The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Jason is cutting Marie's hair in the hotel room, his watch is on his left wrist. When he and Marie begin to kiss, in this flipped shot Jason's watch is on his right wrist, his moles have changed sides, and the hand-held showerhead behind them is backwards as well. Next shot his watch is back on his left wrist. The flipped shot has nothing to do with the small bathroom mirror. (01:00:56)

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: This is the scene where Jason is on the fire escape platform in the consulate in Zurich. Before he goes down below the platform we see that the platform is cleared of all the snow. Then moments later, when security guard opens the door and Jason is under the platform, the top of the platform is fully covered with snow again. (00:23:46)

Continuity mistake: After the car chase in Paris, Bourne parks Marie's car in a garage but when the cops find it later it's not the same garage. The wall in front of the car is different and the concrete column with the extinguisher is gone. (00:56:20 - 01:07:50)

Gros Chialeux

Continuity mistake: When Wombosi is assassinated by the other agent he is shown walking down the stairs with glasses on and a turtleneck sweater. He also has another man following him. Then the next shot shows Wombosi (or a stuntman) standing in front of the window with a leather coat on and no glasses. He is obviously not walking anymore and the man behind him is nowhere to be seen. (01:03:41)

Continuity mistake: When Bourne gets the box from his numbered bank account, the bank clerk carries it by holding its handle. Then he puts it on the table tipping it over to the side, so Bourne can open it. Thus the ingredients (especially the heavy weapon) should all be laying on the right side, what used to be the bottom of the box. But when Bourne opens it, everything is nicely arranged. (00:15:22)

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Bourne approaches Marie about a ride, they talk across the top of her Mini. First, there is lots of snow on the car's roof. Then, there isn't. (00:25:40)

Continuity mistake: In the scene at Treadstone HQ when they are looking at the footage of Bourne and Marie in the alley, Conklin is wearing a short sleeved blue oxford dress shirt. When they zoom in on Marie to present her bio, Conklin is wearing a long sleeved shirt.

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Bourne blows up the tank at the farmhouse, the wide shots show a solid wall of black smoke. In the closer shots there's nowhere near as much. The smoke in the first shot must be coming from the explosion, and in the closer shot we're looking right at the destroyed tank, so it can't be due to different angles. (01:26:27)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where all the Treadstone agents are being contacted, we see Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. In the first shot of the building we see cranes standing next to it. In the next shot, the cranes have disappeared. (00:27:00)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jason steals a grey Ford Sierra, when Marie walks from the phone booth to the car (Jason is taping the window) she passes a red Ford Fiesta and there is a grey Renault Laguna behind it. The car they are stealing is out of shot. When they drive off their car is suddenly on the spot where the Renault was. (01:18:07)

Continuity mistake: When Jason and Marie are in the car prior to the car chase they have a conversation with camera angles switching back and forth in the car. From shot to shot the window glass is alternately covered with a lot of rain droplets, a few rain droplets, and even completely dry. (00:52:15)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bourne is watching Conklin arrive on the Pont Neuf in Paris. The very first time Bourne is seen looking down at the bridge from the roof there is a long row of traffic all along its length. There is a scooter heading the direction of the traffic. Bourne gets his scope out and follows the scooter, yet from that moment on the line of traffic has magically vanished. You see the scooter through the scope about 2 seconds after you can see it on the bridge, and it would still be going along beside the traffic, but the traffic is gone.

The Bourne Identity mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the part of the embassy scene where Matt Damon starts clobbering security people, the Marine's hat falls off no less than three times. (00:21:10)

Continuity mistake: When Bourne is escaping from the Embassy, he drops the bag, which hits some metal thing on the way down, making it wobble to and fro. The camera cuts away while it's still moving and we see the marines coming upstairs. When Bourne climbs under the fire escape, we can see down to the ground and the metal thing's stopped moving. All well and good, except after the marines leave Bourne looks down, and in that shot the metal thing is moving again, then stops - obviously the rest of the shot we saw before. (00:23:46)

Jon Sandys

Continuity mistake: When Wombosi is shot, the bullets come through the bottom of the window which has bars. From the outside, we are shown that the shots go into the top of the window, and there are no bars on it. There are also curtains and fabric which disappear.

Continuity mistake: In the farmhouse scene Bourne looks out a window and it is bright outside. When he looks out the glass in the door and it is dark outside. When Bourne goes outside it is bright again.

Continuity mistake: Just before the car chase, a police car pulls up behind their mini, but when they race off it's no longer there.

Cybermoose

Continuity mistake: When Jason enters the train station to stash the red bag, the large clock on the outside of the station reads exactly 12 noon. Once he's inside the station the clock reads after two. (00:48:37)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jason and Marie go to Jason's residence in Paris, Jason picks up a Bic Pen to write while he's talking on the phone to the hotel. He takes the cap off and places it on the back of the pen. In the next shot, the cap is missing from the back of the pen. (00:39:15)

Continuity mistake: When Conklin is going to meet Bourne on the bridge, the people walking behind or to the side of him are constantly changing between shots.

Cybermoose

Continuity mistake: After the car chase in Paris, Bourne parks Marie's car in a garage but when the cops find it later it's not the same garage. The wall in front of the car is different and the concrete column with the extinguisher is gone. (00:56:20 - 01:07:50)

Gros Chialeux

More mistakes in The Bourne Identity

Nicolette: He killed our man.
Conklin: What, in the apartment?
Nicolette: Yeah.
Conklin: Well, you got to clean that up.
Nicolette: No, I can't clean it up; there's a body in the streets.
Conklin: So?
Nicolette: There's police, this is Paris.

More quotes from The Bourne Identity

Trivia: In the final scene at the scooter shop, look at the hanging plant behind Marie. The red bank bag used throughout the movie is the pot. (01:50:23)

More trivia for The Bourne Identity

Question: During the Greece scene, there is a line strung at the end of the covered area (behind Marie) with several things hanging on it that look like seaweed, pennants, or something. What could that be?

scwilliam

Chosen answer: They are octopii hung up to dry in the sun. A common sight at Greek islands. If you search Google, there are pictures of them. They are humorously mentioned at http://www.thevisualrecord.com/dbphotopages/photopage.php?photo_id=80.

More questions & answers from The Bourne Identity

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