After Dark, My Sweet (1990): Faye’s Fantasy
Follow-up article to the prior film theory:
In the previous article, we posed the theory that Kevin “Kid” Collins (aka Collie) had imagined the entire story due to his mental illness. He may have been Jack Billingsley in reality. In this theory, we are exploring the idea that Faye Anderson is in fact the one who has imagined the story. However, it may have been based on real memories/people she knew before a significant tragedy lead her to lose her sanity.
Some similar points will be present here is with the prior article, as it does overlap a bit. For instance, when Kid is introduced at the start of the film he opens his eyes. The interpretation is that Faye is basically creating the Kid Collins character entirely in an effort to redeem herself and/or change the past (prior tragedy). Throughout the story, Kid does various things as if he were a hero, but at a point it starts to unravel. More on that later.
One part of this theory is that Faye’s prior tragedy (that lead her to lose her sanity) was a miscarriage. This is supported by the crying baby outside of Bert’s bar at the beginning as well as the moment when Kid almost runs over a lady with a red baby carriage (also crying is heard) while driving to kidnap Charlie. The broad plot point of needing to save Charlie’s life might also be part of this (Faye trying to change the past in her mind). We could also argue that the kidnapping in of itself is an effort to get her child back. Faye Anderson (and her son)…..
While in Bert’s Bar, and even in the next scene, Faye uses several childlike phrases when addressing Kid (Jack and Jill, a piggyback ride). This starts to set up the aspect of the story surrounding the child (Charlie). Her having a station wagon seems like a parental choice, although we understand why later on — it seems like an odd choice at that point in the film.
Faye immediately brings Kid into her home and starts to include him in things she did with her late husband (wear his clothes, go to their favorite restaurant). It’s as if she’s reimagining her dead husband if he were younger/stronger and more under her control. When she says to Kid “he’s dead, Kevin. Gone to hell”, it could be heard as “he is Dead Kevin; gone to hell”, implying that her late husband is the dead version of Kid? Hard to say. Nevertheless, in these first few scenes, it really seems like Faye and Uncle Bud are telling Kid who he is and filling in a lot of blanks. He almost seems like he doesn’t have anything to say on his own after he tells the Jack Billingsley story. While Faye shows Kid to the back yard trailer, he asks about the date palms. She informs him that her husband imported them and calls it “get rich quick scheme number 302”. This might suggest that her late husband was constantly looking for schemes to make money, likely the one involving the kidnapping of Charlie Vanderbender. Perhaps Uncle Bud represents her late husband to an extent, which will make sense at a few points throughout the film.
Bud meets Kid while dancing with Faye at her favorite Mexican restaurant. By the looks of it, they could actually be in Mexico. Who knows what part of Faye’s memory this is from. But the way Bud tells Kid that he used to be a detective can be interpreted almost as if he were a ghost now. Former detective and a former boxer with a widow. The seeds of the scheme are planted right away, even though Bud almost scares Kid away from Faye. He then literally vanishes when Faye returns from the bathroom, having never even spoken to him.
Once Faye tells “Collie” to go away, he goes to a diner and in a drunken state basically re-enacts the first bar scene. What’s important here is that he meets Doctor Goldman. Doc is not a mental health professional, but appears to be a primary care physician of some type. He takes a great interest in Kid’s “condition” and mental health (to the point of taking him in to his home — like Faye did). What if Doc is speaking to Faye’s imagined alternate persona “Collie”? It is interesting that only Faye and Doc call Kid “Collie”. Uncle Bud and the cop at the end call him Kid. Doc would probably call him Kevin, unless he was humoring Faye’s delusion. Perhaps she’s in a psych ward imagining this story, and Doc periodically intrudes while attempting to treat her. Perhaps these are her encounters with reality.
Kid then returns to Faye’s and presumable decides to go along with Bud’s scheme. As mentioned in the prior article, it is noteworthy that a) the newspaper clippings about Charlie are in Faye’s house and b) she is the one who has the same car as Rogers. It does not seem that Uncle Bud is masterminding this scheme completely. Perhaps Faye has introduced Kid into the story/memory in place of her to attempt to avoid certain tragedy (Bud’s death? Charlie’s death?).
When Doc shows up at Faye’s house, he approaches in a black car. In retrospect, this seems to be both a foreshadowing of death but also reality trying to reach Faye yet again. Closer this time, but Kid is able to send Doc away without him seeing “the widow”. Although Kid states that he’s “on loose from a mental institution”, we can assume that Doc is humoring Faye and trying to connect the imagined “Collie” with the real Faye. Delusion with reality. Of course, this is within the fantasy. Doc Goldman is not a mental health professional, so perhaps he was Faye’s physician that was unable to save her child? It seems that all of the characters in Faye’s fantasy are based on someone real from her memories. Kid even tells Doc that “she needs me”, which does make sense if he is her delusion/fantasy. Within the story at face value, Faye does not need Kid.
There is a scene where Uncle Bud is sitting with Kid and Faye after they discussed the kidnapping plan. This is discussed in the prior article, but it is still striking that Faye says absolutely nothing until Bud leaves. Perhaps not unlike the Mexican restaurant scene she is speaking as Bud and Kid therefore unable to enter the conversation. This happens again when they go to Bud’s crumby sweatshop apartment later in the film. Another interesting thing here is that there are three chairs at the table and a map on top of it. Later when Bud returns, there are four chairs at the table but no map. The coffee pot is still there though. Doesn’t seem like the filmmakers would have any reason to change this from shot to shot…..but it doesn’t have a clear meaning. Just odd.
At this point the theory finds some difficulty: Faye leaves the house upon learning that Kid (thanks to Doc) is a former mental patient. Or at least we assume that’s why. However, when we see Kid’s reaction to confirming that Faye has left (seeing her car is missing from the driveway) he almost looks like a robot. He makes no expression and does a strange head jerk motion. It’s actually very odd. Kid then calls Doc and explains that Faye did not take the news well. Here is a key moment, as Kid says “that makes her kind of crazy, Doc” referring to Faye. He also says she’s abnormal. We would assume that Doc is having these conversations with Faye in the real world, but she’s almost acting with a split personality and employing the character she created named “Collie”. Again, Doc would simply be humoring her to work his way up to confronting the truth.
Kid decides to go on with the kidnapping scheme and suddenly is dressed up like a chauffer driving the station wagon to the kids’ golf course. When Kid nearly runs over the baby stroller (oddly red, fitting in the theme of almost everything in the film being red), was this something that happened to Faye? Is this part of the fantasy that gets “corrected” by Kid’s being implanted into Faye’s past memories? The next thing that Kid does is purposely bring the “wrong boy” (Jack) to the meet up with Uncle Bud and Faye to see what Bud will do. It appears Bud was about to shoot Kid until he saw that it was not Charlie sitting in the car. Is this also a moment where Faye’s fantasy corrected the past? Perhaps Bud (her late husband) shot the real Rogers and the kidnapped Charlie (the murder charge Kid refers to at the end?).
When Kid goes back to the golf course and kidnaps Charlie, he encounters Rogers and punches him twice and knocks him out (the radio says he was in a coma). What is interesting is that the actor who portrayed Rogers is not listed when the ending credits roll. Is this a clue? On re-watch it does look very much like Jason Patric, but why not credit the actor? They even credit the “second driver” in the diner who does not even have a speaking role. It is never confirmed, but we could assume that perhaps Faye had some type of relationship with Rogers. Since he looks a lot like Kid in that scene, could he be the dead husband that “was around the same size” as Kid? Is this why Faye is driving the red station wagon at the start of the film? One would probably avoid doing that if they planned on using it for a major crime later on….
In the following scene, Kid brings Charlie back to Faye’s house where Bud and her are waiting. When Kid takes Charlie into the bedroom, we can hear faintly on the radio that a prior kidnapping occurred in 1953, and that the body was found 12 years later in a shallow grave. It’s not clear if this is at all significant, but if it’s Faye’s imagination and memories then could this be something related to what actually occurred? The film seems to be in the present, but most of the cars are vintage and the dialog has many moments of typical noir (“mack”, “don’t get sore”, “needling me”). At this point the fantasy starts to shift once tempers flare and trust breaks down. Kid accuses Bud and Faye of trying to fake the kidnapping and kill/blame Kid (as he previously suggested doing). After this scene, Kid is in the backyard amongst the date palms burying the chauffer clothes. Why not burn them? Is this a reference to the shallow grave statement from the radio? Faye’s memory of that being replaced?
In the following scene, Faye feeds Charlie pie and various other sugary foods. She and Kid discuss “ending it all” and leaving together. She abruptly leaves in the car, leaving Kid sitting on the front steps narrating his thoughts. Charlie interrupts this (literally) when he tells Kid he’s sick. When Faye wakes Kid up the next morning she tells him Charlie is sick and looks like he’s dying. Kid checks on him, and upon returning to the bar/living area Uncle Bud is sitting in the spot Kid was just in and reading a newspaper. This is something that happens numerous times in the film (Bud suddenly appearing), and at this point it seems like Faye’s fantasy is merging moments together, as if time skipped ahead to when Bud had later showed up. Also, in this scene (which resembles the Bert’s bar scene at the beginning) Faye says nothing. She sits off in the corner and even when Bud asks her a question she merely slides her glass away. Of note, Kid says that Faye will call Doc Goldman out on a “phony call”. Is this part of Faye’s memories? After all, one doesn’t simply call a doctor and tell him to go to an unknown address. Odd idea to say the least. It adds to the notion that Doc was her real-life physician in whatever reality she’s recreating here.
Kid returns to Doc’s and sneaks in to get the insulin for Charlie. This could be a moment in the story that Faye created to allow “the boy” to be saved (assuming she lost a child in real-life). Again, she’s using the Kid character to right the wrongs of the tragedy, or at least try to. However, she starts to lose control and things revert towards a doomed fate. Also, while Kid is waiting to meet Bud, Bert re-enters the story. It looks like he’s about to stab Bud in the poolhall before Kid intervenes at the last minute. This could be Faye’s fantasy attempt to save Bud or the memory of her late husband. Film-wise, it’s really a way to remind the audience of who he is before the ending scene.
Kid is able to administer the insulin to Charlie, but it doesn’t seem to solve the problem completely. Next we endure an awkward and long love scene with Kid and Faye. As Kid awakens in Faye’s bed the following morning, we’re reminded of Bud’s warning (make sure and sleep alone). Kid is told by Faye that they need to go to Uncle Bud’s, but then she blurts out that the boy is gone. Kid stays very calm, assumes they’ll easily find him and gets dressed. At this point it almost seems like Kid has turned into a different person — from here on he is violent towards Faye and seems to be determined to “have the end come” as he later states. Doc shows up unexpectedly while Faye is yelling about having meant to kill Charlie (not meaning it), and the whole encounter feels like worlds finally collided. Reality (Doc) finally confronts Faye (Fantasy) and at the same time discovers the boy. Doc tells Kid he was duped into the scheme, but before he’s able to leave Kid kills him. The can be interpreted as Faye beginning to dismantle her fantasy. She tries to kill reality, but it ends up being the beginning of a series of deaths leading to the end of the film. Also interesting here, the radio later says Doc was found bound and gagged in an “isolated desert home”. We assume this is Faye’s house, but perhaps the radio broadcast is referencing reality — Faye’s real memory of what had happened before she went insane.
The next scene shows Faye and Kid taking Charlie to Bud’s sweatshop apartment hideout. This scene somewhat recalls when Kid first goes to Doc Goldman’s house (having to pass through the office/front area to get to the living space/room). Only here, it’s totally depressing and run-down. Again, sort of the nightmare version of a prior scene/memory that Faye had. Perhaps this was part of the original scenario that went tragic. Again, Kid is quite different here, he tells Bud that they are going to get the money and seems to know it’s a death wish. Bud pleads, but Kid doesn’t care. They then head to the airport to presumable get the ransom money.
As they enter the airport terminal, it sort of resembles the pick-up/drop-off area of a hospital. It would seem that Faye’s memory of being committed is manifesting here, perhaps as she gets closer to reality. Once Bud emerges from the airport with the red satchel, Bert follows him out and shoots him dead. The cops then shoot Bert as he attempts to take the money. This is more of Faye’s fantasy falling apart, as two more characters are killed.
A cop allows Kid and Faye to leave the scene, and as they drive away from the airport the lush green area suddenly turns into a desert — as if they totally exited the fantasy and found the end of the line, so to speak. Kid pulls over and narrates that he wants to make it so Faye can get out of the scheme with no charges. Faye is creating the situation which allows her to kill Kid and save her child. He tells Faye she “did the right thing” — offering redemption for what she must have failed to do in real-life. Kid is left basically in the same place he started in the movie, and the camera focuses on his open eye while we hear the prior dialog between him and Faye: “You really believe there could be a you and me?”. The line seems to suggest that Kid is imagined, so of course there cannot be a “you and me” since it’s basically all in Faye’s head.
The nature of the real-life tragedy that Faye suffered may never be known, but it does seem to involve the combination of the loss of her husband and child, likely within the context of a scheme gone wrong. Some questions remain, but many can be answered by this interpretation. Did Bert kill her husband? Did Rogers run over her child? Was Doc Goldman unable to save her child resulting in a miscarriage? Who is the Kid Collins character (if related to her real-life past)? Why a boxer? The film is presented with enough loose ends to allow various interpretations.
In summary, this interpretation holds that Faye has created a fantasy/delusion out of real memories to attempt to redeem herself and/or relive the past in a different way. She creates Kid Collins as a would be hero who intervenes in certain situations, but ultimately cannot keep one element out of the picture entirely: reality. Faye likely suffer some sort of tragedy which drove her to insanity for which she has been committed. Perhaps she ended up committing murder (her heated “confession” to Kid about wanting to kill Charlie comes to mind) or perhaps she just feels guilt over the loss of her spouse and child.
