Question: When Billy and Madelyn are together before she moves out of her apartment (3 weeks left on the lease), he looks at the picture of her when she was a child and admires it. But we had already seen that picture in Colin's (her new) apartment. So either this is an error in the film (unlikely) or they showed the scenes out of sequence. I didn't notice that the first several times I have seen this film. What I liked about it was that it shows that Billy is interested in her child self - a view to who she is - where she comes from and Colin wasn't. He takes it out of the box and hangs it up. I don't think Colin wasn't interested in having her photo out for her protection (as I read in a thread), I think it's because he's all surface and doesn't dare go beneath - to real feelings - like childhood feelings. If she reveals her "self" then he has to also. Why was the viewer shown those two scenes out of sequence? (01:20:11)
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: I think this is a continuity error. Another commenter noted that there are many discrepancies and continuity errors in the film. Either this, or after Colin rejected the idea of having her photo out in the living room, she brought it back to her old apartment for the remaining couple of weeks she had on her lease. It's a weak interpretation however, and therefore I try to overlook the issue as simply a continuity error. I interpret the juxtaposition between how Colin and Billy viewing Madelyn's childhood photos as showing the true depth of these characters. On the outside, Colin is a cop investigating organized crime in Boston, as such, society would typically view him as good, honourable, and socially acceptable member of the community. Conversely, at this point, Billy is undercover and is by society as a member of Costello's inner crew and low-life criminal. However, these exterior versions are not the true representations of the character (as the audience very well knows) and showing how they react in the same situation emphasizes how our external facade seldom represents who we truly are as people, and that looks can be deceiving.