I think Barney’s version presents two types of psychological journeys- 1) The script reader/movie viewer journey 2) The characters’ journeys THE READER/VIEWER JOURNEY Barney’s Version jump cuts more than most modern films, leaving the reader/viewer wondering at each turn, ‘what caused that to happen?’ At no point do we know if we’re at the earliest part of the story, which is another route we can take - will we see Barney in college, before he went to Italy? Religion seems to play a big role as well in the beginning, perhaps nudging us to wonder if he’ll defect from honoring his faith after following it seems to have ‘burned’ him in his first two marriages, however it does seem to play a positive role weaving him into the film business. His father Izzy is a nice psych wild card as well, constantly playing half-creepy old man who I wonder… did the screenwriters take out any scenes where he pushed a few more buttons? Mix in all of the booze, cigars and women in his life, the mental journeys are endless. Speaking of women… THE CHARACTER JOURNEY Women have been sending men on psychological AND physical journeys since the dawn of time. Perhaps this GITS script analysis ‘journey’ theme is a double entendre for Barney’s Version. Simply meeting Miriam seems to rewire his entire psych config and abandon the woman whom he literally just told ‘till death do us part.’ In the tangible sense, he’s in Montreal, at the lake house, at work, at the lawyer’s, then to New York where his chase seems to finally end when he and Miriam seal the deal. Miriam herself is much more level-headed, not really thrown off by weekly flowers, phone calls, etc. She maintains only one psych version throughout the script as far as I can tell. And at the end, she offers that version only to Barney, in the form of side by side cemetery plots (ok maybe that last bit’s a stretch). Izzy’s journey is to find the fountain of youth, live vicariously through his son, up until his last moment of life where he’s finally getting the rub and tug he mentions earlier ‘when he was on the force.’ Gonna go out on a limb and say that naming the woman in the shop “Goldie” was not picked out of a hat. Bonus journeys - the onion and the honey. Both very simple moments early on that play as nice end resolutions in the midst of the character journeys. -Joe Espo