The scene that stood out to me was the one where all the mental patients are in a room together. We see a woman playing an invisible piano. Francis warns another patient not to get close to a man he calls Cesare. He claims Cesare will kill him if he does. Afterwards he goes to Jane and asks for her hand in marriage but she refuses him. Her reasoning was that "We who are of royal blood may not follow the wishes of our hearts"
The meaning of this scene is a criticism of the wealthy. The patients represent the wealthy class. We could infer this due to their very formal attire and the fact that the room in which they are all enclosed in looks like a ballroom. Another clue to their social status is that Jane refers to themselves as those with "royal blood". From Francis living in a world his mind created to the women playing an invisible piano all the mental patients are unable to distinguish between reality and fiction. This lack of understanding of the reality they were facing was also seen in the high society of Germany. While the average person was suffering due to a economic recession caused by the Treaty of Versailles they were throwing lavish parties and flashy their wealth.
The film creator's criticism echos the Nihilistic ideologies Nihilists such as Nietzche thought that the wealthy class in Germany had to be overthrown due to their abuse of others. He once said, "What are man's truths ultimately? Merely his irrefutable errors," meaning that in order to understand what is real and what is fact one must be able to see the error of their way and correct it. This is something that the wealthy did not do. The continue their life style at everyone's expense.
This scene stood out to me due to the fact that this was the scene in which the perspective of the movie turned. Before this everything was seen through Francis and his thinking made sense. Not once during his storytelling did I question its logic. Yet when I watch this scene I began to see flaws in his story.
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