Question 1: what is the significance of the footprints in the snow at the end?
Question 2: who is the hypnotist and where else does she appear in the movie?
Question 3: Was Oh Dae-Su hyponotized while confronting Lee (the villain)? Why the hell did he cut off his tongue? Is it because he was so worried Mi-Ro would find out that she is his daughter? I don't get Dae-Su's subserviant behavior.

1. I took the footprints as the "Monster" part of Oh-Daesu leaving him, which is what the hyponotist said would happen.
2. She is seen very briefly during his imprisonment. I think she sits down on his bed just before he wakes up in the field, in his mind.
3. I don't think he was hypnotized, at least it wasn't fully implied to me. He cut out his tongue because that is what Lee said had killed his sister.

I haven't seen the movie since it was in the theaters, but I was left with the distinct impression that it was the "normal" part of Oh-Daedu that had left...that the "monster" was the stronger side and had stayed

Well, I think it is definitely open to interpretation. I just rented it again recently, and the last shot of his face makes it seem as if he might have retained the "monster" side of himself, if not fully, then at least partially. But to me, the footprints were symbolic of something leaving him; I just took it to be the "monster," maybe because I wanted him to be free of it. It definitely wasn't clear-cut, though.

I thought they should have ended the movie at the scene when the elevator opens, just after Lee killed himself, and not introduced the "soothing" hypnosis ending that follows. Seems like it's just softening the blow, but doesn't add anything to the movie's ending.

hypnosis

(the hypnosis)

OK, I thought that the footsteps in the snow was an accident of the hypnotist and I thought that it meant that he was probably going to find out who he was again. I think it is a better ending if you think of it like that instead of some sort of "monster" crap. The whole idea of him having the hypnotist was for him to forget what sort of just happened with the revealing of him being her father.

hypnosis

Footsteps:
When he exits his dream, his back is facing the monster.
When he comes to, there are small prints leading away behind him.. (to his right, when he stands). This must be the monster that knows his secret.
The other steps to his left are back to where he was first sitting with the hypnotist.


I love these endings because there's many things to try in your head:

I wonder if the hypnotism didn't fail. Maybe "the secret" is knowledge of the daughter, maybe it's something else?


What would you do?

I might have had the hypnotist remove my love for her (which was clearly real) and into the future find a way to hypnotise the daughter to forget me.

As a father, what would you do in this situation?