Line #71 Film/ShutterIsland


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shutter-island-poster_1777.jpg]]
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3	The 2010 FilmOfTheBook of ''Literature/ShutterIsland''. It was adapted by Creator/MartinScorsese with Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio as Teddy Daniels, Creator/MarkRuffalo as Chuck Aule, and Creator/BenKingsley as Dr. Cawley.
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5	The film follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule as they investigate the disappearance of a patient from a psychiatric facility on Shutter Island. As the investigation progresses, Teddy uncovers disturbing truths about the facility, his own past, and his sanity. The ending delivers a shocking twist that [[TheEndingChangesEverything radically changes the perspective]] on the events that unfolded throughout the movie.
6	----
7	!!The movie contains examples of:
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9	* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:"Teddy" seems to have had a breakthrough in which he has finally admitted that he is really Andrew Laeddis and that he killed his wife after she killed their children. He then seems to have had a relapse in the last scene Andrew is calling Dr. Sheehan "Chuck" again as if he still believes that they are both U.S. Marshals there to investigate a case. However, Andrew's last line--"Which would be worse--to live as a monster, or to die as a good man?"--implies that Andrew ''does'' still realize that he is Andrew, and that he is only faking a relapse, so that he can be lobotomized and forget what happened forever]].
10	* AmnesiacProtagonistCatalyst: The police officer Teddy [[spoiler:''is'' Andrew Laeddis. But this is a downplayed case, since everyone else was aware of it and was just playing along to try and cure him.]]
11	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler:Cawley is able to break 'Teddy' by asking if the little girl who haunts him, Andrew's dead daughter Rachel, is not real.]]
12	* AssholeVictim: The concentration camp guards at Dachau, who the American soldiers [[PayEvilUntoEvil gunned down en masse even after they had surrendered]]. Although it was kept classified for many years, [[TruthInTelevision this really happened.]]
13	* AxCrazy:
14	** Andrew's wife crosses into this territory after [[spoiler:she drowns her children]].
15	** Several patients obviously fit the bill, most notably Peter Breen, Rachel Solando [[spoiler:(at first)]], various patients at C Block, and [[spoiler:Andrew Laeddis]].
16	** Implied with The Warden when he gives a little speech to Teddy about violence while giving him a lift. The Warden seems suspiciously amused, and insists he knows Teddy and that he's a violent as they come. [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out the warden's just messing with a troublesome patient]].
17	* BedlamHouse: The dangerous inmates of Ward C are held in cages in a dark and damp Civil War-era military fort.
18	* BerserkButton: Reminding Teddy that he is [[spoiler:Andrew Laeddis]] causes him to become physically violent towards the patients.
19	* BigNo: Teddy gets a pretty good one during the revealing flashback at the end of the film, [[spoiler:upon realizing that his wife drowned his children]].
20	* BlastOut: During the flashback to the Nazi camp, one German guard tries to flee and gets shot by a US soldier which triggers a chain reaction causing a massacre with couple dozen of Germans guards dead.
21	* BleedEmAndWeep: In the FlashbackMontageRealization, we see [[spoiler: Andrew performing a MercyKill on his murderous wife and then sobbing over her bleeding body.]]
22	* BungledSuicide: The commandant of the Dachau concentration camp in Daniels' flashback tried to shoot himself, but failed and took an hour to die. Daniels moved the gun away to prolong his suffering by preventing a second attempt.
23	* ButYouWereThereAndYouAndYou: It's revealed towards the end that [[spoiler:the 'Rachel Solando' Teddy was looking for (played by Emily Mortimer) is another nurse at the hospital]].
24	* ByTheBookCop: Subverted. Teddy Daniels is on Shutter Island not only for a missing person's case but to find Andrew Laeddis, the man responsible for the death of Daniels's wife.
25	* CampfireCharacterExploration: Teddy finds Solando in a cave and she delivers an exposition about herself and the conspiracy while they are sitting around a fire.
26	* CatapultNightmare: Teddy has a few thanks to his [[PastExperienceNightmare haunting nightmares]].
27	* CatchYourDeathOfCold: When Teddy meets Dr. Cawley at the lighthouse, the latter tells him to dry off lest he catch a cold. Justified by the fact that the movie is set in 1954 when the science of catching a cold wasn't as advanced as today.
28	* ClosedCircle: The ferry's captain mentions [[AStormIsComing an upcoming storm]] and we later see [[HostileWeather the storm raging]] on the island, keeping the protagonists from leaving.
29	* CompositeCharacter: Done in-universe with [[spoiler:Teddy's imaginary Andrew Laeddis. He takes his name and slaying of Dolores from the man Teddy actually is, while his arson is taken from Dolores.]]
30	* TheConspiracy: Teddy believes there is one in Shutter Island's Ashecliffe Hospital starting with the disappearance of Rachel Solando and going further down to them involving Nazi experiments of the human mind. [[spoiler:Subverted later on, as this is only a fake reality Andrew Laeddis has made up for himself and that his doctors are trying to prove it isn't real.]]
31	* ConversationCut: When Teddy opens up to Chuck about his relationship with Andrew Laeddis, his monologue seamlessly continues from when they are inside the institution to them in raincoats walking on a field towards the forest.
32	* CuttingBackToReality: In the finale, [[spoiler:Teddy manages to get his hands on the firearm that was confiscated from him at the start of the film and hold Dr. Cawley and Dr. Sheehan at gunpoint. Cawley makes it clear that shooting them is the only way Teddy is going to get off the island, so Teddy shoots him four times in the chest, splattering the board behind him in blood, then turns the gun in Sheehan's direction... and then we cut back to Cawley, who is completely unharmed. The gun is a toy and always has been: Teddy is actually a patient at the hospital - specifically the mysterious Andrew Laeddis that "Teddy" has been pursuing - and wouldn't be trusted with a real firearm even in the roleplay scenario that's been established for him]].
33	* DeathByWomanScorned: Discussed. Teddy interviews a female patient who argues that axing a man who [[DomesticAbuse beats]] and cheats on you is the most rational thing to do.
34	* DeathOfAChild: Along with the dead children at Dachau, Rachel Solando killed her three children by drowning them [[spoiler:and by extension, so did Dolores]].
35	* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype: Teddy embodies the noir hero with a troubled background. [[spoiler:But we find out "Teddy" is a coping mechanism for Andrew who cannot hope to process his pain.]]
36	* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Andrew decides that he can no longer live with the truth of his actions and chooses lobotomy.]]
37	* {{Determinator}}: Teddy Daniels is very determined to find answers on Shutter Island, but this is [[spoiler:deconstructed later on because it's actually Andrew Laeddis refusing to accept reality.]]
38	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Andrew is so guilt-ridden over what he has done to his wife and children that he chooses to be lobotomized by faking his regression. As a result, the roleplay therapy Dr. Cawley devised has been discredited.]]
39	* DreamWithinADream: When Teddy has another PastExperienceNightmare at the facility's sleeping quarters, he wakes up to see Dolores walk into the room. They reunite and then Teddy wakes up again.
40	* DrivenToMadness: [[ZigzaggingTrope Zig-zagged]]. At first, it's treated as though Teddy is being slowly driven to madness by his investigation on Shutter Island, [[spoiler:from having nightmares, up to being paranoid when his partner Chuck suddenly disappears. Subverted when the story reveals he's actually a patient named Andrew Laeddis; the doctors are actually trying to ''cure'' his madness. This comes back to being played straight because what happened to his wife and children really did make him crack before the start of the story.]]
41	* DrPsychPatient: [[spoiler:Inverted. It's the ''protagonist'' who turns out to be a delusional patient, not the people he meets at the asylum.]]
42	* TheEndingChangesEverything: The ending revealed that [[spoiler:everything about the film was a delusion of Laeddis]].
43	* EpiphanyTherapy: [[spoiler:Possibly double]] subverted. [[spoiler:As of the film's ending, Dr. Cawley has gotten Teddy/Andrew to snap out of his madness twice, but neither time stuck. The ending however strongly implies that Andrew is really cured, but is so guilt-ridden about what he had done that he pretends to have regressed back to the Teddy Daniels fantasy so they will lobotomize him, and his last line in particular implies that he knows.]]
44	* EthnicMenialLabor: All the male wardens at the institution, except for one, are black.
45	* EyeScream:
46	** "If I sink my teeth into your eye right now do you think you can stop me before I blind you?"
47	** The description of a lobotomy, which [[spoiler:is very strongly implied to be the lead character's fate]]. A real lobotomy doesn't actually damage the eye''ball'', as this is gently pushed sideways to clear a path to the orbital fissures at the rear of the eye socket. Still extremely creepy.
48	* FailureToSaveMurder: [[spoiler:Andrew feels he let his children die because he didn't get help for his wife earlier, and as a result, he has nightmares of his daughter telling him he should have saved all of them.]]
49	* FamedInStory: In the opening scene, Chuck mentions that Teddy is considered a legendary USMarshal among his peers.
50	* FireWaterJuxtaposition: As symbolism for the juxtaposition between delusion and reality. While [[spoiler:Teddy is having delusions about who Andrew Laeddis is and how his wife died]], fire is a prevalent theme. But reality, [[spoiler:which is that his wife drowned their three children]], becomes more apparent when you consider Teddy's discomfort with water.
51	* FlashbackMontageRealization: During TheReveal [[spoiler:Andrew recalls what happened on that fateful day by the lake house.]]
52	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Many details hint TheReveal that [[spoiler:Teddy Daniels is actually a delusional patient, and that his partner Chuck is just playing along with Teddy's delusions]].
53	** "You can't just choose to be sane."
54	** The warden says to Teddy: [[spoiler:"You're as violent as they come."]]
55	** What George Noyce tells him: [[spoiler:"You can't dig up the truth ''and'' kill Laeddis, [[TomatoInTheMirror you just can't]]."]]
56	** When Teddy finds Noyce with a large scar on his face and asks who did it to him. Noyce responds, "[[spoiler:You did]]."
57	** While talking with Noyce, the camera repeatedly frames Teddy [[spoiler:through ''the prison bars'']].
58	** Symbolisms of FireWaterJuxtaposition are used as signs to distinguish [[spoiler:Teddy's delusions. One of the realities he so desperately wants to avoid is that his wife ''drowned'' their three children. Water is the opposite of fire in the same way that reality is the opposite of delusion. In each scene where fire shows up, "Teddy" is actively having delusions. When water shows up, he is more actively being forced to confront reality.]]
59	*** Teddy told his partner that [[spoiler:his wife was killed by smoke from a fire]]. A constant habit of his is smoking.
60	*** When Dr. Cawley is first introduced, pay attention to how he speaks about how the mentally ill used to be treated. Before he says "drowned", he quickly glances at Teddy and slightly changes his tone. While this further underscores Dr. Cawley's distaste for what passed as mental health care in the past, it's also [[spoiler:his way of testing Andrew. Dr. Cawley knows that Andrew's children were drowned, and thus even the mention of drowning might be enough to trigger him]].
61	*** The constant mention of fire is alluding to Teddy's wife who burned their apartment down as mentioned in the book.
62	*** "Smoke from a fire" could have also been referring to [[spoiler:the smoke from his gun, which is how he killed his wife, and as shown when he hallucinates shooting it.]]
63	*** [[spoiler:How Andrew (then believing himself to be Teddy) utilized matches to see in Ward C, having told Sheehan (as Chuck) that Laeddis was a firebug. Granted, he ''had'' to use something to see in the nearly-pitch-black ward, but it's heavily inferrable based on how much attention the movie pays to Andrew lighting each match.]]
64	*** Listen ''very'' closely when Teddy lights a match while talking to George Noyce, and you can hear [[spoiler:a child's scream]].
65	*** When Teddy [[spoiler:blows up the car]], he again sees his wife and the girl. [[spoiler:Both aren't touched by the fire at all, foreshadowing how it wasn't fire that had hurt them.]]
66	** Chuck has a [[spoiler:hard time taking off his gun when they first enter the facility. Any lawman would be able to take it off as quickly as Teddy.]]
67	** Shortly after arriving on the island, Teddy decides to quit the investigation early on due to Cawley refusing to meet his requests, threatening to file a report of the investigation. [[spoiler:But at this point he stammers, because he's not quite certain who it is he reports to, since he only ''was'' a marshal. Chuck has to finish the sentence for him, and since he knows about the FBI, he goes for "[[DoubleEntendre Hoover's boys]]".]]
68	** Teddy is quick to notice the facility has an electrified fence, and seems to instantly work out that Peter Breen can't handle the sound of a pencil scratching on paper. [[spoiler:It's not just Teddy working these things out. It's Teddy remembering these things due to spending two years at Shutter Island.]]
69	** Several members of the hospital staff are actually seen [[spoiler:completely breaking character in-universe in front of Teddy, yet the place already feels so weird that one doesn't pay attention to these small details at first]]. This includes, but is not limited to:
70	*** [[spoiler:On the rocks, [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy the guards are not even looking for Rachel]], they just sit and wait for Teddy and Chuck to move along.]]
71	*** [[spoiler:When they interrupt the Board of Overseers, Naehring and two doctors make fun of Teddy's recurring delusions.]]
72	*** [[spoiler:When Teddy is interviewing the staff and forces one of them to admit he breached protocol to use the restroom, Chuck can be seen in the background glancing and nodding at one of orderlies, non-verbally assuring him that Teddy is stable.]]
73	*** [[spoiler:When they enter Ward C, a guard just tells them it's a scary place, then inexplicably runs away instead of helping them.]]
74	** [[spoiler:The Rachel played by Emily Mortimer briefly thinks Teddy is her husband.]]
75	%% FridgeLogic and FridgeBrilliance examples go on those pages, not here.
76	* FreshClue: When Teddy returns to the cliff, he doesn't see Chuck but there is a cigarette butt lying by the edge that's still smoking. [[spoiler:It makes him take a look over the edge to see Chuck's corpse down below.]]
77	* TheFundamentalist: Dr. Naehring [[DeliberateValuesDissonance sees the patients as fundamentally dangerous, and prefers lobotomies to actual treatment.]] [[MotiveRant He justifies himself by saying that you must kill a ''monster'' when you see it.]]
78	* {{Gaslighting}}: By the end, Teddy is certain that the doctors are trying to gaslight him into thinking that he's always been a mental patient and that his life as a heroic US Marshal was a delusion. [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out that Teddy actually was a patient of the facility and most of what we saw was an elaborate role play meant to help him come to grips with his past.]]
79	* GoAmongMadPeople: When Teddy finds Solando, she explains to him that she was declared insane to lock her away while she actually was of sound mind. And the same seems to be happening to Teddy.
80	* GoryDiscretionShot:
81	** The BungledSuicide of the commandant at Dachau is shown only through fluttering papers in his office and a shot of him lying on the floor in a puddle of his own blood afterwards, too distant to show much detail.
82	** The ending has the "peaceful" shot of the lighthouse. The previous scene makes clear [[{{Lobotomy}} what will happen]] to [[spoiler:Laeddis]] there.
83	* GratuitousGerman: Teddy throws in some German words into his conversation with [[HerrDoktor Dr. Naehring]].[[note]]His pronunciation [[SugarWiki/SurprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage is not that bad.]][[/note]]
84	* HeadacheOfDoom: Teddy Daniels suffers a mild headache not long after arriving at Ashecliff, apparently caused by dehydration from sea sickness. However, the second day on the island ends with Daniels suffering a migraine so powerful that it causes him to collapse, and he has to be helped into bed. According to [[spoiler:"Rachael Solando"]], this has actually been caused by the hospital staff drugging him in the hopes of faking a descent into madness and imprisoning him as a patient. [[spoiler:The truth is much stranger: Daniels is actually Andrew Laeddis, a delusional patient at the hospital, and his headaches are withdrawal symptoms - the result of him being taken off antipsychotic medication.]]
85	* HeroAntagonist: Dr. Cawley. [[spoiler:He seems really sad and regretful when he has to admit his own defeat.]]
86	* HerrDoktor: Played with. Dr. Naehring is undeniably German (although [[FakeNationality played by a legendary Swede]]), but his accent is much lighter than required by the trope. Teddy Daniels (a WWII veteran who participated in the liberation of Dachau) starts to believe that Dr. Naehring is a fugitive Nazi continuing his horrible experiments in the U.S. [[spoiler:This theory turns out to be just another part of Andrew's delusion.]]
87	* {{Homage}}: The film is absolutely crawling with them, in particular Creator/AlfredHitchcock and ''Film/{{Vertigo}}''.
88	** The crooked angles in the lighthouse are an homage to ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'', a German film told from the perspective of an asylum patient.
89	** Key parts of the plot and overall theme may be an homage to ''Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari'' as well.
90	** Michelle Williams's portrayal of Dolores is said by her to be a nod to Julie Harris in ''Film/TheHaunting1963''.
91	** There's a full-on shot of a shower head as Teddy takes a shower the morning after he's caught in the rain. That is a direct lift from the shower scene in ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' (and Scorsese would use it again in ''Film/TheDeparted'').
92	* IgnoranceIsBliss: While it appears that the doctor's efforts at curing [[spoiler:the main character]] of his massive defensive delusions have ultimately failed, the final line may imply that it didn't fail. Instead, he deliberately maintained the act [[spoiler:in order to be lobotomized, and forget everything ''anyway'']].
93	* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler:Nearly the entire film is one, on the part of Dr. Cawley, to help Andrew realize the truth. He succeeds, but Andrew [[IgnoranceIsBliss doesn't want to live with the truth]]]].
94	* InsanityEstablishmentScene: When the Dr. Cawley writes [[spoiler:"Andrew Laeddis" on the board, revealing that Teddy and Andrew are the same person]].
95	* InspiredBy: The eventual twist of the story bears a great amount of similarity to ''Film/{{Memento}}'':
96	** Both feature a traumatised detective [[spoiler:who turns out to be nothing of the sort]];
97	** Both reveal that the "detective" is [[spoiler:investigating a crime that he himself committed, while he blames it on an elusive (actually fictional, or in the case of ''Memento'', possibly fictional) scapegoat]];
98	** Both [[spoiler:reveal that people in the protagonist's life are taking advantage of him through his disability]];
99	** Both reveal the protagonist's confidant [[spoiler:is really closer to his "minder", staying close to him to keep him out of trouble]].
100	* IronicEcho:
101	** "Why are you all wet, baby?"
102	** "I gotta get off this rock, Chuck."
103	* ItsAllMyFault: * GuiltComplex: Teddy is full of guilt for his actions in Dachau and the death of his wife even though it was not his fault. [[spoiler:It's because 'Teddy' is a mask for Andrew feeling a LaserGuidedKarma for ignoring Dolores's obvious insanity which led to her killing her children and Andrew giving Dolores a MercyKill.]]
104	* JumpScare: Quite a few in the movie, like the scene where Teddy is creeping around Ward C and a psycho leaps at the bars and tries to grab him.
105	* LighthousePoint: The lighthouse at the end of the island, that the staff says contains the septic system, but others say contains a lobotomy lab. [[spoiler:It's actually an office.]]
106	* LiteralMetaphor: While venturing through Ward C, Teddy encounters [[spoiler:George Noyce, with a big scar across his face. When Teddy asks who did this to him, Noyce said "You did"]]. Dr Cawley later explains that it was meant literally - [[spoiler:"Teddy" beat up Noyce after he called him Laeddis]].
107	* {{Lobotomy}}: During the course of US Marshall Teddy Daniels's investigation into the titular mental institution, the procedure is mentioned as one method used to "cure" violent inmates who have proven otherwise unable to be helped. After a few {{Plot Twist}}s and meetings with [[spoiler:Andrew Laeddis]] and [[spoiler:Rachel]] it is held as a threat against Daniels in his attempts to escape the island. Finally, after TheReveal, [[spoiler:The whole plot is revealed as an elaborate set-up to give Daniels, who is actually Laeddis committed to the asylum after killing his wife because she murdered their children in her own insanity, one last chance to cure himself. He experiences MyGodWhatHaveIDone and chooses to maintain the fantasy, knowing that it will mean death or worse, and undergo the procedure.]]
108	* LockedRoomMystery: According to the doctor, Rachel Solando disappeared from her room while it was locked from the outside and the window barred. [[spoiler:By the end, we know that the entire "case" was only a role play and the mystery never happened]].
109	-->'''Cawley''': It's as if she evaporated straight through the walls.
110	* MadDoctor: Cawley and the rest of the asylum psychiatrists are amoral, evil doctors conducting psychological experiments on the patients in service of the OSS and military. [[spoiler:Or so it seems in Teddy's world of delusions; in reality, Cawley is a humane doctor who is doing everything he can to treat Teddy and prevent him from being lobotomized.]]
111	* ManlyTears: Teddy sheds these a lot, both in the present and the flashbacks to his past, like the final flashback when he's weeping after finding his children dead in the lake.
112	* {{Mockspiracy}}: US Marshall Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from the remote mental clinic, Ashecliffe Hospital. As the investigation continues, he finds that the hospital staff are hiding something from him, and suspects that the head doctor is conducting horrible experiments on unwilling patients. In reality, [[spoiler:"Teddy Daniels" is actually Andrew Laeddis, a patient at that same hospital. The only experiment happening is the doctors indulging Laeddis's delusions of investigating a conspiracy, in hopes that Laeddis would realize the truth and be cured after his fantasy played out to the end.]]
113	* MomentOfLucidity:
114	** [[spoiler:Dolores has an infinitesimal flash of sanity after murdering her children where she begs Andrew to [[MercyKill set her free]].]]
115	** Laeddis in his final scene. [[spoiler:His statement about rather dying a good man than living a monster may be due to a lucid moment in the face of regression back to his delusional state (or, alternatively, he never regressed at all and just maintained the façade of his delusion after the reveal in order to have the lobotomy performed to put an end to his painful memories).]]
116	* MovingBeyondBereavement: Teddy Daniels is in mourning for his wife, killed by a crazed arsonist by the name of Andrew Laeddis some years ago; he also experiences vivid dreams of his wife that escalate to full-blown hallucinations as the stress of his investigation at Ashecliff piles on. It's actually remarked several times that Teddy has to "let her go," both by real characters and by his visions, but he doesn't listen until the finale reveals why: [[spoiler:Teddy Daniels and Andrew Laeddis are actually the same person, his wife was killed immediately after she drowned Andrew's children in a lake, and he's spent the last two years at Ashecliff in a state of denial; everything in the film has been the doctors trying to break through Andrew's delusions and get him to accept reality]]. By the end of the film, it seems he's finally come to terms with what happened to his wife -- [[spoiler:though Andrew isn't intending to move on, and it's implied that he's faking a relapse to force his doctors to lobotomize him]].
117	* MrExposition: Dr. Cawley's wordy explanation of [[TheReveal what was really going on]].
118	* MrImagination: [[spoiler:Teddy Daniels thinks he's in an investigation solving the case of a lost patient while seeking revenge against Andrew Laeddis for killing his wife. He actually ''is'' Andrew Laeddis and is a patient at Shutter Island.]]
119	* NightmareOfNormality: By the end, Teddy is certain that the doctors are trying to {{gaslight\|ing}} him into thinking that he's always been a mental patient and his life as a heroic US Marshal was a delusion. [[spoiler:And then it's completely inverted; he really ''is'' a mental patient and the doctors are trying to awaken him from his delusions.]]
120	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Teddy beats the living shit out of a patient in Ward C, to the point that the guy needs to be carted off to the infirmary. [[spoiler:He also gave one to George Noyce because he called him Laeddis, and Dr. Cawley tells Andrew he's the most violent patient they have.]]
121	* ObfuscatingStupidity: [[spoiler:Chuck is often baffled by Cawley's rhetoric and approach. But it's all a facade. Not only is he really a psychiatrist himself, he and Cawley have worked together closely for years and created the whole scheme Teddy has been drawn into.]]
122	* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:Andrew's wife, Dolores, killed their three children as a result of her psychosis. It forms a central part of Andrew's guilt complex and resulting delusions, as he very much blames himself for their deaths as he believes that he could have prevented the whole thing if he only had paid more attention to Dolores' deteriorating sanity and gotten her professional help in time.]]
123	* OneDialogueTwoConversations:
124	** [[spoiler:As we later learn, Laeddis' delusions led him to completely misunderstand what George Noyce was talking about.]]
125	** [[spoiler:"It's about you and Laeddis. That's all it's ever been about", implying that "it" was about Daniels vs. Laeddis]], as opposed to: [[spoiler:"It's about you. And, Laeddis, that's all it's ever been about", implying that Daniels ''is'' Laeddis and everything was focused around him.]]
126	* TheOnlyOneITrust: Chuck is Teddy's new partner and his only trusted companion in the web of conspiracy unfolding around them. Teddy even climbs down the cliff to save Chuck's life and later calls him out at the lighthouse for letting him down.
127	* TheOphelia: Dolores appears in Teddy's imagination like this. Michelle Williams claims she took inspiration from ''Film/TheHaunting1963'' - where Eleanor is also an example of this.
128	* PastExperienceNightmare: Teddy has several dreams hinting at his DarkAndTroubledPast, which [[spoiler:mostly involve his daughter telling him he should have saved their family.]]
129	* PayEvilUntoEvil: Discussed and played with throughout the movie.
130	** Chuck speculates that Teddy want to the island to do this to Laeddis, and says that if Laeddis had killed his wife he'd want revenge, but Teddy denies that he's after that, instead insisting at the time that his purpose is to expose the truth of the experiments he believes are going on at the institution. However, the anger and rage he repeatedly shows about the subject of Laeddis makes it hard to believe Teddy would react in any way but violently if he got his hands on Laeddis.
131	** When recalling the liberation of Dachau, flashbacks show Teddy refusing to finish off the camp's commandant or let the commandant put himself out of his misery after the commandant's BungledSuicide, with Teddy even sliding the man's gun away from him to prolong his suffering.
132	** However, despite the above, Teddy speaks of being haunted by the act of he and other American soldiers gunning down and mass executing the guards at Dachau, seemingly undermining any argument in favor of paying evil unto evil.
133	** Speaking of executing the guards, whether the American soldiers intended all along to take this approach with the guards, or whether they were just furious and on edge and then they got surprised by one of their number shooting a fleeing guard and it turned into a wholesale slaughter by accident is left ambiguous.
134	** Nehring sees the patients, or at least the most violent of them, as monsters, and voices the opinion that when one sees a monster they should kill it. This is why he's part of the school of thought that favors lobotomizing dangerous and violent patients.
135	* RevealingContinuityLapse: There are many of these, but most notably when interviewing patients, one asks Agent Chuck for a glass of water, and in subsequent cuts, the glass is there when Chuck is in frame but doesn't exist when he is not, [[spoiler:showing Chuck isn't actually Chuck]].
136	* RewatchBonus: ''Many'' conversations, character reactions and moments in general that might seem a bit unusual become a lot clearer upon rewatching [[spoiler:knowing the whole thing was an act designed to reach Teddy, and everyone was playing along with it, and that Chuck is actually his psychiatrist Lester Sheehan.]]
137	** Chuck fumbling with his gun a few times acts as {{Foreshadowing}} [[spoiler:for the fact that he's only pretending to be a detective]].
138	** The mannerisms of the first few patients Teddy sees don't seem so crazy once you know that [[spoiler:they've seen him before as a fellow-patient.]]
139	** A blink-and-you'll miss it moment when Teddy is interviewing the staff: Right behind his back, an orderly can be seen smiling incredulously at [[spoiler:Sheehan, who naturally remains poker-faced and committed to his "Chuck" role.]]
140	** When Mrs. Kearns mentions that she finds Dr. Sheehan handsome, Chuck can be seen grinning. [[spoiler:It makes sense, since he's Dr. Sheehan]].
141	** Another from Mrs. Kearns. When Chuck gives her a glass of water, you see her making movements of drinking but there's no glass in her hand. And in the next shot, there's a glass on the table. [[spoiler:Another bit of foreshadowing that Teddy is hallucinating]].
142	** The real Rachel is barefoot when Teddy runs into her in the cave, but she's inexplicably wearing shoes the next morning. [[spoiler:As "Rachel" escaped without any shoes, this foreshadows that Teddy hallucinates this entire meeting]].
143	* RoomFullOfCrazy: Downplayed in a scene where we swiftly see a prison inmate using his blood to write something on the cell wall.
144	* SceneryDissonance: Andrew's flashback to the incident at the lake house is shown in [[FlashbackEffects bright, vivid colors]] while the content of the memory is extremely dark.
145	* ShellShockedVeteran: Teddy served in Europe during World War II and took part in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. The whole experience, especially the horrors he witnessed in Dachau, took quite their toll on his psyche and drove him to become TheAlcoholic for a while after he returned from service. [[spoiler:What exactly happened during the liberation of Dachau are put a bit into question after TheReveal that Teddy is actually Andrew, but it is clear that whatever it was, it undeniably made quite the impression on Andrew, seeing how horrifying Nazi experiments form a central part of his delusion.]]
146	%%* ShirtlessScene: Teddy and Chuck after they get caught out in the rain and have to change into patients' gear.
147	* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:It turns out Teddy Daniels and the investigation is a fake persona created by Andrew Laeddis to hide the truth that he murdered his mentally ill wife after she murdered their children. As a patient, Laeddis has been living a fake reality to run away from the truth. In the end, he pretends to have regressed as he decides that he would rather be lobotomized, in his words, "die a good man" rather than continue to "live as a monster".]]
148	* ShoutOut: When Teddy and Chuck are in the forest and get caught in a storm, Chuck says "[[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz it's turning into a fucking Kansas out here]]".
149	* ShownTheirWork: The massacre of surrendering Nazi Soldiers by Americans at the Liberation of Dachau actually did happen. The incident was covered up by the military and it wasn't admitted officially until the 90s. Additionally, the last official commandant of Dachau (SS-Obersturmbannführer Martin Weiß) fled, but not before putting SS-Untersturmführer Heinrich Wicker in charge. It was Wicker who surrendered to the Allied forces, and historians assume he was summarily executed. Weiß was caught, put to trial, and hung in prison.
150	* SignificantAnagram: [[spoiler:Four of them, hence the "Rule of Four." Edward Daniels/Andrew Laeddis, and Rachel Solando/Dolores Chanal.]]
151	* SnowMeansDeath: The corpses Teddy sees at [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Dachau]] are half-covered in snow.
152	* StrawNihilist: The Warden rants about his love of violence, and expresses his belief that there's no true morality, God simply put humans on the Earth to spread war and suffering. Although [[spoiler:considering that by the point in the movie where we first meet the warden was when Andrew was coming off the Chlorazapine and [[UnreliableNarrator obviously hallucinating]], we don't really know if that conversation actually happened or was [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness simply a part of Andrew's delusion]]]]. Not to mention [[spoiler:he could just be venting his frustrations with the guy he's talking to, who is the most violent and dangerous patient he's ever had to deal with]].
153	%%* SurrealHorror: Most of Teddy's dreams.
154	* SwarmOfRats: Teddy encounters a swarm of rats when climbing down the cliff to save Chuck.
155	* TearOffYourFace: Discussed. Teddy interviews a patient who attacked and tore off a nurse's face.
156	%%* TentativeLight
157	* TerrifyingPetStoreRat: There's a whole SwarmOfRats on the cliffside, which seem curious but not at all hostile.
158	* ThereAreNoCoincidences: Chuck lampshades that Teddy being called for an investigation to the island where George Noyce (a past acquaintance) is being held sounds too much like a ContrivedCoincidence. [[spoiler:Chuck who is actually Dr. Sheehan is trying to expose Andrew's made up reality.]]
159	* ThereAreNoTherapists: [[spoiler:Inverted. The whole island is orchestrating a therapy session to play along with the main character's delusions to see if he can resolve his own internal conflicts.]]
160	* TomatoInTheMirror: Carried over from the novel. [[spoiler:Teddy spends the whole movie chasing after Andrew Laeddis, the man who killed his wife. Near the end it's revealed that he ''is'' Laeddis, and invented the Teddy Daniels persona so that he wouldn't have to deal with the guilt of shooting his wife after she drowned their children in a lake. He's been a patient at the hospital for the last two years.]]
161	* TownWithADarkSecret: It appears that the "Shutter Island" mental institution has a dark secret of human experimentation being protected by the staff.
162	* TragicKeepsake: Teddy wears a greenish tie which he finds ugly but he wears it because it was chosen by his late wife.
163	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: [[spoiler:Why do we keep spoiling Daniels's insanity, guys?]]
164	* TwistEnding: [[spoiler:Teddy is a patient at Shutter Island. Rachel's backstory is partially ''his'' -- after his wife drowned their three children, and he shot her in response.]]
165	* USMarshal: Two U.S. Marshals, Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, travel to Shutter Island, as part of an investigation into the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando. [[spoiler:It's later revealed they aren't real Marshals and this is all just a part of Teddy's delusion, as Chuck is a doctor pretending to be a Marshal and "Teddy" is his patient.]]
166	* VerbalBusinessCard: "My name is '''EDWARD DANIELS!!'''" (twice). Later: [[spoiler:"My name is Andrew Laeddis, and I murdered my wife in the spring of 'fifty-two."]]
167	* WarCrimeSubvertsHeroism: Teddy and the other soldiers execute a group of surrendering Nazis by firing squad when they see what they've done -- which is based on a real incident.
168	* WeaponStomp: The Nazi reaching for the gun had blown his cheek off in a suicide attempt and was lying on the floor bleeding out. He reached for his dropped gun to try again, only to have the protagonist step on it and drag it away.)
169	* WhamLine:
170	** [[spoiler:"You don't have a partner, Daniels. You came alone."]]
171	** [[spoiler:"Your name is Andrew Laeddis. The sixty-seventh patient at Ashecliffe? He's you, Andrew."]]
172	** [[spoiler:"Your children, Andrew, your children!"]]
173	** [[spoiler:"Honey?... Where are the kids?" "They're at school." "...It's Saturday. School's not open on Saturday." '''"My school is."''']]
174	** [[spoiler:"Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or die as a good man?"]]
175	%%* WindmillCrusader: [[spoiler:The main character.]]
176	* YouAreWhatYouHate: Teddy Daniels doesn't sympathize with the patients because in most cases, they've committed murder. [[spoiler:In reality, he killed his wife and confesses he is a monster who would rather die a good man in the final scene.]]

Context Film / ShutterIsland