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The Bowling Alley: I'm finished!

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  1.  

    One of the things that keeps me thinking about TWBB is the way that DP delivers the the final line: "I'm finished!"

    There a curious tone to it: very casual, almost, as if he were saying "I'm over here!"

    And more...

    It makes me wonder what the manservant will DO when he reacts to the scene. I'd love to know what people think about what follows...

     

  2.  

    I agree, definitely a sing-song, almost childlike quality to the way he said "I'm finished." Runs counter to the gravity of the situation, and matchs the gleefulness (that I see) on his expression as he delivers the wacks to Eli's noggin. Definitely a side of DP's character that I don't recall seeing much of earlier; a sort of psychotic, frenzied delight. The only time that DP really creeped me out, with maybe the exception of the cold, hard look on his face as he looked down at "Henry's" dead self. Was that just the booze, or what? Having trouble recognizing DP in those two scenes, so disassociated from the character we saw earlier (albeit, in many different forms, but altogether, still recognizable as the same man).

    • CommentAuthorsues
    • CommentTimeJul 8th 2008
     

    I think someone mentioned before that "I'm finished" also refers to DP's steak dinner.  After the carnage, there's definitely a humorous irony to the scene.  That's one of PTA's great touches.

  4.  

    Think about how formal and cordial Daniel's speech is throughout most of the film.  We know it belies the chaos and danger in the man.  Daniel is clearly, uh, batshit crazy by this final scene, and I think, in his mind,  the pleasant "I'm finished" is more about the steak dinner than the whacking of Eli. 

  5.  

    dang, i never put the two together anymore. yes, to someone who is a few sticks short of a derrick (sorry!), finishing a steak wouldn't definitely deserve announcing to your manservant, while wacking off your nemesis is hardly worth mentioning ...

  6.  

    I've always associated that line--and I think I mentioned it in another thread--with little kids who are just beginning to learn how to use the adult toilet. When they are done they often call out, from inside the bathroom, "Mommy/Daddy, I'm through!," summoning the parent to come in and do the wiping.

  7.  
    Very, very funny. I will never be able to see that scene again without thinking of this take on it. ESPECIALLY considering the way DP is sitting. Thanks for the best laugh I've had this morning.
  8.  

    Does no one else see Plainview's demeanor after the murder as orgasmic? I mean, the way he's panting, and the expression on his face. And "I'm finished!" just caps it off. I've always felt that way.

    And I actually feel like there are sexual implications in other scenes too, particularly the first preaching scene. Right after Eli says "AND IT LEFT!" the whole congregation just bursts into an exaltation that I can't see any other way than orgasmic.

    Knowing PTA's tongue-in-cheek satire, it just seems to make perfect sense.

    • CommentAuthorBackslider
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2008
     

    Yes, SnivelingAss (it feels good to call you that), I see.

    Hey, that's why they call certain types of murder "a crime of passion."  Sex and violence are intricately connected in the natural world and since TWBB is rich in allegory, one of the underlying truths it reveals is that there is an orgasmic intoxication with slapping the shit out of a rival and burying him in the muck or bludgeoning him to a bloody pulp.  It's like watching a dominant male ape take out a younger male challenger (hello Stanley Kubrick).  There will be testosterone.  And let's not forget about the lust for wealth and power.  Tell me there isn't some erotic link to the very physical act of drilling for oil -- penetrating the earth's layers with these amazing (and phallic) tools, the arousing in-and-out rhythm and movement of the drill, the eruption of the gusher.  The look on DP's face as he contemplates the "whole ocean of oil under [his] feet" is pure, unadulterated LUST.  Some people take a lot more stimulation to reach that point than others.

    And then there's Religion.  Eli's whole schtick is to work people into an emotional frenzy and give them the "release" of salvation.  Have you ever seen people speaking in tongues?  If that's not sexual energy run amok, I don't know what is -- well, maybe Cage Fighting.  Eli is also so seductive in the way he relates to his followers -- the hugging, the hand holding, his whispering, his feigned caring -- as he draws them in.  His bitch slap demonstration during Daniel's salvation scene is as fine an S&M display as his little congregation could have hoped for.  Their level of arousal must have been through the roof.

    So, yeah, "I'm finished" is the perfectly polite and completely sardonic indication that DP has spent himself, he's had his way with the world, he's shown people what he could do, he's finished his dinner and, for dessert, he killed a man with a bowling pin.  Now, if you wouldn't mind cleaning up this mess . . . .  (Iraq, anyone?  The environment?)

  10.  

    Has anybody ever noticed that in the last shot, you can actually see the blood still pouring out of Eli's skull?

  11.  

    "I'm finished!" ... works on s-o-o many levels:

    With Eli - he finally got his full revenge on him

    There is now nobody else to rage on, as his son is now long gone and his business rivals no longer matter

    With his meal

    Without realizing it, his business is now 'finished'

    The rest of his life, as he 'lives' it now, is finished

    and the breadth of his mental illness is now complete and exposed.

  12.  

    So, yeah, "I'm finished" is the perfectly polite and completely sardonic indication that DP has spent himself, he's had his way with the world, he's shown people what he could do, he's finished his dinner and, for dessert, he killed a man with a bowling pin.  Now, if you wouldn't mind cleaning up this mess . . . .  (Iraq, anyone?  The environment?)

    And this is why I love this film.  All of the above is in that final moment.  Well said, Backslider.

    • CommentAuthorMoldyshoes
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2008
     

    "Has anybody ever noticed that in the last shot, you can actually see the blood still pouring out of Eli's skull?"

    Anyone else notice that the blood looks black like oil?

    • CommentAuthormoocko
    • CommentTimeSep 5th 2008
     

    Lots of interesting thoughts in here. Personally, I've never read the line as anything else than "I'm finished!" like in "This was truly the last nail in my coffin, which I've been building since the start of this movie". He made the last big fuck-up which he won't be able to recover from, neither socially or mentally.

  15.  

    moocko, you really see this as a fuck-up? interesting to me, since i've never seen DP as someone to mess up anything. he seems too fastidious, too cautious, too calculating. of course, he does make blunders (ex. not going to see Bandy immediately, so he has to go through the embarassment of the baptismal after Eli's ministry takes root) but he always seems to maneuver his way out of them. which is why I think that , no matter what happens after that last scene, DP is definitely not going to face any kind of earthly punishment for that. the guy just seems to have a way of slithering out of trouble spots. but your point is interesting, and makes me wonder if i missed something ... hmmm....

    • CommentAuthormoocko
    • CommentTimeSep 30th 2008
     

    localvixenwoman, yes, I see it as a fuck-up and I see Daniel Plainview as a miserable and tragic character.  One could argue that it already happened when he killed his false brother, but I see the murder of Eli as the definite point when DP loses all control, his humanity and sense, thus: "I'm finished". When it comes to work and success, he sure is an accomplishing king, but when it comes to those things which really matter - family, friendship, feelings, love etc - he's totally handicapped. Very much like many of my other favorite movie characters like Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane) and Jake La Motta (Raging Bull) - they all succeed in their work, and then some, but end up miserable and lonely.  What I find so fascinating about TWBB and the other mentioned movies is how they unflinchingly show these unsympathetic characters for what they are, and somehow brings out the humanity in them. TWBB, though, is one of the more provocative and hard-to-digest character studies, since it ends on such a dark note.

  17.  

    It is a dark note - but the only appropriate and logical place for the story to end, in my opinion.

    • CommentAuthorCigarboy
    • CommentTimeOct 2nd 2008
     

    Daniel is finished because he is finally complete.

    He is wealthier and therefore more successful and better than 99.9% of the world.

    He has taken away the only thing that Eli had left... his Life.

    He has drained Little Boston Dry and gave them nothing for it.

    If I were DP, I would be happy as happy can be!  I would light up cigar and down a glass of cognac and regale after finally destroying my nemesis.

    On a side note,

    I wonder if the butler would rat DP out to the cops, or if they discreetly disposed of the body. Good help is so difficult to find.

  19.  

    Cigarboy, are you serious? you would be as happy as you can be? Not to be a naysayer, and I agree with your points technically, but at the same time, DP just destroyed his relationship with his son, has lost all of his familial/friendship ties, lives in a big empty house alone, is obviously a gigantic alcoholic in chronic pain and discomfort, and has clearly lost his marbles. Also, the only reason Eli was DP's nemesis was because DP made him his nemesis. Eli's just a kid. and frankly, a lot like DP, which is why DP hated him so much. Did Eli really deserve to get a bowling pin to the head for that?

    Your take is clearly different from mine, and interesting, so I say the above with jest, and eagerness to hear your perspective more ... :)

    • CommentAuthorCigarboy
    • CommentTimeOct 7th 2008
     

    I am absolutely serious, localvixenwoman.

    DP is a misanthropic person. To some degree as am I. Therefore I would be happy to be alone in a big empty house.  Personally, I do not see much of Eli in DP. Eli actually makes me sick and I felt glad when Daniel finally took the only thing Eli had left. I felt that DP could rest now.  Eli was more than just a kid. DP had every reason to hate him since he kept injecting his blasphemous ways into DP's life. Eli kept popping into DP's existence when all DP wanted was to be alone. It was Eli who came to DP to ask to bless the well, ask for the money for his church, and finally enter DP's home for the Bandy Tract leases.  DP didn't need Eli one bit yet Eli felt that he had some way of manipulating Daniel. Tough luck for Eli.

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