MovieChat Forums > Robot & Frank (2012) Discussion > Two challengingquestions about the very ...

Two challengingquestions about the very end ,,,,, * * BIG SPOILERS * *

posted 11 years ago by TimeForLime
9 replies | jump to latest

These are far out, but bear with me.

ONE Was the whole film a fantasy / hallucination? Reason I ask is that when the son 'wakes up' Frank to take him to meet the family for a picnic, there seems to be no personality similarity to the self-important, yuppie, look-at-me son that doesn't have time to visit him during this 'fantasy'. It could be Frank's guilt that drives the major arc.

TWO Assuming that the whole film happened in real life, then what about the robots assigned to other patients in the Assisted Living Facility (ALF). Note that:
-- the other robots seemed to disappear rather than stay in reality
-- Frank wasn't assigned his own robot.

So if the answer to Question 2 is that Frank was only imagining those other robots in the ALF, then that would support the answer to Question 1 that there was no robot, no librarian, no theft of Don Quixote or of the jewelry.

Then everything was just the daydreams of a man well into dementia who did receive regular but infrequent visits from his family.

Anybody?

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[–] justwrite3 11 years ago

I take a more literal view of the film -- that the events as shown were Frank's reality, not Frank's fantasy or daydreams.

Hunter's reaction to Frank's note at the end was that of someone surprised at the lucidity of the note, not baffled at why Frank is giving him a nonsensical note.

I too wondered why Frank didn't have his own robot at the ALF, but that can be reasonably explained: 1) he was able to take care of himself better than the patients shown with robots and therefore didn't need a robot; 2) due to his use of Robot to abet his thefts, the terms of his care at the ALF may have been that he wasn't allowed a robot without permission of the family and/or a court.

[–] TimeForLime 11 years ago

to justwrite3
Thanks for your reply. I'll add your comments to my options about how to interpret the whole film in lieu of what the viewer sees at the very end.

I especially like your idea that he was constrained from having a robot a/c his misuse of a robot in 'civilian' life.

I had a girlfriend who worked as a psych nurse and she told me about 'no sharps', where sometimes a patient could be denied anything in his room which he could use to harm himself or others. I imagine your concept would follow somewhat along those same lines.

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[–] dangeroustoy 11 years ago

I think it's simpler than that.

I think he misses his friend and doesn't want to try and replace him.

[–] socorso 11 years ago

Wow. Your comment just brought out more tears..! Watched the movie tonight for the third time. It's incredibly great.

Cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating.

[–] move_over_fatso 11 years ago

I tended to think of the robots at the ALF as mass produced caretakers for the residents. Notice the other residents didn't have family visiting them. They've been abandoned, and its just cheaper to give them a robot to keep them company.

And oddly, I got a sense that Frank sort of sneered at his neighbors with the robots, as if he recognized that you can't have real companionship with a machine. Perhaps that was why Frank didn't have his robot with him. (After all, a memory wipe would just put the robot into an initial state, like when he first met Frank.) Then again, it could have been an angry envy.

[–] bruce-129 11 years ago

This is a good question, but I don't think there is an answer to it either.

I think the movie is there in a way to simulate the disorientation of Alzheimer's. Throughout the movie these discrepancies keep popping up, the main one being that the librarian was wife that he did not remember. This was done very masterfully, but I think your points could be argued either way and still be valid.

The whole theme of a person losing their physical or mental ability is a very tough one. I think the first movie I saw like that was "Charley" where a man is given some kind of treatment to make him very smart and then little by little he reverts back to normal status. It makes us dream of being more than human I guess.

[–] Jonny_B_Lately 10 years ago

Just so you know, you can "wrap" spoilers with the following tags.

[ spoiler ] and [ /spoiler ]. Just remove the spaces in my example.

Watta ya lookn here for?

[–] Frequency270 10 years ago

I did consider that the whole movie was supposed to be revealed as one Alzheimer's delusion at the end, all for the reasons you stated.

I did enjoy the movie, and thought that would be the best way to the end. Which is atypical for me, as I usually hate "the whole movie was a dream" angle.

Whether or not this is what the director intended, that is another matter.

Damion Crowley
All complaints about my post go to Helen Waite.

[–] Scaramanga 10 years ago

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that viewed the whole thing as in Frank's mind.

I agree that the James Marsden character was completely at odds with how he was in the main film, both children genuinely wanted to see their father.

Also, although Marsden's character's job is never revealed, would it be feasible that he could afford to buy a specialist piece of medical equipment such as Robot.

However, the clincher for me is as Frank leaves the room with his son, the camera lingers ever so slightly on his reading glasses. The same ones he took off during the book heist.

Clever editing? Possibly. Multiple interpretations? Definitely.

Great film.