Headscratchers / Good Will Hunting

• When Will was pissing off the first psychiatrist (the one that "putts from the rough") and the said psychiatrist was storming out of the room, Lambeau was seen flirting with a student by preaching Maths romantically. I assumed the scene was meant to invoke certain reactions from the audience on Lambeau's character, but what exactly? That he's a pretentious douche bag, or otherwise?
  • Not sure there's anything really mysterious there, I took it as simply a nice bit of characterization - Lambeau enjoys being something of a minor celebrity, and doesn't mind playing the genius card to flirt with coeds. Maybe it foreshadows his later frustration at Will's effortless brilliance, since Lambeau values his own dominance, but I really don't think it's something to read anything into.
    • Watch the commentary. Word of God says that Stellan Skarsgård decided to make the character a womanizer. The woman was a student at the University of Toronto where the film was shot—Skarsgard found her and started flirting, as Lambeau. He flirts with other co-eds when the opportunity presents itself.
    • Lambeau's flirtatious behavior also makes him more of a foil to Sean. Sean lived a full life with his wife and is happy with the way things turned out even though he could've made a name for himself in academia. On the other hand, Lambeau is a guy who measures a person's value by their achievements and has become well known for what he's done. Lambeau also isn't satisfied with himself even though he's quite successful. The difference between Sean and Lambeau's outlooks are shown through how they treat Will.

• It's not unusual for "trouble" clients to pick apart their therapist as Will did to Sean. If Sean has twenty years of counseling experience, he ought to have known that, and he wouldn't have reacted by grabbing Will by the throat.
  • Probably but Nancy has only been dead for a couple of years. So things clearly still run deep for Sean. Or if you think about it, Sean was in control the whole time. He didn't lose his temper but reacted that way because he knew that was how to get Will to back off. Sean has a similar background to Will and knows what makes a guy like that tick.
    • All the more probable when you consider Sean doesn't snap suddenly. He very calmly takes a moment to remove his glasses first. And while Will is initially shocked, he begins mouthing off again as he realizes Sean doesn't intend to take things further unless he disrespects Nancy again. Very pointedly, he does not. When she comes up in conversation much later, with the two men just beginning to trust one another, Will is extremely considerate and approaches the subject with care, knowing how much it hurts Sean. When the two had first met, Will would have used that knowledge to twist the knife.
  • Will did far more than pick apart Sean, he stepped on a landmine by disrespecting Sean's dead wife. If this happened in just about any other setting, Sean would have beat the crap out of him. He only stops because he knows Will has problems and that Will is trying every tactic to escape the situation.

• Were Tom and Lambeau lovers? Or was Tom just in love with his boss? Because the way he gets obviously depressed as Lambeau appreciated Will more and more is simply too sad to ignore.
  • I don't think there's any indication any romantic type feeling is involved. Tom was probably Lambeau's whiz kid until Will showed up, and considering how highly sought after and competitive those assistant positions are to get, he also sees Will as threatening.
• Chuckie has his big speech to Will at the end where he tells Will he's wasting his life and deserves to make something better of himself. They've been friends for years, he's never thought to tell him something along these lines before? We know he knows Will is smart, why has he never encouraged his friend to do better than drink with the boys and work shit jobs?
  • With Will's progress in therapy, actively seeking better jobs (even if he's still too scared to take them), this is the first time in their lives that Chuckie's ever thought of Will actually doing something with his intellect. Will's always been a huge ugly mess in a tiny little shell of a life, but now he's reaching out and doing things, going to therapy, working with a Harvard mathematician, seeing a girl, applying for jobs. He's on a precipice and needs someone to give him a push, and that push would have meant precisely dick before then.

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