Similarly, in the novel, when Bateman arrives at a club called Tunnel, he looks around and muses to himself "Everyone looks familiar, everyone looks the same" (p. 61). filling his world with the world of film stars, living vicariously through their adventures and dramas. Complete your free account to request a guide. Edit, The woman who he picked up in the previous scene at the club with Bryce, where he did the cocaine in the back room. American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002) sees Bateman (played by Michael Kremko) killed by a potential victim (Mila Kunis), who then becomes a serial killer herself. Edit, Awards His sex in the bathtub with Christie is gentle and pleasurable, but the reader can see how he keeps himself in complete control the entire time, dominating the encounter. )In his review of the film, Ellis particularly praised the work of production designer Gideon Ponte, actor Christian Bale and director Mary Harron. Batemans relationship with Courtney is as empty and shallow as his relationship with Evelyn. American Psycho: you can tell when Patrick Bateman is having a - reddit American Psycho (2000) - Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman - IMDb The deleted scenes and "The 80s: Downtown" are in 1080p. A Stephen Hughes said he saw him at a restaurant there, but I checked it out and what happened is he mistook a Herbert Ainsworth for Paul. When he arrives however, the apartment is bare, cleared of all possessions, and the gruesome mess left in the wake of his murders is gone. It's ambiguous in the novel whether or not it's real, or how much of it is real, and we decided, right off the bat, first conversation about the book, that we hate movies, books, stories that ended and "it was all a dream" or "it was all in his head". Some critics objected to that, as how can we misrepresent the world of Wall Street, but it's not meant to be a literal representation of Wall Street. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Similarly, whether or not Bateman is really "dead" remains an open question. Edit, After Bateman has had sex with Christie (Cara Seymour) and Sabrina (Krista Sutton), they are all lying together in bed, when he gets up and moves over to a drawer. Patrick Bateman is a fictional character created by novelist Bret Easton Ellis.He is the villain protagonist and narrator of Ellis' 1991 novel American Psycho and is portrayed by Christian Bale in the 2000 film adaptation. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. Still living in New York, he spends most of his leisure time hanging out with A-list movie stars, heads of state and fashion designers. These are the major differences between the film and it's source material. Bateman initially says he didn't but then changes his mind and says he did. All the songs that were used in the film were used legally. Is this film related to any other Bret Easton Ellis adaptation? It subsequently transpires that Bateman's psychiatrist, Dr. M, is in fact having an affair with Jean, and the two have fallen in love. American Psycho (2000) - Frequently Asked Questions - IMDb The second scene involves an ATM machine requesting that Bateman feed it a stray cat. If one accepts this theory, then this also explains how Carnes could have had lunch with Paul Allen in London after Bateman had already killed Allen; Carnes had lunch with someone he thought was Allen but was, in reality, someone else entirely. Is it official? Another example is when Bateman is trying to break up with Evelyn, telling her, "My need to engage in homicidal behavior on a massive scale cannot be corrected," to which she tearfully replies, "If you're going to start in again on why I should have breast implants, I'm leaving" (p. 338). After Al is dead, Bateman stomps on the dog, however, we don't actually see him stomping on it, he raises his foot and the camera cuts to a wide angle where we hear the dog yelp. One thing I think is a failure on my part is people keep coming out of the film thinking that its all a dream, and I never intended that. This starts in a non-violent manner, with him very specifically instructing the women on what to do to him, to each other. During the same conversation, Bateman also says, "It's not beyond my capacity to drive a lead pipe repeatedly into a girl's vagina," to which McDermott says, "We all know about your lead pipe Bateman," followed by Van Patten asking, "Is he like trying to tell us he has a big dick?" In this decadent society, virtually everything functions as a status symbol; people have no real inner psychological awareness, they measure themselves on their external appearance, and they measure one another based upon what they see on the surface; the more elaborate the surface, the more successful the person. The film starred Christian Baleas Patrick Bateman, a filthy rich investment banking executive who dives deeper and deeper into his psychotic homicidal fantasies as the film goes on. From what weve seen before, this likely isnt an uncommon occurrence. She has made a movie that is really a parable of today. Is that true? -Graham S. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. By extension then, this could be read as a condemnation of corporations in general; they too tend get away with murder (in a figurative sense) and most people just choose to ignore it, just as do Bateman's associates. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. These are: Patrick crossing his arms during the jump-rope scene, and Patrick doing a moonwalk to hide his ax before killing Paul Allen. Bateman always tries to make himself out to look more important than everyone else around him, such as during the business card scene, where he tries to show off his card to look important and cool. As such, the novel would not receive a hardback release. Otherwise it was amusing. But the most important thing he says is that there's no catharsis, and that's what we come to expect conventionally from character and character development; they come to this point and they're changed forever, they are no longer the person that we met, but the disturbing thing about this story, and the way we intended it is that we start just where we left off. What is the significance of returning videotapes? He pointed out that the harshness of the novel, by necessity, had been reduced for the film, which concentrated more on the inherent humor. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Though Christie is reluctant to see Bateman again after being so badly beaten during their previous encounter, he knows that flaunting his money and using alcohol to cloud her judgment will get him just what he wants. Based on Bret Easton Ellis's 1991 novel . Ellis actually wrote an extensive, and generally positive review of the film for the official site. Part of filling that void is trying to keep up with the Joneses, so to speak. When the American Psycho: Music From The Controversial Motion Picture was initially released, it included all the songs heard in the film. Have you heard of it? And he's right back where he started; he' sitting in the same bar with the same stupid friends talking about what they're going to eat and what they're going to drink, and it's just like, this guy is out there, and there's lots of other guys like him. Bateman is just a person with a mentally unstable mind. In "American Psycho," what was Patrick Bateman going to do with - Quora What did Patrick Bateman do to Christie and Sabrina? What's funny is that I've had endless conversations with people who know that I wrote this script saying "So, me and my friends were arguing, cause I know it was all a dream", or "I know it really happened". We never see him do any work. David Van Patten (played by Bill Sage in the film) is still in the same business as before but is considerably less successful than Bateman. Perhaps the fact that Bateman is well-dressed and appears confident, in control, leads people to disregard his threats.Similarly, at various points in the novel, Bateman makes comparable statements which are completely disregarded. He uses his money to persuade her to come to his apartment, even though she isnt allowed; Bateman knows his money can get him anything. The same can be said of the above examples from the novel. This ultimately led to Bale being cast. Bateman does however make a short appearance in Glamorama (1998), which has not, as of yet, been adapted into a film. In the last scene, McDermott says that Bryce is back. "K: "But I've had a hard time getting actual verification. By extension then, presumably, none of the murders are real - Bateman is simply insane and he imagines himself committing unspeakable acts when in fact he is doing no harm to anyone. What is his IQ number? Bret Easton Ellis: Mary Harron's American Psycho is set mostly in pre-crash 1987 but it's a period that almost seems as distant as the Jazz Age or the swinging 1960s London of Austin Powers. Edit, Oftentimes during the course of the film, Bateman has outbursts of rage, which are clearly the kind of thing that should provoke concern in the people who hear them. Patrick Bateman : I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Such as Rule/Law Breaking, Excessive Lying, Remorselessness, Impulsive Behavior, etc. As with much of the film, if we accept this theory, exactly how much is reality, and how much is fantasy is difficult to say.Mary Harron, for her part, favors the practical explanation championed by Turner, although she does acknowledge that there is a degree of ambiguity at play; You can read it as simply New York greed of real estate people wanting to sell an expensive apartment but ignoring the terrible things that took place there or it could be all in his imagination, an embodiment of his paranoia. We're all just robots. And because every single one of them operates with this belief, mistaken identity occurs on a daily basis.As Mary Harron points out on her DVD commentary, Bateman is just one of a group. (critic): Harron, if anything, is an even more devious provocateur than Ellis was. Meanwhile, Bateman is using drugs to prepare his victims; this will make his attack easier. "Carnes: "Jesus, yes, that was hilarious. Edit, It is called "Secreit Nicht" and is by the British female ensemble Medival Bbes. However, for those who know the novels upon which the films are based, there are a number of implicit connections. All I wanted was to be ambiguous in the way that the book was. And I always tell them, in our minds it really happened. His masseuse, Manfred, does callouts only to Bateman and a member of the Rockefeller family. Paul Allen is on the other side of the room over there." Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs As such, unaware that Bateman is working with de Reveney, Ferguson asks Bateman for help, who agrees to do what he can, secretly reveling in the irony inherent in the fact that Ferguson has turned to the architect of his demise for assistance. Also he gets angered when David Van Patten pulls his card out and everyone else likes it better than his. The vapid society they have created is a place where no one has any real interaction with anyone else; they all talk to one another, they all hear one another, but they don't listen to one another. If the murders were purely in his head, the strong social commentary would be undermined and the film would become a psychological study of a deranged mind rather than a social satire. This aspect is also emphasized in a deleted scene on the DVD. "As for major differences, there are many as there are even entire scenes from the book left out of the movie.Much of the novel is described in terms of people's clothing and the accessories they wear, as in the yuppie lifestyle, is how they see who has the better lifestyle. American Psycho Girls (2) Summary & Analysis | LitCharts And whilst that is a perfectly valid interpretation, as Harron indicates above, it is not entirely what the filmmakers were attempting to achieve. Edit, When comparing business cards with his co-workers, Bateman tells them that the font in which his card is written is Silian Rail.This is not a real font, the name was invented by Bret Easton Ellis for the novel. In the film he is a much older character played by Willem Dafoe.The film changes some names around. Edit, Yes and no. I want to stab you to death, and play around with your blood." "C: "Bateman killing Allen and the escort girls, that's fabulous, that's rich. We wanted to stress Bateman's complete disconnection from the world around him, and so when he's left alone, the mask drops, there's nothing there, he doesn't know what to do, he has no role [] Somehow, it's a pretend job, as much of a performance as the rest of his life, and it's a faade, his social life's a faade, his romantic's life a faade, and in a way, if we showed him really working it would interfere with the hallucinatory feel.The theme described by Harron here is also important in the novel, where Bateman's failure to ever do any real work is mentioned several times. You of all people should know how that feels, Mr. Wall Street" (283). | Edit, Mistaken identity is a major theme in both the film and the novel, and some fans argue that it is in the recurring cases of mistaken identity wherein lies the true meaning of the film.In the novel, the phrase "someone who looked exactly like" or variations thereof, occur continuously; time and again Bateman encounters people who may or may not be the person he thinks they are. here] He treats them almost as if theyre dolls to be positioned to play out his fantasy. She responded by reading louder and was promptly arrested. Did you know I'm utterly insane?" Is it true that Christian Bale's stepmother was one of those who protested the publication of the novel? As he has an extensive exercise and beauty routine to make himself look good and young.