Continuity mistake: The cover of the book Sean Bean is reading reads 'The Poetry of William Butler Yeats'. However, while he's turning over the pages, the poems 'The Detective' and 'The Courage of Shutting-Up' by Sylvia Plath can be seen. (00:07:50 - 00:15:10)
Equilibrium (2002)
Plot summary
Directed by: Kurt Wimmer
Starring: Sean Bean, Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs
To prevent another world war emotion has been outlawed as no emotion and no anger = no war. But when the man responsible for maintaining this state of constant equilibrium does not take his mind altering drug he finds himself alone against the dictatorship, and if he is found out, he will be killed.
More mistakes in Equilibrium
Mary: Let me ask you something. Why are you alive?
John Preston: I'm alive... I live... To safeguard the continuity of this great society. To serve Libria.
Mary: It's circular. You exist to continue your existence. What's the point?
John Preston: What's the point of your existence?
Mary: To feel. 'Cause you've never done it, you can never know it. But it's as vital as breath. And without it, without love, without anger, without sorrow, breath is just a clock... Ticking.
Trivia: The word 'tetragrammatron' has some very interesting origins which render the film either profound or pretentious, depending on your point of view. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3477909 for a full explanation.
Question: Right before the fight between Preston and DuPont, DuPont re-quotes Sean Bean "you tread on my dreams." How did he know that quote, and why did he know it would mean anything to Preston?
Answer: "Father" is a very human psychopath in my opinion. I don't believe he was ever dosing. Therefore, he was probably already familiar with Yeats. Just like his "office" at the end is filled with illegal artwork, which if he didn't "feel" would be completely unnecessary. He tells Preston at the end that he "feels," and that's true. It's just that he "feels" only as a psychopath can feel. And, since he was setting Preston up from the very beginning, he also probably knew exactly what book Partridge had been reading when Preston shot him. And he used that phrase right before his fight with Preston, why? Perhaps to attempt to throw him off his game by reminding him that he had killed his partner (something that he guessed - correctly - about which Preston felt incredible sadness and guilt).
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Answer: Since Preston is the one who discovered Partridge's sense-offense and executed him, he was probably required to give a report of how it went down and mentioned Partridge's last words, which one would expect would make its way to DuPont.
Phaneron ★