a combination of:

1) clues to the reasons he's upset, as he is driven into denial
2) fantasies about how things could have been

There is a crucial scene right after Nicholas passes out on the haunted boat ride. Trevor runs out of the tunnel carrying Nicholas' body, obviously in a panic. The mother arrives, and we (and Trevor since we're seeing this from his POV) expect a scream. But she doesn't. She says something like, "This happens all the time. He'll be fine, he just needs some time to wake up." This is Trevor's fantasy that everything might really have been okay. Maybe the little boy he hit survived.

Meanwhile, something gross is leaking out of Trevor's fridge. He finally opens it, and it turns out to be the fish he caught on his trip. He's left them in there since the accident.

In the very end, based on clues he's left himself, he sees through everything and remembers that he hit the boy, and he did indeed die. So he goes to the police and confesses. Now, understanding everything, and having turned himself in, he is finally able to sleep.

Now, for something less "officially" supported by the film, it may be worth noting the names Trevor gives his fantasy characters. "Marie" is similar to "Mary," Jesus' mother, a symbol of forgiveness. And "Nicholas" is possibly derived from "St Nicholas," the patron saint of children.

Re: I didn't understand the film

There is nothing to understand.It is a bad movie that's all

Re: I didn't understand the film

PedroDoud perfectly explained it. He had only problem with his mind, and the duality in the movie was fighting with his mind. And at the end he finally told the police about the accident with the little boy.

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