豺遊民

Sam是個心理醫師。某天，他接下了生病請假同事的病人Henry的治療工作，對其預言能力大感吃驚。隨著時間流逝，Henry開始信任他，更勝前任醫師。Henry告訴Sam自己將在21歲生日那天自殺，Sam非常的吃驚，想在剩下沒幾天的時間中了解他的過去，說服他放棄此念頭。然而，Henry的過往在越清晰的同時卻也更加的模糊。他說，瞎眼醫師Leon是他應該死去的父親。實際上，他從來沒結婚過，也沒有過小孩；他說，自己愛過的女人消失了。她確實是離開了原本的工作，但並沒有對他留下特別的印象，更遑論愛情；他說，自己的母親已經死去。但從同事口中得到消息後，Sam拜訪了他的母親，也看到他說已經死去多年的狗。一切的一切讓Sam感到混亂，也開始出現了如既視現象的預知能力，事情反覆的發生，對話一再的重複。時間轉瞬就來到了星期六，Henry過去的誕生日跟他預言將死之日。他來到了Leon的身旁，碰了他的眼睛。突然，瞎眼的醫生看到了一切。Henry的身份到底是什麼? 是神? 是惡魔? 亦或只是世界偶然出現的非理性? The world is an illusion，Leon說。

我從來沒有聽過這部電影，此電影在網路上的評價也是屬於普通的行列。出乎意料以外的，我非常的喜歡這部影片。那種幻想與現實的交錯，有點類似平行世界的某一個相會點之類的感覺不知怎的非常令人懷念，混亂的視野在我的眼裡卻是世界的真實狀態。有評論說，這不是一部一口氣可以看完的電影，必須先做好心理建設才能接受這樣的故事；我從有點疲累，到完全融入劇情，開始期待著一幕又一幕的混亂，沒有休息。

坦白講，我對Ewan McGregor的印象只侷限在星際大戰的斷手武士，Naomi Watts則是偶然看到但不怎麼熟的程度(雖然人家沒必要來讓我認識)，但這完全無損於我對劇情的喜愛。裡面有一句話我印象很深刻: 壞的作品比好的作品更有價值，因為它記錄了人類的失敗。很可惜，這部電影記錄了人類的成功，至少對我來說。


08/12/01 補充轉貼字維基的英文劇情

The movie opens with a car crash on Brooklyn Bridge, and introduces Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling), apparently a survivor of the crash, sitting next to a burning car on the bridge.

Psychiatrist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) and his girlfriend Lila (Naomi Watts) are then introduced in a new scene. Sam discusses his patient, Henry, a college student and aspiring artist whom he describes as depressed and paranoid. Sometimes Henry hears voices, and he seems able to predict future events. Henry has told Sam that he will kill himself that Saturday at midnight, which Sam finds very troubling. Lila, an art teacher who has survived a past suicide attempt, offers to help to dissuade Henry from killing himself. But first they must find Henry.

Sam investigates Henry's circumstances in an effort to help. Henry claims to have killed both of his parents, but Sam finds that Henry's mother appears to be alive. Sam visits Henry's mother but finds her living in a bare house, confused about Sam's identity (she insists that he is Henry) and refuses to respond to his questions. Henry's mother insists on feeding Sam, but when she opens the fridge it is completely empty, and then her dog bites Sam.

At the clinic to have his arm bandaged, Sam discusses the visit with a police officer who is curious as to why he would visit that house. Sam reveals that she started to bleed from a head wound during his conversation with Henry's mother. The police officer tells him that the woman who lived there is dead. This seems to send Sam into a fugue in which the same scene is repeated several times.

Later Sam contacts a waitress with whom Henry had fallen in love. She is an aspiring actress and he meets her at a script reading where she is reading lines with another man. She agrees to take him to Henry, but after a long trip down winding staircases he loses her. When he gets back to the rehearsal room, she is there reading the same lines as when he first met her.

The search continues until 11:33 pm on Saturday, less than half an hour before Henry plans to kill himself. At a bookshop known to have been frequented by Henry, Sam finds a painting that Henry had painted and bartered for books about Henry's favorite artist. He learns that the artist had killed himself on Brooklyn Bridge, on his twenty-first birthday. Henry's twenty-first birthday is Sunday, and Sam realises that Henry plans to commit suicide on Brooklyn Bridge in imitation of the artist.

Sam finds Henry on Brooklyn Bridge, but fails to stop him. He turns away as Henry puts the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger.

The car crash of the first scene is then reprised. Henry is apparently the sole survivor of the crash, but is badly injured and suffers survivor guilt. In another scene, however, Sam and Lila, who have never met one another, are in the traffic on the bridge and try to save his life, but he dies.