Plot hole: In the scene where she goes to her house after escaping there is no police tape on the front door even though it is a crime scene. Earlier the police searched and taped her office - it only makes sense that they would do the same to her house.
Gothika (2003)
Plot summary
Directed by: Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Bernard Hill, Charles S. Dutton, John Carroll Lynch
Miranda is a psychologist that works with murder suspects. One night while driving home from work, she sees a girl on the road. she get out of the road to avoid hitting the girl. when she gets out of the car to see the girl, she realizes that the girl is badly hurt. suddenly the girl bursts into flames, an Miranda faints, when she wakes up, she is in the psychiatric hospital, and suspected of having killed her husband.
More mistakes in Gothika
Chloe: It was the only way to help him stop.
Miranda: Stop what?
Chloe: Stop fucking me.
Trivia: In the film poster, the "Not alone" on Halle Berry's forearm is written running from wrist to elbow. However, in the film, when she removes her bandages, it runs elbow to wrist.
Question: I do not understand how Miranda and Chloe are both released from the psychiatric hospital at the end. Chloe is in there for a completely different reason, not tied to the situation with Miranda. There is no proven link between her and Miranda's husband and the other murderer, they are two people that met in the psychiatric ward and Chloe was being abused AFTER she was admitted, or have I missed something? Also, how exactly is Miranda released anyway? As I envisage it her court case defense went something like "Look here Mr. Judge and 12 members of the jury, I was possessed and that's what made me kill my husband. It was not me that did it, even though it was me I was not in control of my body, a ghost made me do it because my husband was a bad man" - and the 12 members of the Jury thought this was OK? and the judge was very much "Yes, of course, we all understand you were not in control of your own mind and body, a ghost possessed you to commit this heinous crime, I'll release you?" Seriously? In all likelihood this reason alone would have her stay in the mental hospital extended! It makes no sense why the two of them would be released at all. Regardless of the fact that her husband and his best friend's crimes have been exposed, she still murdered her husband and it was not in self defense. How could her and Chloe (who is unrelated to the case in every way) be released?
Answer: Early in the movie we learned that Chloe's mental health was a result of rape related trauma and Chloe claimed to have been raped by "the devil" but Miranda did not believe her. She believed this was a memory of her being raped by her step-father resurfacing. But, later when she seen the tattoo on the chest of a man in Chloe's cell, she realised that she was really being raped by someone or something and just didn't know what it was but as the movie progresses Miranda begins to put the pieces together as the spirit of Parsons leads her to the truth. At the end of the movie Miranda tells the sheriff about her suspicions and what she believes "Not Alone" means. As the conversation deepens she realises that the sheriff, her husbands life long best friend, fit this description and her suspicions are confirmed when he confesses. Although she may not have learned that he was Miranda's rapist untill she sees the tattoo on the sheriff's chest. In the end when the rape stopped and the doctors realised that Chloe was not lying or delusional, her mental state improved and she was released.
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Answer: Plain and simple, it's bad script writing and there's a number of other examples of "that wouldn't happen in the real world" that unfortunately we're suppose to accept. Although, if one had to justify it, you could say; when Miranda was in the hospital, she had not been tried and convicted yet, so when her trial did occur, Miranda's lawyers did not use the "I was possessed" defense and was found not guilty because of reasonable doubt. Or the DA's office made a deal with her because she was a high standing member in the community who exposed a number of issues and may have gotten parole instead of jail time. And Chloe was Miranda's patient before she herself was admitted to the psychiatric ward. At that time, Miranda never believed Chloe was anything but delusional and after spending time in the hospital as an inmate, she believed her and once she was free, she worked on getting Chloe released by stating she was not insane.
Bishop73