The Skeleton Key : A few questions….SPOILERS

A few questions….SPOILERS

Maybe this has already been asked but at the end of the movie when Caroline in Violet's body and Luke in Ben's body are taken away, who is going to ensure that they keep taking that medication to keep them in the "stroke" state and not telling anyone what happened? Perhaps some people wouldn't believe them but there are others in that town who are believers in hoodoo where this would be totally believable like the old blind woman for example.

Also, when Caroline goes into Violet's body and Luke already in Ben's body, what happens to Violet and Ben's souls? Do they just suddenly die at that point? Are they the ghosts that appear in the mirrors? The reason why Violet/Cecile doesn't want to look in the mirrors perhaps? Do Justify and Cecile see the ghosts/souls of all the bodies they have taken?

When Caroline/Cecile sees Jill at the end, is she planning on taking over Jill's body being that she wanted to have the body of a young woman of color in the first place? Although I think Jill might catch on pretty quickly what's going on being that she is somewhat familiar with hoodoo and the last call she got from Caroline was her calling frantically telling her it's all true or something along those lines.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

1) Who would believe them....they'd be marked for anti-psychotic medication.....

2) They see themselves in the mirror. (the black housekeeping couple) You've confused me now with the previous question in no. 2. hm....


3) Violet said they couldn't get black people to stay at the house because they knew what the hoodoo was. That's why the nurses story about leaving the house is important.


Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

1. I understand that some people wouldn't believe them but there seems to be a big enough community down there that does believe in hoodoo so it may not seem so ridiculous to those folks. After all, Caroline did notice and comment on all of the hoodoo stuff at the gas station.

2. I'm not sure how else to get my point across, but the actual souls of Violet and Ben have to go somewhere being that Caroline and Luke are now inhabiting the bodies of Violet and Ben. Do the actual souls of Violet and Ben just suddenly die? As far as the ghosts in the mirrors go, that may very well be Cecile and Justify. I just wasn't sure if the spirits of all the bodies they've inhabited in the past also appear in the mirrors as well.

3. I understand that they couldn't get any people of color to stay but being that Caroline (who is now Cecile) is already friends with Jill, that should make her be around her more frequently, she may be accessible to jump into her body. I was wondering if anyone else thought that too.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

I need another look at this movie. Everytime I think I have it, someone asks a question that gives me doubt. LOL. I'll try to look at this over the weekend.


Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

Violet's and Ben's souls died when the bodies of Martin and Grace died back in 1962. Just like Luke and Caroline's souls will die when the now-broken down bodies of Violet and Ben die. Just like Martin and Grace's souls died via the lynching.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

The answer is in the premises. Caroline not taking care of her father, the bad conscience from that and her delusional vision of Help Me. That would normally imply that she is crazy and that everything is her delusion, and that she actually kills the old couple with Luke and takes over the house and gets Jill to leave.

No change of any souls but in Caroline's mind.

Luke bringing her back to the house would be his initial action of loyalty to the client, until Caroline wins him over. The dust, well, just a red heering, literally.

That would be the traditional analysis cf. The Haunting, Suspiria, Turning of The Screw etc.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

Isn't using insanity a bit of a copout though? I don't believe that premise one bit. I believe the Voodoo.

My password is password

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

Well, Softley made Wings of the Dove earlier, based on a Henry James story and James famously wrote Turn of The Screw - which is a classic story that always devided critics into those who think she is mad and those who don't. But James was a Freudian and fundamentally a psycho-realist who just liked to make spiritual red heerings, so … but the mastery is making it ambiguous and anyway that's what Softley did here as a minimum. I loved Inkheart btw.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

You make some good points, but there is so much that can't be written off to Caroline being nuts. I've got the movie, so I'll watch it again from your point of view and see what I think.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS


Also, when Caroline goes into Violet's body and Luke already in Ben's body, what happens to Violet and Ben's souls?
Violet and Ben are long dead. Their souls were transferred into the bodies of the Thorpe siblings in '62, and then "died of strokes" soon afterwards (presumably poisoned by Justify and Cecile). The same way the souls of the Thorpe children were transferred into Justify and Cecile's original bodies, and then died when they were lynched and burned (probably the most disturbing aspect of the whole story - that Thorpe had no idea he was murdering his own children).

As for Jill, it seems likely that Cecile will try to take her body at some point. In fact, Jill might be the perfect candidate. Caroline didn't believe in hoodoo, which made her more difficult to work the conjuration on, but not wary enough of it to get the hell out of there; the other girls they'd hired presented the opposite problem, being strong believers and therefore too wary. Jill is somewhere in the middle ground - she understands a bit about hoodoo and knows it's all a mind game, but she's also a little afraid of it even if she doesn't exactly believe in it. If she starts to really believe, while still rationalizing things and telling herself she doesn't, then they'll have her right where they want her.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

Good point about Violet and Ben. Thanks for clarifying.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

I thought the guy Luke was in on it with Violet the whole time. So I didn't think anyone else was in Ben's body but the same Ben who was there from the beginning of the movie? Violet just wanted a younger body so that's why she picked to have Caroline's body.

So Mama Cecile was first in Violet's body but ended up in Caroline's body in the end. But Papa Justify was already in Luke's body so he didn't change at all at the end of the movie.

Re: A few questions….SPOILERS

IF this was as good a film as stated by many there wouldn't be so much confusion and questions !!!!!A good thriller that holds your attention but confuses the hell out of you!! Great acting from Lady Rowlands and John Hurt!
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