Questions While Watching About Schmidt
Recurring symbols and activities to watch for:
1.) Food & Eating & Going to the Bathroom. Why do these appear often in the film?
2.) Clocks and Wristwatches: What do they symbolize?
3). Big Events like retirements and funerals and weddings. What do they symbolize? What do people
say at these events, either in conversation or in speeches? Is it sincere? Predictable?
At the beginning of the film, Warren’s friend Dan gives a speech about what really matters in life. “Take
a good look at a very rich man!” he says, referring to Warren. Does Warren seem convinced?
When Warren complains that Randall is not good enough to marry his daughter Jeanne, Warren’s wife
Helen says to him, “My father didn´t think so much of you, either.” How do you assess that statement?
Does it necessarily mean that Warren is wrong about Randall? Or might it be an ironic way of saying that
Randall himself isn’t as great a husband as he might think?
Warren’s wife gets excited about the idea of having breakfast in their camper which is parked in their
driveway. “Isn’t this fun?” she chirps. What does this say about the substance, the quality, of life for
many Americans in the suburbs?
Warren writes to Ngudu, a six-year old African boy, as if he were an adult. Why? Is Warren
subconsciously trying to confess his secret fears and anxieties? Or is he looking for a true friend?
In his letters to Ngudu, Warren writes that he didn’t take risks in life to realize his dreams because he had
to take care of his wife and daughter. Is he telling the truth? Or is he rationalizing?
What image of married life does About Schmidt present? Is it romantic or cynical? Idealized or realistic?
Warren takes great pride in his daughter and her important new job. But is she really only repeating the
same life-pattern as Warren?
Note how Warren makes small choices over and over again: when he’s ordering ice-cream in the Dairy
Queen, or when his daughter makes him breakfast. Why is this important? Why does it say about the
concerns and needs of modern, financially-secure Americans?
Warren writes, “Life is short, Ndugu, and I can´t afford to waste another minute.” Do his subsequent
actions indicate that he took his new resolution seriously? Why or why not?
Does Warren reach a certain degree of personal enlightenment after discovering his wife’s affair? Does it
make her seem more despicable in his eyes, or more human and sympathetic?
When Warren visits his childhood home, he finds out that it is now a tire shop. When he goes inside,
what is the music playing in the background?
When Warren visits the camper of the couple next to him in the campgrounds, the wife observes that
Warren appears sad and angry. What is the irony of her observation? Do she and her husband appear any
different?
Is there anything symbolic about the truckful of cows that passes Warren on the highway?
Sitting under the stars, Warren talks to himself, beginning with the remark, “Helen, what did you really
think of me?” How is this an important moment of spiritual self-awakening for Warren? Do you see
anything symbolic in the shooting star at the end of that scene, and the fact that Warren makes the sign of
the cross?
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Note how Randall’s mother Roberta argues with her ex-husband Larry. She continually praises her son,
but criticizes Larry. How does this compare with the way Warren talked about his wife and daughter?
Why is it significant?
How do you describe Randall? Does he seem like a good guy? Would you want him marrying your
daughter?
Warren silently watches Randall’s family eating in the dining room. Can you tell what he is thinking?
What color is the dining room? “Where” are they, symbolically speaking?
Warren sleeps in Randall’s old room. He sees all Randall’s awards on the wall from high-school. Do you
notice anything about the awards that might be significant? (Hint: In the film The Incredibles, Robert
Parr makes the same observation to his wife Helen.)
Robert claims to understand what really makes a marriage work, after two failed marriages of her own.
What do you think of her observations?
During the wedding of Randall and Jeanne, we see the band singing secular pop songs (that is, not
religious songs). In light of everything you have seen in the film so far, how does that scene—and the
music—strike you?
Compare the two speeches given by Randall’s best-man and Warren at the wedding with the two
speeches given at the beginning of the film (at Warren’s retirement). What are the similarities and/or
differences that you notice?
At the end of the film, Warren writes to Ngudu, “What kind of difference did I make? I am weak, I am a
failure, and soon I will die. After I die it will be as though I never existed.”
At the end of the film, it is not the letter from the nun, but the picture which Ngudu drew for Warren, that
makes Warren cry. What do you notice about the picture which would have been especially significant—
symbolically speaking—for Warren?