Donnie Darko Question?

Question

At the end of the movie after Donnie dies and everyone is standing outside it looks like Donnie's mom isn't even sad and I think I saw the dad smile while he was holding Donnie's sister. Why is this? Did anyone notice this? And at the end the jet engine that actually kills him...was that the one from the plane from the future that his mom and sister were on?

Frank for President!!! =:B

Answer 1

It does look like his dad smiles, but I don't think it's a happy smile. I think it's more like he's wincing in agony or maybe it's a defensive reaction against the pain. He's also holding his youngest daughter, which could confuse him about how best to express his pain. His mom appears to be in shock. She doesn't look sad, which comes later, but she does look stressed, exhausted, and shocked. She even gives a little "smile" as she waves to Gretchen because she vaguely remembers Gretchen from the tangent universe, but is not sure that she knows her because everyone's memories of the tangent universe are as if they are remembering a dream that is fading quickly. I think the reactions of Donnie's parents are simply pained, shocked confusion.

The jet engine that kills Donnie was the one from the plane his mom and sister were on in the tangent universe. It was Donnie's job as Living Receiver to guide the artifact (the jet engine) back through the hole and into the primary universe, thus closing the tangent universe and saving the primary universe from destruction.

Answer 2

Richard Kelly has said that the family were dealing with grief in their own individual way. Rose wasn't showing grief in the same way as say Eddie, Samantha, or Elizabeth.


A jet engine from the future crashes into Donnie's house and triggers a parallel world, which will end in 28 days. Frank is sent to warn Donnie of the end of the world, and help guide him into a position where he will send the engine back through time, closing the parallel time frame, and saving the world. Frank is basically a premonition from the future, as Donnie kills Frank at the end of the film. Donnie is manipulated into situations which will eventually leave him no choice but to send the engine back through time. He meets Gretchen, which proves to him that he doesn't have to die alone (one of his fears), and makes him less scared of death. He burns down Cunnighams house, which leads events to making his mother go on the trip with his sister, thereby setting up the plane in the correct position to deposit its engine into the black hole. His shrink also admits that Donnies medication are placebos, indicating he's not as mad as he thinks (this is on the DVD as a deleted scene). As the climax begins to unfold, Donnie unwittingly gets Gretchen killed, and realises that his mother and family will also die if he doesn't close up the black hole. In closing the black hole, Donnie sacrifices himself, saves Gretchen from being killed, and because he doesn't burn down Cunninghams house, saves his mother from being on the plane (as the other mother could take the kids on the trip instead). He also doesn't kill Frank. In closing the black hole, everybody then wakes up on what would be back on the 1st of October (the start of the movie) and to the news that Donnie has died from a jet engine landing on him.

Answer 3

damn it, now i have to watch it again....good movie though :)