The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Question: Considering the time period that we see Benjamin grow up in the nursing home, why would there be both black and white people residing together?

Question: At the end of the movie the town clock that was removed from the train station is shown stored in a basement just as the basement floods. The clock is seen to still be working, but how, given that there was no one there to wind it? As the clock was made during the first world war it would be mechanical, not battery powered.

Blair Howden

Answer: It is symbolic, showing that time never stops. Everyone will be swept up by the tsunami eventually. No force of nature can compare to time itself. Nothing at all.

Question: I can see at the end of the movie that it tries to convey a message, but what is it?

Answer: It can mean 2 things. 1) It can mean that they were wishing they can turn back time that's why the clock was going counterclockwise. 2) It can also mean that they were talking about Benjamin because the clock was going counterclockwise.

Question: The old man remarks that he was struck by lightning seven times. I recall him talking about six different times, does he ever talk about the seventh? Also, when were the times that he was struck?

Answer: Here are the "strikes": fixing a leaky roof, while checking the mail, milking the cow, driving his car, minding his own business in a field, taking a dog for a walk, and then at the end there was no "story", but he was by a fence (just before the credits). I believe these are correct.

CCARNI

No. 1) fixing roof 2) checking mail 3) field with cows 4) driving car 5) walking dog 6) standing by fence No #7.

Question: When the father was leaving the house of ill-repute, how did he recognize Benjamin as his son?

Answer: Thomas Button knew the house where he had abandoned Benjamin as a child, and while we the viewers are never shown or explicitly told so, the film gives us the impression that Thomas had been watching Benjamin over the years, as he was watching Benjamin the evening the two first meet.

Answer: He was watching him the day he met Daisy.

Question: Is there any relationship or plot dependency on the Clock Maker family and Benjamin Button's birth parents?

Answer: It's setting up the story, so you could interpret it your own way. But as far as I can tell, there is no specific relation, just setting the story up.

KSG

Answer: Yes. The wife of the clock maker is the same person as the mother of Benjamin Button through adoption.

Where did you get this information? Queenie (who adopted Benjamin) was a nursing home worker married to Tizzy Weathers, and not married to Mr. Gateau, right? My understanding was the clock that ran backwards was revealed the same time Benjamin was born (or at least the same year, 1918).

Bishop73

Question: I can't see a connection between Benjamin and the clock maker. Did I miss it?

Answer: Only a magical one, the day the clock started running backwards, Benjamin was born.

Factual error: Benjamin leaves his family at some point after his daughter's first birthday (1970), and definitely before her second birthday. But a 1973-1977 El Camino is parked in front of their house as he rides away on his motorcycle. (02:24:15)

More mistakes in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Benjamin Button: For what it's worth, it's never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit... Start whenever you want... You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that stop you. I hope you feel things that you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life that you're proud of and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

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