Oppenheimer : Jean Tatlock’s death scene
With Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan succeeded in his bet. The director achieved critical and commercial success with a three-hour biopic about the man behind the atomic bomb. The film won numerous awards, including none other than 7 Oscars including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy. It is the latter who plays Julius Robert Oppenheimer here and who literally carries the feature. That doesn’t stop other artists from shining, like Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr. or Florence Pugh.
This interprets Jean Tatlock, one of Oppenheimer’s first loves and who would become his lover for a time. Although her presence on screen lasted only a few minutes (which earned the actress an apology from Christopher Nolan), her role remains of great importance in the development of the main character. The actress’s excellent performance leaves a lasting impression, as it does the tragic fate of the psychiatrist.
In fact, Christopher Nolan did not omit the death of Jean Tatlock, who committed suicide on 5 January 1944 at the age of 29. In Oppenheimer, the director stages this event in a very particular way. He does not use a long shot, opting for an unstructured montage (similar to film sequences).Insomnia OR Start) and a fairly dark brightness. We can still see Jean Tatlock kill himself in her bathroom. drowning in his bathtub.
A black glove that refers to a conspiracy theory
During this scene, we can see a stealthy shot of about 2 seconds of a black glove. Upon first viewing, it’s easy to miss. But if we look at it more carefully, we understand that it is a hand placed on Jean Tatlock’s head and holding him under water. This could then be interpreted as a metaphor for Oppenheimer’s fault, who at this moment considers himself responsible for the suicide of his ex-lover. This is clearly what he tells his wife Kitty (Emily Blunt). However, this insert also and above all allows Christopher Nolan to highlight another theory. Namely that Jean Tatlock would be murdered.
After Jean Tatlock’s death, an investigation was conducted and it was concluded that he had committed suicide. However, some worrying elements have arisen a conspiracy theory. First of all, it was confirmed that the young woman had actually taken barbiturates, but not in a lethal dose. Furthermore, he reportedly ate a full meal before killing himself, which is unusual in cases of suicide. Furthermore, the autopsy would have revealed traces hydrated chloral, which can have sedative effects. The site Dexert shared a quote from the book on this topic An Atomic Love Story: The Extraordinary Women in the Life of Robert Oppenheimer stating: “When administered with alcohol, chloral hydrate is the active ingredient in what was then commonly called “Mickey Finn”, a knockout drink“.
Christopher Nolan’s choice is no small matter
Of course, Jean Tatlock could very well have voluntarily ingested these products to commit suicide. However, the final intriguing element of this story was her suicide note. A note he didn’t sign. Screenwriter Bruce Robinson, behind the film The Masters of the Shadow (1989), which already told the story of the Manhattan Project, had for its part carried out a lot of research on Jean Tatlock. And the feedback about it is not what fuels the conspiracy theory. Relatives said she was not depressed at the time. And the specialists found it strange that more in-depth analyzes had not been carried out on such an important person as the lover ofOppenheimer.
We can easily think that the government had her in its sights at that time, since it was member of the Communist Party. Furthermore, when we see the portrait he is made of Boris Pash (Casey Affleck) in the film, visibly ready to torture alleged spies and make them disappear, one can easily lean towards the conspiracy theory. However, all of this is purely hypothetical. There is currently nothing to say that Jean Tatlock did not commit suicide and that she was murdered. Cleverly, Christopher Nolan still chose to wink at this hypothesis, thanks to this quick shot of the black glove. And, as mentioned before, superimposing images on wordsOppenheimer, the director leaves the choice to the viewer see it as proof of a conspiracy or simply of the guilt of the father of the atomic bomb.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
