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Gattaca (the movie) question...***WARNING: SPOILER***

C

Chewy

Senior member
I just watched the movie again and I do have to say it's a great film. Anyway, the question I have is this: Is the doctor (the guy who performs the blood tests) Vincent's father? My friends say he isn't...just a regular shmoe. If not, who the heck is he? I can't see his role making any sense w/out being the father...someone enlighten me!
 
I love that movie... it was so underrated. I loved the futuristic feel to it. The score by Michael Nyman was awesome as well.

I never heard that the Dr. was his father. That doesn't seem possible... the Dr. looks far too young to be Vincent's father.

I think he just let him go in the end because he didn't agree with the whole valid/invalid thing and Vincent had almost completely gotten around the "system".

Plus, wouldn't Vincent recognize his own father?

l2c
 
Which tests are you talking about? I have a recollection, but I want to make sure I know to which you are referring.
 
AndrewR, the blood tests that they took to match the murderer or the piss tests to test for validity or not...

Electric Amish, what does AFAIK mean? and no, what does GATTACA represent? 😀

luv2chill, I think it's his father cuz he said he had a son who couldn't make it (aka Vincent)...plus he says "righties don't use their left hand to hold it"...how does he know he's a righty? but you are right that he's "too young" to be his dad...and correct me if I'm wrong, but how does he know his name is Vincet? or did it say that on the scanner thing?
 
Amish, the letters represent the components of DNA -- G,A,T,C.

Chewy: I don't think it was his father. It never even occurred to me as the final statement he makes about having a son who is not genetically "enhanced" gave away his bias for allowing Vincent to go through.
 
Another big fan of the movie, actually, just watched it on saturday 🙂

The first time that the doctor spoke, it sounded an awful lot like his father. There were also some other clues that made me think that as well -

One - the "nice piece" comment during the urine test. Just the doctor commenting that he wished he had ordered one himself sort of gave me this impression that the doctor was implying "He sure as hell didn't get that from my side of the family".

Two - the comment about the doctors son having the same desires as Vincent sounded awful suspicious.

Three - At my estimate, Vincent left his family for at least 10 years. If you hadn't seen someone in ten years, there is a chance that you might not recognize them again.

But, on the other hand, there were two very obvious factors that disuade me from thinking that the doctor was Vincent's father.

One - Age. Simply put, the doctor looked too young to be his father.

Two - If being of the "Genetic Elite" was that big of an issue in getting placement, wouldn't it be a little odd that his father, a "God Child" was a doctor at one of the most highly reguarded science centers?
 
AFAIK= As Far As I Know... 🙂

GATTACA is the DNA code that the people must fit. I forget the exact names of the amino acids(?) that make up DNA, but they start with those letters.

amish

/edit- Well done Andrew
 
Chewy

I think that Vincent slipped up by holding his d!ck with his left hand, when Jerome was supposed to be right-handed (and it seems logical to me that in Gattaca's genetically engineered world, left-handedness would probably be screened out from valid births). That was my take on it anyway.

I assume he knew his name was Vincent from the scanner. But actually I hadn't noticed that he'd called him Vincent.

Oh yeah, "Gattaca" is composed entirely of the letters used to label the nucleotide bases of DNA. The four nucleotode bases of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) are adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine.

Also did you know that all of the PA announcements made at Gattaca HQ were in Esperanto?

Tons of really cool stuff in that movie. I loved how the outdoor shots were tinged yellow. Cool effect.

l2c
 
The one thing that makes me think that the doctor is not Vincent's father is the simple fact that he looks nothing like the real father, who we do actually get to see at the beginning of the film...
 
AndrewR, Ok, that makes sense (about the doctor letting him through since his own son is a "God child"...)

Even still, just the way they portrayed it made it seem like he was the father...

guess not 😀 it would've made a better movie wouldn't it though? 😀
 
guanine, adenine, thymine, cytosine.
g - guanine
a - adenine
t - thymine
t - thymine
a - adenine
c - cytosine
a - adenine

perhaps this is the genomic sequence for the 'god child' or
the mythical sequence for the unquantifiable human spirit.
maybe it represents a unique snippet of dna from ethan
hawkes' character, who could represent the true god child
because his spirit overcame the genetic odds stacked
against him. is the confusion clear ?
 
not sure if this has been addressed earlier but...

I'm not sure if the doctor is the father or not but I do know the doctor knew all along that vincent isn't who he says he is. at the end when vincent is about to fly to jupiter (?), the doctor said that his son has always been a fan jerome - meaning that the doctor knew that the real jerome was an athlete and that vicent couldn't possibly be jerome.

it's one of my all time favorite movies..and I agree, too bad it's underrated 🙁


edit: thinking about it: no, I don't think the doctor is vincent
s father b/c the doctor's son was a fan of jerome so if vincent was indeed the doctor's son, then he would have known who jerome is, but he didn't.

btw, kudos goes to the people who figured out by themselves that gattacca stands for the different sugars of DNA. 🙂 I gotta watch this movie again and pick up the things I've missed. btw, is this movie on dvd?

 
Seems like a few people missed some *very* important dialog (or misunderstood) between the Dr. and Vincent (as Jerome). The Dr. asks Vincent (as Jerome) several times throughout the movie @ each test, "Have I ever told you about my son?"

Vincent (as Jerome) never replies.

Near the end, the Dr. tells him about his son --"My son really admires you (something to that effect)" ...obviously the son sees Vincent (as Jerome) as his hero due to the fact the Dr. must have told him about Vincent being a "borrowed ladder" (obviously his son is most likely a "faith birth" like Vincent with limited opportunites)--which is why the Dr. covered for Vincent since the beginning and allowed him to "become" Jerome (or match his DNA/profile and pic with just Jerome's DNA profile)
 
I asked my friend's input about the doctor being the father, he said no, he's not the father b/c when vicent's brother came back, he told vincent that their parents died thinking they've outlived him.
 
Yes, you are right EmperorNero.

I think it was a very cool movie although highly improbable.

The way the babies were selected would be possible but you would not be able to get any trait you wanted unless you introduced new genes into the genome (by gene therapy or something similar).

The DVD had some extra scenes which were very interesting.

I might just have to rent it again.

Jason

 
Another piece of Gattaca info: Remember after the pianist finished when Uma Thurma said "That piece can only be played with 12 [fingers]"... she is only partialy right. Normal pianists such as myself, can play the piece, but they cannot reach the super high notes that the 12 fingered guy hits throughout the piece. When it comes down to it even a 12 fingered pianist would have great difficulty playing the piece unless the white glove was not his own and he has 8 inch long extra pinkies. The extra notes are extremely far away from where his hands are located while playing.
 
I must agree with everyone, that the movie was very good and underrated. All this talk makes me want to go rent the DVD. I think i'll go do that this weekend. 😛
 
I bought that movie on DVD as a result of a post on this board!

And no, Amish, I never made the connection to the title GATTACA. Thanks for the head up!

Edit: I never thought the doctor was Vincent's father, either.
 
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