He's a rich mall developer, who meets Jesse Eisenbeg on the street. Now he's supposed to be Jesse's conscience, but Ellen Paige can hear him too. So wouldn't she hear the negative things he said about her? Also he goes back to his life at the end. So he just spent days or weeks with Jesse, in the same suit? I didn't get it.
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I think that he is an architect like Jesse and Jesse thinks that Alec's character sold out because of building malls for money and not making interesting architecture.
I kind of thought he was Jesse's character from the future, even though they have different names. The younger man is studying to be an architect and the older one has had a lucrative but predictable career as one, and they both live in the same street in Rome. Either that, or he is partly or wholly imagined. Jesse either runs into him or doesn't, and imagines the rest. And when Ellen talks to him, he is imagining that as well. Woody Allen has often used magic elements like this, but this time, the logic was flawed and the "rules" of the magic were unclear.
shareI thought that "John" was the older version of "Jack." That is why John knew how Jack's daliance with Monica ended.
shareHere is my take. He is a separate character, but one who 30-odd years earlier was in a similar position, a young architect with grand dreams. But in time he "settled" to designing malls. His role is there so that the younger one can see what might become of him if he doesn't attend to his own dreams. Sort of "here's what old architects become, is this what you want to become also?"
TxMike
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.
I agree with this interpretation.
Their initial meeting happened but Eisenberg's character imagined him the rest of the time.
Jai Guru De Va Om
Nothing�s gonna change my world...
Ellen Page talks to him though.
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WRONG.... Jesse Eisenberg is alec baldwin when he lived there in his younger days. Alec Baldwin literally has a trip down memory lane. He points out all the mistakes Jesse is about to make but jesse (of course) makes them anyway. I enjoyed this part and thought it was nicely done.
shareI'm more with withnail69 than anyone else here.
He "sees things so clearly now" that he is older. The film references Kierkegaard who said "life only makes sense backwards, but it must be lived forward". Baldwin is a fantastical element that underlines life's irony.
You are, of course, correct. Baldwin is defintely Eisenberg. Both are architects. Both happen to live there. Baldwin has "sold out" and Eisenberg makes noises about how he wants to change the world (ie, he hasn't sold out yet).
Although, I think Allen could've managed the surreality a little bit better. It was especially weird for Page to be able to hear Baldwin if Baldwin actually is Older Eisenberg. (That really is a case of the director "cheating" and being self-indulgent.)
In any case, there's a much more significant flaw with Woody Allen's little flashback-as-present construct.
This error in judgement Eisenberg makes, by falling for Page and betraying Gerwig, has no effect (that we can see) on his life. Sure, it sucked and was awkward for him, when Page picks up and leaves. However, we don't see any consequences of his betrayal. Sure, he doesn't get Page. But does he lose Gerwig, someone who could have been important to him? (Although, Gerwig and the relationship Eisenberg has with Gerwig is so bland and passionless, it's hard to tell if it mattered in any case.)
Why is it so important for Baldwin/Older Eisenberg to revisit the events of Younger Eisenberg in Rome?
It's like he was in a shoe store and Baldwin told him "Don't buy those shoes-- they're too tight!" But he buys them anyway and has to return them a day later. What is to be gained here?
I think it wasn´t about him feeling bad about the cheating but it was about the fact that 1) Ellen Page leaves him after he clearly fell in love with her and was about to break up with his girlfriend for her even though she was clearly a shallow actress. It was a big blow to his ego, the kind of think that you get over but still get embarrassed over it when you remember it. And 2) He was in Italy so he started to have all those memories, expressing his embarrassment and pointing out the mistakes in judgement he made while pointing out the flaws of the shallow manic pixie dream girl actress.
I believe in me. I'm a little screwed up but I'm beautiful.
exactly....i don't understand why so many people can't see this. it's as plain as day
That was my final analysis as well... but it seemed rather confusing while watching...
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Bingo. "John" was simply "Jack" at middle-age, reminiscing about his time as a student in Rome and his foolish dalliance with Monica.
shareYES! Finally! Baldwin is remembering what happened to him in Rome, going in all those places where he spent time with the actress, looking on this love affair from a now-older-and-smarter perspective. Eisenberg is just a visualized memory of Baldwin.
shareThe initial meeting was real and the rest was Eisenberg's character imagining Baldwin's character.
Jai Guru De Va Om
Nothing’s gonna change my world...
I think there are plenty of things that point to Alec Baldwin reminiscing about his earlier days in Rome - and Jesse Eisenberg being the younger version of him. There is his use of the phrase "ozymandist melancholia" (later used by the Ellen Page character), the way he seems to know exactly what is going to happen in the situation, the kind of weary sadness with which he looks at how things develop...of course there are some things that don't really fit with that (such as the characters in his past using cellphones), but Woody usually doesn't go to great efforts to make everything watertight from a logical point of view. He just likes the viewer to accept the magical/surreal elements at face value. In this case I think the strongest case is indeed Alec Baldwin having a trip down memory lane.
shareThe key to this storyline (and much of the rest of teh movie) is contained in a seemingly throw away line that Roberto Begnini's character has at the begiining of the film when critiquing a movie he just saw; "the director doesn't want you to understand. Life is magical".
I know that that isn't going to satisfy a lot of people (especially those who look for more literal or logical interpretations) but I absolutely believe that that was what Allen was going for. Whether or not it worked is debatable but I admire that he had the nerve to at least try something kind of different.
Boom. Exactly. People are trying to define something that is undefinable; Pin down fantasy in reality; apply rules to something that wasn't meant to follow any.
I think we are right saying that Baldwin is either Jesse from the future, or is a person that lived a similar life. He acts as a conscious, or a narrator or a presence. I kind of thought maybe everything was just Jesse telling Baldwin a story of his life and Baldwin contributed his opinion based on his experiences. Why can Ellen Page talk to him? Because it's funny and breaking the fourth wall. Like the scene from Annie Hall (You know nothing of my work).
It' just a movie; it's not real.
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I swim in a sea of overconfidence, I will NEVER drown
I agree with everyone who said that Baldwins character was an older version of the Eisenberg character.
I believe he said something along the lines of "I've been here before" in one of the scenes. And Baldwin says "What are we gonna do about this?" during the cooking scene between Eisenberg and Page. Notice the 'we'. I think this and other lines were hints at the character relation.
To people who have said that they don't get why Ellen Page can hear Baldwin as well.
If he was in Eisenbergs mind, then no, it wouldn't make sense.
For me the story was being told by Baldwins character, not Eisenberg, even though Eienberg has more screen time. Baldwin was reliving his past. He was able to talk to his younger self and Monica (Page) as she was an ex-lover, and it was all in Baldwins mind 30 years later (ish).
It all ties in with the "Be careful what you wish for" theme which runs throughout the whole film.
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Also the name Jack is a version of John, a nickname.
shareBasically, they are all in the Matrix and robots are using humans as batteries.
shareI saw this film when it was released to theaters. I didn't understand the Baldwin character. Then I saw it again last night and had a little more insight. But Page talking to Baldwin didn't make sense. I understand now the artistic license of the director. . .. . a good film but . ..
shareThat´s Allen´s surrealism for you. It made me think about a scene in Annie Hall when he is having sex with Annie, but they are in a bad spot in their relationship so he tells her she feels distant. She denies it so they continue to fool around. In that moment, Annie´s spirit leaves her body and sits in a couch and lights a cigarrette. Woody ppints to her spirit and says something along the lines of: "Is this not you being distant?". He interacts with the spirit of the uninterested girl he is having sex with. Woody loves to play with surrealism in his movies. And even though he interacts with one of the characters of his memory, Alec Baldwin isn´t able to change anything about the story, I think it´s a genius way of showing that when you think about an embarassing memory and you can imagine different situations in which you could have avoid it, you still know the end is always the same. The history doesn´t change.
I believe in me. I'm a little screwed up but I'm beautiful.