Factual error: In a scene that takes place in 1956 or 1957, Alicia Nash places an orange Tupperware container in the refrigerator. Although Tupperware first became very popular in the mid-50s, the particular model of Tupperware used in the film was not introduced until the late 60s or early 70s.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Christopher Plummer, Ed Harris, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Judd Hirsch, Adam Goldberg
Nash is a paranoid schizophrenic. His college roommate(Paul Bettany), his roommate's niece, and the Defense Department agent(Ed Harris) were all imagined. Nash is hospitalized, and undergoes intense experimental treatment with mixed results. In his later years, he's able to control his illness and goes on to win a Nobel Prize for his economic theories.
More mistakes in A Beautiful Mind
Nash: In competitive behavior someone always loses.
Charles: Well, my niece knows that, John, and she's about this high.
Nash: See if I derive an equilibrium where prevalence is a non-singular event where nobody loses, can you imagine the effect that would have on conflict scenarios, arm negotiations...
Charles: When did you last eat?
Nash: ...currency exchange?
Charles: When did you last eat? You know, food.
Nash: You have no respect for cognitive reverie, you know that?
Charles: Yes. But pizza - now, pizza I have enormous respect for. And of course beer.
Nash: I have respect for beer. I HAVE RESPECT FOR BEER!
Trivia: The entire film was filmed in sequence. Meaning that each shot you see in the movie is the order in which the filmmakers filmed it. This is unusual for films as filming in sequence can be very inefficient, as the filmmakers have to keep revisiting the same sets and setting them up more than once rather than just filming all their scenes while they have the set ready for it.
Question: If the military code breaking was a delusion, why did Alicia converse with and have the door opened by an MP officer where she even said, "wow you must be really important." Why was the MP there then?
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Answer: There was always a basis of reality for his delusion. As I recall it, early on, Nash was actually recruited by the Pentagon to study encrypted telecommunications of foreign enemies. Nash's association with the government appears to have been limited, but it became a springboard for his extreme fantasy of working for the U.S. Department of Defense and with the unreal Agent Parcher.
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