MovieChat Forums > The Life of David Gale (2003) Discussion > Plot Hole?

Plot Hole?

posted 13 years ago by matheusmagalhaes10
14 replies | jump to latest

One thing that bugged me was the scene where Gale explains how his semen ended inside Laura Linney's character.
Well, why all that "sentimental" moment in the backyard of her house if they knew that it would be the key evidence to incriminate Gale?
It's very hard do believe (even for this movie) that they have planned everything in the next morning, in the day she killed herself!
And if Gale was manipulating the truth when he was reporting his life to Bitsey, it will open the possibility to believe that he could be lying about everything that he told to her during the interviews (and i think that this wasn't intended).
So, it may be a plot hole? Any other possibilities?

Your mother cook socks in hell!

[–] oushined 13 years ago

That bugged me at the time too. It seemed disjointed.

How did the fruity porch chat between him and Constance lead straight to them having tearful sex? Or rather him having sex while she was having a breakdown. Why didn't he stop and why did he even tell Bitsey about that bit?

Well on reflection, the chat and the sex, despite their portrayal to Bitsey by Gale (or the editors) had to have taken place some time apart.

We were lead to believe that he meant that it wouldn't be a sympathy hump but something passing between people who were closer than friends. This might be the case but I suspect that he actually meant it as part of the plan of planting DNA evidence. There is nothing to say that they had sex that same night. And the tears were because it was mere hours before she was to take her life. Had events been as they were portrayed there would have been no time to concoct and include Dusty in the plan.

In it's defence, given that a lot of this film is told in flashback most of what Gale said was true (especially his fears of the legacy to his son once he realises that the plan has broken down and that he is probably going to be executed) but some details have been missed. In fact the key to the whole film is in what he omits to tell Bitsey isn't it.

[–] mikainen 13 years ago

Their plan did not broke down. It went just as it was meant. Gale executed. All three of them planned it.

[–] war1980 13 years ago

She didnt committ suicide the day after their tearful bout of coitus. They had sex again just before she committed suicide, otherwise the timeline completely breaks down. The movie expects the viewer to have a bit of common sense for this aspect of the plot.

[–] davidtaylor-18-447027 13 years ago

the thumb print on the bin liner is part of the evidence & it's quite possible that their love making was not planned to be included in their scheme to prove innocent men go to the chair too, he had been tying to get sober & may have been clinging on to the Linney character as some kind of a comfort. I now think that the semen inside of her was to portray Gales as a serial rapist so that he'd get the needle

Also it's worth remembering that Gales Lawyer behaved in a negligent manner & probably could've gotten Gale of on a lesser charge but he overall goal was for an innocent man to die on death row

"his real name's Mosley!!" ......... "I'M MOSLEY"

[–] siobanphotogirl 11 years ago

Did the prosecution really believe this man would rape his best and only friend and then murder her?
Did they not know she was terminally ill?
An autopsy would have been performed and her medical history would have revealed she was dying of leukemia. The bruises on her body would have been revealed to be a result of her illness and not abuse at the hands of her friend.
Put that together with her and her friends' mission to abolish the death penalty

[–] sara-34 10 years ago

That's a good point. It'd be interesting to hear what the prosecution thought the motive was.

[–] Gretchen_X 11 years ago

war1980 wrote:

She didnt committ suicide the day after their tearful bout of coitus. They had sex again just before she committed suicide, otherwise the timeline completely breaks down. The movie expects the viewer to have a bit of common sense for this aspect of the plot.

I'm glad someone said that because, although Gale's story to Bitsey has to stop at that point in order to not give the game away, there's no indication of how long after the 'non-pity lay' the plan is devised.
It's only with hindsight the viewer can reassess that part.

Don't believe everything you think.

[–] kelleyray 10 years ago

Couldn't it be possible that they had sex after they had already come up with this plan? They're talking about death - specifically her death - and whatever last regrets she has... one of her regrets is that she hasn't had enough sex, and he loves her, so they decide to do it. She's also whispering, "I'm scared... hold me, stay inside me" etc. which I suppose could be simply about the sex, but it makes more sense to me that it's about what she's going to do the next morning.

[–] Sam-953-169285 10 years ago

The movie is intentionally ambiguous about when they had sex and the circumstances of the semen being deposited. The movie certainly never showed them in any kind of relationship that would involve sex prior to the day of the suicide. The absence of that could be because the writers wanted to confuse us about the truth.

[–] AndrewGS 9 years ago

I think a lot of the movie doesn't make sense whether or not Gale's flashbacks are accurate/reliable but I think there are overall a lot more indications that most of the flashbacks are not accurate.

[–] Graybell 8 years ago

You're right it's a plot hole, but that never occurred to me watching the movie.

[–] Hala93 8 years ago

It's not a plot hale because what we saw in the backyard is what Gale is telling Bitsey , she asked about a reason and he gave her one . He will not tell her the true story because this would make her find a prove of his innocence before his execution and this will ruin everything they did .

[–] yesanything (251) 7 years ago

- - -"One thing that bugged me"

Just one??

This movie reminded me why the likes of Spielberg, the Coen Brothers, Kubrick and some others are head and shoulders about the crowd. (way above the writer and director of The Life of David Gale). I had to stretch to give it a 6 on IMDb (IMDb rating 7.6 as of this posting)

One that really bothered me, the hopping back and forth from Austin to Huntsville - Huntsville to Austin, like it was a trip to the corner store.

[–] partydjz (424) 6 years ago

This film is trivial ridiculous and pointless, people are so gullible to like this garbage.