I went into the movie a bit tired, so I missed a detail (which might be irrelevant anyway). There's a bottle of some elixir on the mantlepiece that is curiously shown when the father yells that he doesn't want any medicine. And during the running sequence, the camera pans over the same bottle. Is it inconsequential or did I miss something here?
shareDo you remember when Colin's dad won't take any pills so his mum sends one of the kids off to get some herbal painkiller?
I got the impression that the bottle was the painkiller.
In one of the earier flashbacks, Colin picks up the bottle and heads towards his father's bedroom, as if to admininister it. This is the one time in the film when he seems to show some compassion for his father. However, we never see what happens after Colin goes into his dad's room with the bottle.
I think that Colin may have found his father dead at that moment (we are reasonably sure it was him who found the body from a flashback of his father's dead face later in the film) because, from what I can remember, there follows in the flashbacks an ellipsis in time to after the father's death.
This would also reduce Colin's self-esteem and increase his guilt when it comes to his father's death. The only time he ever went to show his dad that he cared, the old man was already dead...
^^sounds right. It all lends itself to the mixed up, hurt, rebelious nature which is displayed at the end of the film.
"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.
I had the same question myself. Fortunately, I had DVR'ed it from TCM and played the scene over and over. The phial's label says something like: "Elder Flower Peppermint," some smaller words I can't read and then a box with, "Safe relief of PAIN" printed in it. I agree that this is likely the 'herbal painkiller' his mother asks Billy (younger brother) to get. But something else bothers me about it. I know the father said he wouldn't take any pills; but somehow Col's puzzlement seems to make it as if it's a bit more sinister, as if his mother didn't want to spend money on helping the father. That doesn't quite fit with the facts; but why was so much emphasis placed on this? The other thing I noticed is that the bottle is still almost full. Maybe his furrowed brow over it was that his father wasn't taking that either?
shareI had the same question myself. Fortunately, I had DVR'ed it from TCM and played the scene over and over. The phial's label says something like: "Elder Flower Peppermint," some smaller words I can't read and then a box with, "Safe relief of PAIN" printed in it. I agree that this is likely the 'herbal painkiller' his mother asks Billy (younger brother) to get. But something else bothers me about it. I know the father said he wouldn't take any pills; but somehow Col's puzzlement seems to make it as if it's a bit more sinister, as if his mother didn't want to spend money on helping the father. That doesn't quite fit with the facts; but why was so much emphasis placed on this? The other thing I noticed is that the bottle is still almost full. Maybe his furrowed brow over it was that his father wasn't taking that either?
share