By the midpoint of American Psycho, Bateman has begun attracting attention to his crimes by killing off his colleague Paul Allen. Future Joker Jared Leto ’s brief appearance as the character ends with him receiving an ax through the skull, and soon after this, a private investigator begins questioning Bateman about Allen's apparent disappearance.
Played by Stephen Bogaert, Patrick Bateman's lawyer has been responsible for most of the confusion surrounding the ending the American Psycho-but don't let him fool you! Harold Carnes knows far less about what's going on than you might think.
To Bateman they do and because that is such a driving factor of the book the reader of the book and viewer of the film has no choice but to empathize with Bateman and dislike Paul Allen as much as Bateman does. Further adding to the dark humor of the novel is when Bateman goes as far as to kill Paul Allen.
One of the most confusing moments in the film takes place when Bateman shockingly finds Paul Allen's apartment-previously full of dead bodies-spotlessly clean, and being shown to potential tenants.
His lawyer calls him Davis, which could be his real name. Patrick Bateman could be the first person he has killed, whom he has stolen the identity of in his head, the same way he stole paul allen's identity.
According to Detective Kimball, Allen was verified to have had dinner with Marcus Halberstram — i.e., the colleague Allen had unknowingly mistaken Bateman for the entire time. The real Halberstram, unsurprisingly, claimed he was not having dinner with Allen.
Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist....Paul AllenOccupationInvestor entrepreneur philanthropistYears active1972–2018Known forCo-founder of Microsoft7 more rows
It makes it look like it was all in his head, and as far as I'm concerned, it's not.” Thus, many of the above scenes aren't supposed to be evidence that the murders didn't happen but are supposed to reflect Bateman's deteriorating mental state and the loss of his grip on any semblance of reality.
The main character, Patrick Bateman, is glamorously portrayed as a wealthy, standoffish killer suspected to have antisocial personality disorder and possibly dissociative identity disorder, while all of the other characters are depicted as “normal” friends and coworkers.
It includes the Harvard and Yale Clubs and the Four Seasons but also long gone hotspots of yore like Nell's, Texarkana, Tunnel, Arcadia, and Arizona 206. Don't look for Dorsia, though. That restaurant was fictional.
Bateman murders Allen with an ax in Allen's apartment and leaves the body there. Later, he brings other victims to the apartment, killing them and leaving their bodies there as well.
Non-canon. In the non-canon sequel to the movie American Psycho 2, Rachel Newman killed Bateman when she was 12 after he had attacked and killed her babysitter.
As American Psycho's ending explained Bateman's crimes, he finally confesses his crimes to his lawyer (twice—once via voicemail and once in person), only for the cold character to inform him Paul Allen is still alive and (seemingly) none of American Psycho's ending explains that the movie occurred in reality.
Throughout the novel, Patrick Bateman exhibits many characterisitcs that lead him to being categorized as a Sociopath. For example, Bateman is known to have a lack of empathy for others around him.
For a good portion of the movie it looks like Bateman is just on the verge of getting caught for Allen's murder, but then Kimball drops the case after finding that the protagonist has an alibi. How did this happen? Because Bateman never killed Allen, and instead just imagined the whole thing.
American Psycho is a humorous and blood-curdling psychological thriller. It is a social commentary on the sexual insecurity of men, their shallowness, their obsession with materialism to conceal their apathy.
When his secretary says "thanks Patrick" he says "I'm not here". Even the friends of Bateman humiliate him and in the beginning they don't even know which man is Paul Allen. When we see this person, whoever he is, he is drinking himself into an early grave.
Patrick Bateman does not exist physically but rather is the narrative occupying the minds of all the characters we see and this is alluded to numerous times. The opening dialog itself states "I simply am not there" which was timed so it's said when he peels off the mask.
Of course the one last concept is indeed Bateman exists as a Phantom and passes from body to body. It's as close to art as film making can ever get and one of the few films out of hundreds of thousands that deserves to be called art.
According to the Wiki article, the lawyer "mistakes him for another colleague". This is supposed to drive home the fact that although he is somewhat of a narcis sist, he is unimportant to certain people around him. In fact, everyone is unimportant to certain people around them .
Because as much as Patrick Bateman is a crazy psychopath, he is no longer able to clearly distinguish reality and has killed an unknown number of people, the prestige of his person and the superficiality of the environments he lives in prevent anyone from believing in his confession.
It is clear that at some point in the film Bateman loses control of reality and is no longer clear about what is real and what is not. But this does not erase the reality of what we have seen up to that precise point.
The final scene of the film and the way you get there contradict what the film has shown so far, and the temptation is to think that everything happened only in the protagonist’s head, Patrick Bateman.
Regardless, the aggression, mood shift, and disarming wink that ends the episode are the first jarring clues that Bateman isn't as polished as he seems. Nobody likes waiting to be served, but thinking about playing with the bartender's blood because her club doesn't accept credit cards isn't exactly healthy.
The proper DSM-IV classification for Patrick Bateman is antisocial personality disorder, but that doesn't sound as punchy as American Psycho, hence the chosen title.
According to Psychology Today, most serial killers display a pattern in victimology, weapons, and modus operandi. Sometimes, the method is varied when a killer is starting out, but Patrick is truly all over the map. Most of his murders are premeditated, giving him the means to control how the kills go down.
One of the more popular interpretations of American Psycho suggests Patrick Bateman never actually killed anyone, and the murderous actions we see played out merely take place in his unhealthy mind. Now, while there's no way to be 100 percent certain that Bateman did murder people, there's a lot of evidence supporting the idea that he is, in fact, a serial killer.
The film adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho debuted in 2000. It was quickly cemented as one of the most ambiguous and confusing films in cinematic history. While initially appearing straightforward, the movie intentionally unravels at the end, making plenty of people wonder whether or not Patrick Bateman's murders even took ...
The crass scene may very well have prevented American Psycho from becoming the cult classic it is today. While it's probably best that the musical number stayed on the cutting room floor, fans itching to see Bateman burst into song do have an outlet: Duncan Shiek turned the story into a Broadway musical.
Bateman is into blondes, evidenced by his fiancée, his mistress, his secretary, and the two sex workers he victimizes and later kills. But he also goes after his male coworker and an old friend — both brunettes. Likewise, Bateman toggles between people he knows and disenfranchised strangers.
Harron and Ellis have both said that the question of whether Patrick killed a colleague named Paul Allen is intentionally left ambiguous, as both possibilities reinforce the message of American Psycho.
Many viewers read the M. Night Shyamalan-style twist ending of American Psych o as a straightforward “it’s all in the unreliable narrator’s head” twist, and Harron has expressed frustration over how common this reading of the movie adaptation is as the answer is intended to be unclear.
Backstabbing, headhunting, poaching, and other colorful dysphemisms are frequently used to illustrate the duplicitous, amoral corporate culture of finance.
As promised earlier, American Psycho ’s real meaning can be found in a conversation during the movie’s closing scene. Bateman returns from the confounding confrontation with his lawyer to find his co-workers watching Ronald Reagan speak on television, commenting on the Iran Contra affair.