Scene-by-scene Commentary
• This is intended as a teacher resource and should not be given to students. They will absorb and remember much more of what they discover and write down for themselves.
• Scene numbers are for easy reference; they may refer to sequences rather than single scenes. They have no official standing and should not be quoted in essays or answers. Chapter division are from the DVD.
• Time shifts are indicated thus: F/B-W = wartime memories; F/B-PW = post war memories; H or D = dreams, hallucinations – though they are often mixed up, so it is an indication only
• 'Clue': used to point out deliberate illogicalities etc. that may cause unease on first viewing but are really obvious only on subsequent viewings. S/T: 'sub-text' = things said that take on another layer of meaning on second viewing.
• 'Teddy' is used for the Marshal persona, 'Andrew' for his real identity as a patient. Similarly Chuck / Dr Sheehan.
• Abbreviations used: // = CUT; M = motif; A = allusion; F/S = foreshadowing (signposting); MS = Martin Scorsese narrative commentary
1. screen text: Boston Harbour Islands, 1954 fog; a ferry appears; a man (Chuck) stands at the bow //

INT. HEAD - DAY: a man being sick
"It's just water. It's a lot of water."
SHALLOW FOCUS on manacles and handcuffs, PULL FOCUS as he emerges
He joins a solicitous Chuck at the rail.
They introduce themselves – he is Teddy Daniels, a "legend" in the US Marshalls.
Teddy concedes that he used to be married Day 1
EST. the wider context; from here on, everything will be from Teddy's POV.
Our first view of the protagonist is a double and ambiguous image: his black silhouette and his reflection in a mirror, water dripping off his face. Water will be a significant motif.
Teddy's first view of Chuck is a back view, through a link-chain fence (M). Chuck's full name is Chuck Aule (get it?).

Clue: it is extremely unlikely that two US Marshalls sent to do a job together would meet like this on board the ferry. They would have been briefed together before boarding. F/B-PW (memory): INPOINT: the tie he is wearing a bare-footed Dolores puts it on him
CU a radiant Dolores // the sea // Dolores' lovely face shift from the cold blues to warm golden-pinks
M: the tie will be significant later; both Rachels will have bare feet. music on record player "She died. … There was a fire in our apartment building, while I was at work. … Four people died. It was the smoke that got her, not the fire. That's important."
Chuck gives Teddy a cigarette, lights it.
Teddy briefs Chuck: Shutter Island is a mental hospital for the criminally insane.
Their POV of the island – cold, forbidding, a looming mass in the grey-blue.
The captain emphasises its inaccessibility: "Other side of the island is rock bluffs, all the way down to the edge of the water. The dock, it's the only place on. Or off."
Their POV as they close in on the dock, blue uniformed figures waiting.
Teddy and Chuck are escorted off the ferry. S/T: it was Dolores who set fire to the apartment but was not killed. Though he has no children in his delusion, in reality he has lost all four members of his family (though not to fire).
M: cigarettes will feature prominently – it is 1954! Note the flame is barely seen; this is real.
Provides important audience info. (Note the modern terminology – in 1954 it would have been called an asylum.) theme music suggests foreboding; note the sound cf. a foghorn

F/S: "Storm's coming."

Clue: they are flanked by guards as if prisoners.
2. EXT. DOCK – DAY
INPOINT: badge of Deputy Marshal
Deputy Warden McPherson introduces himself; he will take them to Ashecliffe 4 mins 27

Ashecliffe: ashes, like fire, will be a significant motif.
Clue: there are far too many guards to greet two marshals, who are officers of the law – one should have been sufficient. And they are clearly hostile and edgy – a strange reaction to lawmen.
3. EXT. ISLAND – DAY
WIDE EST. CLOSE on jeep as it drives towards the hospital. Men can be seen 'searching' in the grass.
They pass the cemetery
L/A: Teddy's POV of the forbidding walls.
ELS jeep approaches the gates, seen through rolled barbed wire; reminds Teddy (of Dachau)
Double gated entrance emphasises the impregnability of the place.

F/S – and a hint that people who come to the island don't usually leave.

F/S: will be echoed later in the concentration camp images – above the barbed wire is a single strand of electrified razor wire.
Approach = Hitchcockian shots – very subjective
4. EXT. PRISON – DAY
McPherson explains the layout: FAST PAN to men's and women's wards, and Ward C – which is off limits – and demands they surrender their guns.
Chuck waits for Teddy who concedes.
REVERSE TRACK as they walk through the neatly tended gardens.
Dr Cawley is introduced by name. (F/S)
A manacled prisoner waves.
Another lays her finger on her lips; smiles weirdly.
Teddy takes out his notebook. Ch. 2: 6 mins 21 first dramatic hook: "off limits" suggests secrets
Clue: they are marshals coming to search for a dangerous escaped criminal and they don't get to keep their weapons!! Note the expressions of the guards.
Clue: Chuck has been a marshal for four years and has trouble getting his gun off.
Clue: the reactions of the inmates are decidedly odd. The woman who holds her finger to her mouth is clearly demonstrating what she has been told – to say nothing. dramatic hook reiterated: more secrets hinted at silence and 2/3 SLOMO create mystery; we share Teddy's confusion and curiosity; M: notebook
5. INT. PRISON – DAY
They enter through a chain-link fence.
H/A from the boardwalk as they sign in echoes that on the ferry characteristic noir shot
F/S: Nurse Marino can be seen in the background mentions of the OSS, Scotland Yard, MI5
6. INT. CAWLEY'S OFFICE – DAY
A pipe-smoking Dr Cawley welcomes them with a smile; dismisses the Deputy Warden, who is not happy about it.
Teddy looks at pictures of primitive 'treatments' of insanity.
Dr Cawley describes some of them and explains what he is trying to achieve: A moral fusion between law and order and clinical care.
The escaped prisoner they have come to look for is Rachel Solando.
INSERT: photo of an emaciated Rachel…
… provokes in Teddy a memory 9 mins 14 a warm welcoming room – book-lined, wood and leather instead of metal and wire; yellow rather than blue lighting
Clue: why would he expect to stay? (to protect the doctor)
McPherson is a Cawley supporter; the Warden is not.
S/T: when he says the word "drowned", he looks carefully at Teddy
Clue: the whole escape situation is impossible
M: notebook; F/S & S/T: The description of Rachel Solando's crime is actually that of Dolores, as we learn in the final F/B – though its details aren't an exact match.
B F/B-W (memory) iced-over bodies // barbed wire // CU face of a little girl the first of the Dachau memories
S/T: Rachel 3 looks more alive than the others
C Teddy complains of a headache – is given aspirin
Dr Cawley continues the briefing.
She's never once in two years acknowledged that she is in an institution… To sustain the illusion that her children never died, she's created an elaborate fictional structure. She gives us all parts to play in that fiction.
Rachel disappeared from a locked room – "it was as if she evaporated, straight through the walls." M: "You OK, boss?"
Teddy removes his hat – we see the plaster on his forehead; A: echo of Kiss Me Deadly
S/T (and clue): it is Andrew who has been a prisoner on SI for two years and who has never acknowledged the truth of his situation, who has created a whole alternate reality. Dr Cawley would be being extraordinarily unprofessional here – revealing details of Rachel's psychiatric history – except the patient he is describing is the man to whom he is talking.
Clue: exchange of glances between 'Chuck' and Dr Cawley
7. INT. RACHEL SOLANDO'S CELL – DAY
H/A OVERHEAD emphasises the small size of the room.
Teddy asks how it is possible Rachel never understands the reality.
Sanity's not a choice, Marshal; you can't just choose to get over it.
Chuck asks the practical question about the shoes – which means Rachel escaped barefooted.
Teddy finds a message: "The law of 4. Who is 67?"
None of them knows what it means.
"Rachel is smart. Brilliant, in fact." Ch. 3: 12 mins 39 brief neutral POV shot of the empty cell i.e. what Teddy will see – its solid walls cf. Dr Cawley's last words
S/T
noir feature: barred shadows on the wall; H/A overhead shot emphasises how small the room is. Disjointed editing contributes to a jumpy atmosphere. both Rachels will be barefooted
The note has great significance for Teddy but it is too early in the story for it to have any meaning yet. The code is a much abbreviated version of a much more complex code in the novel.
S/T – describing Andrew again
8. INT. DAY ROOM – DAY
Nurses and orderlies supervise card players.
Teddy demands to see the staff records – to Dr Cawley's discomfort – and to speak to the staff.
AURAL BRIDGE: Cawley invites them to join the search

Clue: this is something that would be expected in any normal investigation

9. EXT. ISLAND – DAY
HIGH WIDE of 'searchers'
McPherson leads Chuck and Teddy across the rocks.
L/A of the three against the sky;
QUICK PAN – Teddy points out caves on the other side of the cliffs.
POV: the lighthouse
McPherson dismisses it as an option – says it holds a sewage treatment facility
He calls off the search as Teddy continues to stare at the lighthouse
AURAL BRIDGE
Clue: the searchers are barely going through the motions; they seem reluctant participants in this elaborate role-play
# the first of what Scorsese calls his 'Black Narcissus moments' – allusion to Michael Powell's 1947 film.
F/S: caves; the quest will end in the lighthouse.

Note how McPherson rubs his nose immediately after saying this – a classic giveaway of a lie – and immediately changes the subject.
Teddy looks up at the lighthouse – it will be significantly different next time he sees it.
10. INT. ORDERLY ROOM – EVENING the Marshals question the orderlies; there is a palpable sense that everyone is hiding something from Teddy – which of course they are. Lots of secret smiles and smirks.
FAST PAN to an orderly, Glen, who admits to having gone to the bathroom.
"Define unusual."

Rachel's psychiatrist, Dr Sheehan, has gone on holiday.
You're in a state of lockdown, a dangerous prisoner has escaped – and you let him leave? On vacation?
Of course. He's a doctor. 16 mins 15 7.15 on the clock
Clue: there is a sense of unease and even hostility that doesn't match with an investigation into a missing patient – guilt and concern would seem more appropriate responses.
S/T: the investigation is actually totally meaningless; it is Andrew's buying into it that matters
More jumpy editing – watch Chuck.
S/T and dramatic irony: this situation – a patient interrogating staff – couldn't be more unusual.
Clue: when Dr Sheehan's name is mentioned, the nurse glances at Chuck.
Clue: another ridiculous implausibility – as if Dr Sheehan would be allowed to leave if there really had been an escape. But of course he is still there – he is Chuck.
S/T: nice comedy moment – it is 'Chuck' who questions the propriety of letting Sheehan leave in the circumstances.
11. INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM – NIGHT the phones are down; they are isolated on the island A brief scene full of noir effects – low key lighting, heavy chiaroscuro, shadows on the wall; blue-black instead of black and white. Unusual shot past the operator's sleeve.
12. EXT. HOSPITAL – EVENING
Cawley invites them for drinks later.
The storm has begun.
Another brief noirish transition scene.
13. INT. RECEPTION ROOM – NIGHT
Cawley shows Chuck and Teddy around.
Music plays on the gramophone: Mahler – which triggers another memory of Dachau
SHALLOW FOCUS Teddy // POV of gramophone //
F/B-W: TRACK along a wire, cold hands holding it // Ch. 4: 19 mins 35 # an important scene in the set up warm but heavy opulence
There has been criticism that no Nazi would listen to Mahler who was a Jewish-born composer, though a Catholic convert. If so, the mistake was Lehane's. And the music is haunting.
B A voice from behind a large wingchair is slowly revealed to be that of Dr Naehring, a German psychiatrist
RE-ESTABLISHING L/A SHOT of whole room: WIDE, DEEP FOCUS – shows spatial relationship of the four men.
Teddy drinks soda – no alcohol
He discusses alcohol with Naehring // the slow Steadicam move around the chair suggests the movement of the men; allusion to Hitchcock's Notorious
S/T: it was Andrew's heavy drinking that meant Dolores' mental illness would go untreated
S/T: there are two different conversations happening here – the one Teddy thinks he is having, and the one the psychiatrist is having that is loaded with awareness of who Teddy really is.
C F/B-W: daylight, snow flurries outside, Hitler's portrait on the wall; sheets of paper float down like snowflakes//
Teddy looks grimly at Naehring, who says, "Men like you are my specialty, you know. Men of violence."
F/B-W: the floating pages land in blood that covers the floor // gramophone // OVERHEAD LS a German officer lies in a pool of blood // US soldiers sort through the paperwork // L/A Andrew // M: cf. snow, cf. ash; Mahler continues to play
The prominence of the fire – associated with his hallucinations – suggests that maybe his memories of Dachau are embellished or part hallucinatory. Perhaps that part of his delusion is the belief that he was a war hero.
M: gramophone Naehring suggests he won't run from conflict; Teddy says he was raised by wolves. //
F/B-W: OVERHEAD MCU the German officer, his face partly blown away // Andrew // his POV gramophone and then out the window at the piles of bodies in the snow // the German reaches for his gun, but Andrew pulls it away // L/A his implacable face //
Naehring asks Teddy if he believes in God; Teddy responds by talking about the death camps. Clue: Chuck exchanges glances with Cawley

Teddy will return to this memory later and talk about it

Teddy sets Naehring up as an antagonist – which he is – seeing him as a Nazi.
Teddy speaks German: "Das glaube ich" = I believe.
D Naehring refuses Teddy access to the personnel files – and Teddy gets angry.
He announces the investigation is over and storms out into the storm. Chuck follows. This is the first time he has reacted violently to anything – but then this is the first hurdle. Dr Cawley is not happy.
Clue: in real life, the Marshals would have access to the files. In an elaborate role-play – no. Chuck's look at Cawley as he leaves.
"Hoover's boys" = FBI
14. EXT. HOUSE – NIGHT
McPherson is waiting in the car. Teddy looks back at Cawley standing in the porch.
McPherson – seen in the rear-vision mirror – tells them they will be bunking with the orderlies. 25 mins 10 rain water distorts Teddy's view of the two doctors
15. INT. BUNKHOUSE – NIGHT
INPOINT: window lashed with rain
Teddy and Chuck are in bed; Chuck questions the abandonment of the mission. Ch. 5: 25 mins 34
M: notebook; rain on the window
See p. 23 for detailed analysis of scenes 15 and 16
16. BCU Teddy sleeps – dreams
D: Teddy dreams about his dead wife, who tells him Rachel is still on the island – and so is Laeddis. Dream 1
# plot point one – the first mention of Laeddis. A new dimension is introduced into the narrative.
M: fire, ash, water, gramophone
17. INT. ORDERLIES' QUARTERS – MORNING
INPOINT: storm lashes on the window
Trey says there will be no ferry in this weather. 29 mins 14 day 2
Teddy's intention of leaving is thwarted by the weather
M: barred window
18. INT. WARD B – DAY
Teddy tells Cawley he wants to interview the members of Rachel's therapy group.
The old school believes in surgical intervention – psychosurgery. Procedures like the transorbital lobotomy. Some say the patients become reasonable, docile; others say they become zombies.
(The new school?) Psychopharmacology. A new drug has just been approved called Thorazine that relaxes psychotic patients. You could say, tames them.
(And which school are you, doctor?)
I have this radical idea that if you treat a patient with respect, listen to him, try and understand – you just might reach him. … Rachel Solando was on a combination of drugs meant to keep her from becoming violent but it was only intermittently effective. The greatest obstacle to her recovery was her refusal to face what she had done. The weather provides Teddy with the excuse he needs to continue the investigation after he has called it off –we now know the real purpose isn't finding Rachel but finding Laeddis
Important information about the stakes Cawley is fighting for.
F/S: ending
TRACKING // REVERSE TRACKING
M: chain link fence; bars; notebook

the modern approach

S/T: Again, it is Andrew that he is actually talking about.
19. INT. CAFETERIA – DAY
Teddy and Chuck interview Peter Breene who had attacked his father's nurse.
He rants about the "retards" and others who should be gassed. Teddy begins to doodle; finding it upsets Breene, he continues aggressively.
As Breene is taken away, Teddy asks him if he knows Andrew Laeddis.
M: notebook
Clue: Teddy is visibly disturbed by the reference to Rachel's drowning her children
Breene's rant about gassing evokes the Nazi death camps where these people he describes were indeed gassed.
S/T: His rant is a more extreme version of Teddy's earlier "Screw their sense of calm" – both are patients who don't recognise what they have done, have no self-awareness.
B WIDE EST. the cafeteria orderlies and guards around; Nurse Marino sits by a table // a tray with a hypodermic // Ch. 6: 33 mins 32
F/S ('loaded pistol'): hypodermic; in retrospect, we realise the hypo is there for Teddy, not his interviewees
C Bridget Kearns, who killed her abusive husband with an axe, suggests the world outside is worse than inside.
Asked about Rachel, she parrots the few things that Dr Cawley earlier told them.
Asked about Dr Sheehan, she speaks highly of him. Her body language is that of someone trying to remember what she has been told to say.
S/T: humour here from the fact that she is talking about Dr Sheehan's good looks in front of him. She is surprised at the question about Dr Sheehan's sexual behaviour and defends him quickly and genuinely. She asks for water; while Chuck gets it, she grabs Teddy's notebook and writes something in it.

Asked about Laeddis, she reacts oddly and leaves abruptly.
Clue: easy to miss if you aren't looking for it – she drinks with no glass in her hand; puts the glass down in the next shot. Reminder to us that nothing is what it seems.
Clue: her reaction to the name Andrew Laeddis – she is having trouble not laughing. A lovely acting cameo. AURAL BRIDGE: She was coached.
20. EXT. BREEZEWAY – DAY
Teddy tells Chuck that Andrew Laeddis is a firebug who burned down his apartment and killed Dolores. And that he requested the assignment to Shutter Island. the gate is opened lovely silhouetted shot against the chain-link fence
Teddy is behind bars and behind the rain
"Andrew Laeddis lit the match that caused the fire that killed my wife."
21. EXT. FIELD, WOODS & CEMETERY – DAY
ELS WIDE EST.
Teddy and Chuck walk in the rain as Teddy tells his story. They reach the cemetery.
Chuck asks what Bridget Kearns told Teddy.
INSERT: notebook.
The word "RUN" begins to run in the rain.
Trees and branches begin to fall in the wind.
We got to get indoors. It's turning into Kanas out here. A wonderful example of what the great Joss Whedon calls a 'Hitchcockian-high-and-wide-we're-all-tiny-and-life-is-terrible shot'.
Pinch Point 1: the ground shifts again. Teddy is warned to run – suggesting he is in some sort of danger. The immediate danger from the storm underlines this, via pathetic fallacy. Reminds us that Teddy is in the middle of something he doesn’t understand.
They are actually in genuine danger here. Chuck takes care of Teddy – again.
A: Wizard of Oz
22. INT. MAUSOLEUM – DAY
They take shelter in an old mausoleum.
I'm not here to kill Laeddis. Ch. 7: 39 mins 45
Unusual ground-level shot as Teddy comes in.
M: "You OK, boss?"
A F/B-W: EXT. FOREST – DAY; snow on the ground; no wind. Shadowy figures march towards us
Chuck says he would kill Laeddis if it had been his wife. music

S/T: staying in his role-play character F/B-W: Entrance to Dachau; two guards surrender; snow floats down. //
Teddy //
F/B-W: The American troops enter Dachau; prisoners lined up behind the wire [V.O.] //
The Commandant tried to kill himself before we got there but… /
REPRISE: F/B-PW office with falling pages / gramophone // Hitler's portrait [V.O.] He botched it. //
Took him an hour to die.
F/B-PW OVERHEAD LS: Commandant on the floor in his blood and paper. // This is the entrance to Auschwitz, not Dachau; however, it is the most instantly recognisable of the concentration camp gates, and we must instantly recognise that that is where he is

In fact, the senior officers had already fled leaving only a handful to surrender the camp.

M: gramophone, falling material; the floating paper seems to allude to a scene in The Red Shoes

When I went outside, I saw the bodies on the ground… Too many to count.
F/B-W: soldiers see the bodies under the snow ; SLOW CLOSE on a woman and girl // This scene has been criticised as historically inaccurate – it was April and there had been a light fall of snow only – but Teddy's memory has no doubt embellished what he saw. And George Steven's footage shows iced-over bodies. Too many to imagine. So, yeah, the guards surrendered, we took our guns and we lined them up…
F/B-W: The guards are pushed against the fence; one runs and is shot – and the American soldiers open fire on them all. H/A WIDE another pile of bodies //
That wasn't warfare. It was murder. I've had enough of killing. Some guards at Dachau were shot by American soldiers – numbers estimated to be between 30 and 520, though probably closer to the lower figure.
There has been criticism of this scene on the grounds that the soldiers fall only as the camera reaches them – but it is surely an intentional effect.

B He goes on to explain that he started asking about Ashecliffe because he suspected it was being used to for mind experiments on its inmates. HUAC = House Un-American Activities Committee, the one that pursued so-called communists in American life. Part of Teddy's paranoid delusion. His evidence comes from a former inmate called Noyce. Clue in retrospect: Noyce is an inmate of Ashecliffe, so Teddy cannot have talked to him in Dedham Prison, cannot have known him until he too was an inmate. That's the beauty of it, isn't it? Crazy people – they're the perfect subjects. They talk – nobody listens. Rachel 2 will say similar things. I'm gonna get the proof, I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna blow the lid off this place. The ground shifts again – Teddy isn't looking for Laeddis, he's looking for a conspiracy.
C Chuck warns him that he has been brought to the island to stop his asking questions.
You came for Rachel Solando. Where's one shred of evidence that she ever existed? Chuck's dialogue here has been scripted by Teddy as part of his 'constructed reality' – Dr Cawley says later that he has "heard it all" during the previous two years.
The warning to "run" suddenly becomes significant.
D The door blows open and is whirled away. McPherson is in a car, and rescues them.
It's an island, boss. They're always going to find us.
We're getting off this goddam island. You and me. Juxtaposition: Chuck expresses his suspicions and warnings – the door suddenly crashes open and McPherson is there with the accusing car headlights. dramatic action reflects the drama in the discussion
23. EXT. CAR – NIGHT
McPherson returns them to their quarters. Ch. 8: 46 mins 34
24. INT. BATHROOM
They are issued with orderlies' whites by Trey, while their suits are being cleaned and dried. M: cage
F/S: the orderlies' uniforms will allow them to move freely around the compound
25. INT. BOARDROOM – NIGHT the staff discusses the need to restrain the prisoners in case of storm damage
Only Dr Cawley seems to put prisoner welfare ahead of security.

Teddy interrupts – he has just worked out Rachel's reference to 'Who is 67?" There is a 67th patient.
Cawley tells him Rachel has been found. A brief moment of neutral POV – the first shot of the room is before Teddy comes in. When Teddy speaks, the angle of the shot shifts to come from the opposite direction.
It is easy to miss – it is a brief scene – but there is a sense here that Cawley has only one friend and supporter among the rest of the staff; Naehring is definitely hard-line. He is also genuinely irritated that Teddy is in the room; he clearly does not support the role-play experiment. OR – it is all part of the role-play.
[See 'Analysing the Techniques']
His quickness is evidence of how intelligent Teddy is,
Clue: Dr Cawley is being disingenuous over a 67th patient
S/T: Teddy believes it is Laeddis – and of course it is.
26. INT. CELL – NIGHT
Rachel sits in her bed, barefooted. There's not a mark on her.
Teddy questions her. She tells him she took a long swim in the lake.
She responds to him as if he is her husband. Clue: she shows sign of having been out of doors in a storm, which Chuck points out.
S/T: Teddy is visibly disturbed by mention of the lake. Rachel's actions are similar to those of Teddy with Dolores in his dream. A carefully scripted role-play for 'Rachel'.
Chuck yet again restrains and supports Teddy.
27. INT. CAWLEY'S OFFICE – NIGHT
We found her down by the lighthouse, skipping stones.
Lights flash; thunder – Teddy is getting a migraine.
He reluctantly accepts painkillers. music Ch. 9: 53 mins 05
Clue: lightning is not usual in a hurricane. MS wants us to ponder whether Teddy is imagining the lightning or whether it's real. (The storm is real.)
M: lighthouse; cage (the cupboard door); "Boss, are you OK?" overexposed frames and canted angles replicate the dizzying effects of his migraine
28. INT. BASEMENT DORMITORY – NIGHT lightning flashes
Teddy is helped to a bed by Chuck and Trey. He sees the warden standing in the doorway.
CU lying on his back, flashing light the voice heard on the soundtrack loops the same phrases cf. the way Teddy loops his delusions first view of the warden – cf. a Nazi officer
F/S: scene in car signifier: The bright flickering light on Teddy's face signals he is dreaming.
29. EXT. DACHAU – NIGHT
D: Teddy dreams of Dachau, DREAM 2 – See p. 26 for more detail
B

C of Laeddis of Chuck, of Rachel who has killed three children M: fire, match, blood a deadline is introduced
D D: Teddy wakes abruptly.
He gets out his notebook – but the exterior door opens and in walks Dolores, who tells him Laeddis is still on the island, and that Teddy must find him and kill him. M: notebook; "Why're you all wet, baby?"
S/T: The persona of Teddy is Andrew's attempt to obliterate Laeddis. still a dream: he is holding her (in hallucinations – he doesn't touch her)
30. INT. BASEMENT DORMITORY – MORNING
And he really wakes up.
The nurses and orderlies are in a panic; the back-up generator has failed and prisoners are loose. Ch. 10: 61 mins 25 Day 3 signalled by the light on his face
First thing they do – light another cigarette!
M: "You OK, boss?"
31. EXT. HOSPITAL – MORNING
Outside, all is chaos: debris everywhere; prisoners being rounded up; tiles missing from the roof; the electric fence broken, the wall damaged.
Chuck suggests they should visit Ward C. FAST PAN
F/S ('loaded pistol') – Teddy's POV to where he will climb over the fence

32. INT. WARD C – DAY
HIGH WIDE EST. SHOT of old fort – Ward C
They join a procession of orderlies into the dungeon-like corridor; a guard who doesn't recognise them briefs them.
It is a grim brooding place – dark, chilling, with water dripping constantly. Cries echo.
Teddy chases after a near-naked barefooted inmate, Billings. Chuck follows but loses him in the labyrinth.
Mid-point: the decision to visit Ward C. Teddy stops reacting and becomes pro-active. He stops being the hunted and becomes the hunter.
M: chain link fence
DEEP FOCUS; light from windows and skylight
A: to the sewer in The Third Man

33. H/A LS Teddy in the stairwell;
He is jumped by Billings and dragged up the stairs.
Chuck's shout distracts Billings for a second and Teddy instantly frees himself and begins to punch and then strangle Billings. Chuck drags him off.
Chuck helps the guard take Billings to the infirmary, leaving Teddy alone. Teddy climbs the stairs. a great noir shot unusual angle: Teddy's feet as he is dragged up the stairs
Billings' dialogue echoes that of Bridget Kearns – that the world outside the island is more dangerous than the prison.
S/T: this is the dangerous Andrew who beat up Noyce.
M: cage – the whole staircase
34. INT. WARD C, THIRD FLOOR – DAY
Teddy lights match after match; as he follows the light into the darkness, he hears someone call "Laeddis".
Naked and semi-naked tattooed inmates in the cages.
Silence. Sudden noises.
Another match. Arms reach through the bars. Ch. 11: 67 mins 17 an interesting scene
M: match light no music – silence, sudden noises; JUMP CUTS
S/T: This does not square with Dr Cawley's talk of humane treatment of patients; this is like his description of the way things used to be. That it is all seen by match light is the clue: Teddy is seeing what he wants (or expects) to see, not what is really there.
A: echoes of every mental hospital horror film
35. He reaches the cell of George Noyce.
This isn't about the truth… It's about you! And Laeddis. That's all it's ever been about. … This is a game. All of this – is for you. You're not investigating anything. You're a f–g rat in a maze.
Noyce spells out Teddy's choice: kill Laeddis or expose the place. He cannot do both.
… You want to uncover the truth? You've got to let her go. (I can't.) … Then you'll never leave this island.
Noyce suggests Laeddis is in the lighthouse.

He rejoins Chuck and they walk out nonchalantly. Pinch Point – and clue: Noyce tells Teddy – and the audience – the truth about the whole charade, but it is not recognised as the truth by either.
Noyce's words create in Teddy a distrust of Chuck.
M: lobotomy; cage
S/T: is Noyce really saying these things or is this another of Teddy's hallucinations? The early remarks are recorded and quoted back to Teddy by Dr Cawley – but since there seems to be no one there to record them or even hear them, they are surely known to Dr Cawley because they are part of Teddy's 'script'. Is Noyce a real patient and the unlikely voice of truth – or is he more likely another voice of Andrew's unconscious trying to get through to him? His suggestion that Laeddis is in the lighthouse seems more hallucination than reality; the real Noyce knows Teddy is Laeddis. Echoes Dolores' "You have to let me go." music: 'On the Nature of Daylight', Max Richter
36. EXT. FOREST – LATE AFTERNOON
H/A: Teddy and Chuck climb through the trees.
Chuck says he visited patient records and abstracted Laeddis's intake form.
Teddy is strangely reluctant to look at it.
They continue towards the lighthouse. Ch. 12: 73 mins 49
More deliberate confusion of perception: Teddy points to the right as being the direction of the lighthouse – but when they reach the cliffs, it is to their left.
On a symbolic level, this is indicative of his subconscious reluctance to reach it.

37. EXT. BLUFFS – LATE AFTERNOON
H/A: Teddy and Chuck climb up the rocks out of the trees. The lighthouse is now to their left.
Teddy insists on trying to reach the lighthouse – over Chuck's protests.
Teddy goes on alone. H/A

Teddy's suspicions of Chuck have surfaced; his paranoia is growing.
He rejects Chuck and from here on is on his own.
38. EXT. ANOTHER PART OF CLIFFS
But he still can't get to the lighthouse. Clue: when Teddy first sees the lighthouse, it is on high ground, above him. Now it is on a rocky outcrop, in the sea, below the cliffs. It is how he perceives it.
39. EXT. BLUFFS – LATER
HIGH WIDE ELS
When he returns, Chuck is missing.
A cigarette end takes him to the edge of the cliff – and he sees Chuck's body on the rocks below. He climbs down the cliff face – retrieving the intake form as he goes. There is no body, just white rocks.
Another wonderful example of the 'Hitchcockian-high-and-wide-we're-all-tiny-and-life-is-terrible shot'.

A: the body to Vertigo; climbing to North by Northwest
Did he fall or was he pushed? H: Rats emerge in numbers – the cliff swarms with them. He sees fire flickering in a cave and climbs towards it. The rats are certainly an hallucination – perhaps the whole sequence of climbing up and down the rocks is as well. The intake form is real.
40. INT. CAVE – EVENING
H: A barefooted woman is in the cave – Dr Rachel Solando (Rachel 2).
And if I say I'm not crazy – well, that hardly helps, does it? That's the Kafka-esque genius of it. If people tell the world you're crazy, then all your protests to the contrary just confirm what they're saying. Ch. 13: 79 mins 45
Clues: even if nothing has raised doubts so far, surely this scene will do so. How could she have survived that storm? with no shoes? How does she know he is a US Marshal? Where is she getting food from? Where did her water bottle come from? How did she light the fire? She has a doctor's bag – where did she get that? … Your survival instincts are – 'defence mechanisms'.
You're smarter than you look, Marshal. That's probably not a good thing.
Dr Rachel spells out the giant conspiracy that is behind the facility – the brain experiments designed to produce an army of ghost soldiers who feel no pain, no love…
Fifty years from now, people will look back and say, 'Here, at this place, is where it all began. The Nazis used the Jews; Soviets used prisoners in their own Gulags. And we tested patients on Shutter Island.'
Dr Rachel warns him that he will not be allowed to leave. That they will use the traumatic experiences of his past to justify keeping him. And that everyone on the island knows what is happening. Teddy quotes Dr Naehring

Dr Rachel voices Teddy's conspiracy theory for him, as well as reiterating that he is trapped on the island. She is the voice of his paranoia and suspicion.
S/T: Teddy argues that "You can never take away a man's memories." His whole persona is an attempt to block, to erase, memories that are too painful to live with.
MS: 'This scene… is one of my favourites in the picture. She is like the Oracle of Delphi. It’s a ritualistic encounter, almost like an old myth.'
41. INT. CAVE – MORNING
H: Dr Rachel wakes him up and sends him away. He asks if she has seen Chuck.
Marshal, you have no friends. day 4
M: light flickering on his face – still a dream/hallucination
Rachel 2 is now wearing shoes.
Echo of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver
Plot Point 2: Teddy has had his suspicions confirmed; now he has to act – to expose the secret agenda of the island.
42. EXT. BLUFFS – A LITTLE LATER a hand reaches over the top and Teddy pulls himself up Ch. 14: 87 mins 56
A: North by Northwest
43. EXT. WOODS – MORNING the Warden pulls up in a jeep and Teddy gets in the Warden extols God's gift of violence
It's what we are. We wage war, we burn sacrifices, and pillage and plunder and tear at the flesh of our brothers. And why? Because God gave us violence to wage in his honour.
I thought God gave us moral order.
There's no moral order as pure as this storm. There's no moral order at all. There's just this: can my violence conquer yours?
SHALLOW FOCUS Contrast between the storm damage and the seemingly untouched woods, which seem idyllic.
One of the ironies of the film is that those in charge – the Warden, Dr Naehring – seem more sinister, more dangerous, than the actually dangerous inmates.
S/T: "Cawley thinks you're harmless…"
The scene has been filmed in one take with two cameras, one for each actor, giving a fluidity and continuity to the conversation.
Is the Warden expressing the central theme of most of Scorsese's films? Or just this one?
44. INT. HOSPITAL FOYER – DAY
Teddy is disturbed to find the place deserted – but then doctors, nurses, orderlies, patients emerge from a room.
Teddy says he has quit smoking.
Dr Cawley denies that Chuck exists.

He tells Teddy he will not allow him to jeopardise everything he has worked for. S/T: meeting to brief everyone on the role-play status.
Clues: Bridget Kearns can be heard expressing concern about her ability to keep up the charade.
M: cages; clouds of pipe smoke
Direct result of what Dr Rachel said.
The ground shifts again for us: from seeming to be supportive of Teddy, Cawley is suddenly one of the enemy.
S/T: Dr Cawley's denial of Chuck's existence is part of Teddy's narrative – this is his story, as he wrote it.
Dr Cawley is saying one thing; Teddy is hearing another. Dr Cawley is talking about humane treatment; Teddy hears illegal experiments.
45. INT. ORDERLIES' QUARTERS – DAY
Teddy showers.

Dressed again in a fresh orderly's uniform, he sneaks past Trey, getting his tie on the way past. Ch. 15: 93 mins 34
A: Psycho; + wonderful noir shadows on the wall cf. a ritual washing before action – baptism of the new 'action man'
His sticking plaster has finally gone; he notices tremors in his hands. music: 'Wheel of Fortune'
46. INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR – DAY
But he encounters Dr Naehring.
Teddy sees him try to pull out a hypodermic; he grabs it

What doesn't provoke you? Remarks? Words? … And of course memories and dreams. Did you know that the word 'trauma' comes from the Greek for 'wound'? And what is the German word for 'dream'? Traum. Ein Traum. Wounds can create monsters, and you are wounded, Marshal. And wouldn't you agree, when you see a monster, you must stop it? and uses it on the doctor himself. This is the only incident in the film that is not in the book – or the draft screenplay. No doubt, if you have cast the great Max Von Sydow, you want to give him more than just two short scenes.
S/T: on first viewing, the encounter with Naehring seems to confirm all Teddy's fears and suspicions. But his paranoia misinterprets what he sees: just as Trey, in the previous scene, is really keeping an eye on a patient, not a nosy US Marshall, so Naehring is carrying a syringe in case he needs to sedate an agitated patient.
F/S: final line: another example of two levels of meaning: Naehring sees Teddy as a monster; Teddy in his paranoia sees the doctor as one.
47. EXT. MANSION – DAY
Teddy runs through the gardens. Evidence of the destructive power of the storm is everywhere.
He uncovers a beautiful maroon '47 Buick Roadmaster.
H: Dolores tells him to get to the ferry.
He begins to feed the tie into the petrol tank.
H: Dolores begs him not to go to the lighthouse.
As the tie begins to burn, he runs to shelter behind a tree. H: From there he sees Rachel 3, who walks towards her mother.
The car explodes
H: they stand unscathed in the flames.
Guards and orderlies converge on the area.
Teddy runs to the corner of the fence where the wires are broken, and climbs over.

SHALLOW FOCUS makes Dolores fuzzy and indistinct.
Dolores represents his internal conflict: between saving himself (by getting off the island) and rescuing Chuck.
I can't lose anyone else. This is Andrew talking, not Teddy. He had ignored Dolores' need for help; he's not making that mistake again. This suggests he's connecting with reality on some level.
Clue: he has already fed the tie into the tank yet he holds it in his hands and looks at it. (This is not a continuity error.)
48. EXT. LIGHTHOUSE – DAY
Teddy swims to the lighthouse, disarms a guard and enters the lighthouse. Laeddis is dangerous yet Cawley is confident Teddy won't do serious harm to the guard. There has to be a guard; Teddy would be very suspicious if the lighthouse were left unguarded.

49. INT. LIGHTHOUSE – DAY
His every move is that of a soldier entering enemy territory. He climbs the stairs, checking each room. All empty, till he gets to the door of the top room. dominant theme music, as if he is going in to battle
No prisoners, no sign of a surgery, nothing clandestine.
A: stairs cf. Vertigo; H/A from the top of a tiny Teddy on the ground floor
50. INT. LIGHTHOUSE ROOM – DAY
He bursts in, to see Dr Cawley seated at a table.
Why are you all wet, baby?
Dr Cawley asks about his tremors and hallucinations.
H: Dolores tells him to get out. This place is going to be the end of you. She fades.
Dr Cawley explains to Teddy that his tremors are a symptom of withdrawal from Chlorpromazine. Teddy is in fact Andrew Laeddis, patient for the last two years, who is unable to face the enormity of his crime. Ch. 16: 101 mins 23

M You came here for the truth; here it is. Your name is Andrew Laeddis. The 67th patient at Ashecliffe is you, Andrew. … You've created a story in which you're not a murderer – you're a hero, still a US Marshal, only here at Ashecliffe because of a case. And you've uncovered a conspiracy, so that anything we tell you about who you are, what you've done, you can dismiss as lies, Andrew. …
I've been hearing this fantasy for two years now; I know every detail. Patient 67. The storm. Rachel Solando. Your missing partner. The dreams you have every night. … But you're violent, trained, dangerous. You're the most dangerous patient we have.
Dr Cawley tells him that unless he, Andrew, can face the truth, he will be lobotomised. There is nothing new in the narrative Cawley tells – it is the same information we have already been given, just presented from a different POV. For the first time, the story is told from someone else's perspective – though it is told to Teddy so we still share his POV of it.

For the first time Teddy is actually hearing the truth. Noyce told him the truth but Teddy did not hear the truth. Faced with the photographs of his dead children – Rachel, particularly – he can no longer evade it.
All the clues and hints and sub-text that have created unease throughout fall neatly into place, and everything makes sense.

Chuck arrives and introduces himself as Dr Lester Sheehan.
Dr Cawley offers Andrew the chance to be a 'war hero'.
We're on the front lines of a war here, old boy. And right now, it all comes down to you.
Teddy suddenly grabs his gun and threatens Dr Cawley who tells him to shoot. Ch. 17: 107 mins 57

Several shots; H: blood blossoms shockingly on the board behind Dr Cawley.
Teddy turns the gun on Dr Sheehan. //
He looks back at Dr Cawley – no blood. The gun is a toy.
Dolores was… manic depressive, suicidal. You drank, stayed away, ignored what everyone told you. You moved to that lake house after she purposely set you city apartment on fire.
Teddy attacks Sheehan but is distracted by photographs of three dead children: Simon, Henry and Rachel.
As he looks at the photograph of his dead daughter,
H: Dolores appears: I'm so sorry, baby. I told you not to come in here. I told you this would be the end of you.
Teddy stands alone in the room with Dolores and Rachel 3.
OUTPOINT: Rachel's outstretched hand. If anyone in the audience still thinks Teddy is the victim of a huge conspiracy, this shot must convince them otherwise.
A: the way the camera follows the direction of the gun was used by Hitchcock in Spellbound, another film set in a psychiatric hospital, and that uses dreams to reveal the truth.

she is the real bearer of the truth
51. F/B-PW
INT. // EXT. LAKE HOUSE – DAY
Andrew arrives home, has a quick drink and goes to look for Dolores.
She is on the swing outside.
Baby? Why are you all wet?
He looks for the children and finds then floating face down in the lake.
After bringing their bodies to shore, he grieves – and then shoots Dolores.
OUTPOINT: Dolores with her blood running over her.
Andrew collapses. Ch. 18: 112 mins 54 his tie is different here – so not an hallucination or dream music + on the radio is first a snatch of the 1948 blues ballad 'Tomorrow Night' by Lonnie Johnson, which segues into a voice cf. the preacher that Teddy hears earlier [28]
M
Andrew takes off one of Rachel's shoes – is this why all his incarnations of Rachel have bare feet?
The book is much more detailed about the shooting – Dolores makes it clear she wants Andrew to kill her.
M
52. INT. ANDREW'S CELL, WARD C – DAY
Andrew wakes; he is lying on his bed, now dressed in prison garb.
A nurse – Rachel 1 – stands by the bed. The warden is present also.
Andrew admits to the invention of Teddy Daniels.
After she tried to kill herself the first time, Dolores told me she had an insect living inside her brain. She could feel it clicking across her skull, pulling the wires just for fun. … I didn't listen. I loved her so much. … I killed them because I didn't get her help. I killed them.
F/S: Dr Cawley expresses his fear that this breakthrough will not last.
My name is Andrew Laeddis. And I murdered my wife in the spring of '52. Ch. 18: 118 mins 50

removing all doubt that she was a genuine inmate

The depth and strength of Andrew's feelings of guilt and responsibility are revealed.
53. EXT. HOSPITAL – DAY
Dr Sheehan joins Andrew on the steps.
We've gotta get off this rock, Chuck. … Whatever the hell's going on here, it's bad.
Dr Sheehan looks at Dr Cawley, who is on the other side of the lawn with Dr Naehring and the Warden, and shakes his head.
CU SHALLOW FOCUS Dr Cawley, tragically resigned. He says something and turns away.
Naehring and the Warden look satisfied; the latter signals.
BCU TWO: Don't worry partner, they're not going to catch us.
He watches as Dr Naehring and the Warden walk across the lawn, meet an orderly, who carries surgical tools.
You know, this place makes me wonder. … Which would be worse – to live as a monster? Or to die as a good man?
Dr Sheehan and Dr Cawley watch Andrew as he walks away with Naehring and the Warden. // Some time has elapsed – the place is immaculate again, with every sign of the storm gone. The screenplay suggests screen text 'two weeks later' but this was not used.
Dr Sheehan does not call him "Boss"; he waits for Andrew to initiate the situation. Andrew is not in shackles like the other visible inmates; as 'Teddy' he is relatively harmless.

All is prepared so they are all aware of Andrew's regression; Dr Sheehan has just got confirmation that nothing has changed.

Andrew is almost cheerful; Dr Sheehan's heart is breaking.
A wonderfully ambiguous ending that has provoked much discussion. Has Andrew made the conscious decision to accept the lobotomy to free himself from his nightmares? Or is this just a philosophical question he asks in his persona as Teddy?
Why does Sheehan call "Teddy" after him? If he realises Andrew is himself, why not call him Andrew? But if Andrew has regressed to being Teddy again, why does he go with Naehring so willingly?
54. the rocks, the sea, gulls PAN to the lighthouse beautiful, peaceful, calm
125 minutes