Film
The film, unlike the novel, does not employ flashbacks. The narrative begins in 1918, when the patient simply called Smith is in the asylum. The viewer first encounters Paula in this context as his rescuer, and so is well aware of her identity throughout the film.
Rainier meets Paula for the second time some time after 1920, having recovered his original memories, but having lost the memory of his years as Smith, her husband. She identifies herself to him as Margaret Hansen, and becomes his trusted private secretary, later entering into a non-romantic, platonic marriage with him. Her motives and anxieties are revealed to the audience through discussions with Dr. Jonathan Benet, Smith's psychiatrist from the asylum, a character original to the film. He cautions her that she must not reveal her true identity to Rainier, that he must recover his memories, if he's going to, spontaneously.
Thus, at the end of the film, it is only to Charles Rainier / Smithy that Paula's true identity is revealed, and there is never any uncertainty that she is his lost love.
Kitty does not die in the film. Rainier's father is already deceased when he returns to Random Hall, and, after 1920 when he recovers his memories, no specific dates or historical events are given. We know only that enough years have passed for Kitty to graduate from university, and for Rainier to become ensconced in the business world.
Read more about this topic: Random Harvest
Famous quotes containing the word film:
“The woman’s world ... is shown as a series of limited spaces, with the woman struggling to get free of them. The struggle is what the film is about; what is struggled against is the limited space itself. Consequently, to make its point, the film has to deny itself and suggest it was the struggle that was wrong, not the space.”
—Jeanine Basinger (b. 1936)
“[Film noir] experiences periodic rebirth and rediscovery. Whenever we have any moment of deep societal rift or disruption in America, one of the ways we can express it is through the ideas and behavior in film noir.”
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“Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.”
—Ingmar Bergman (b. 1918)