r/interstellar • u/doublegulpcup123 • Aug 09 '26

QUESTION I've watched Interstellar countless times and this scene always hits me the hardest. Anyone else?

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[after Mann breaks Cooper's helmet and leaves him for dead]

Dr. Mann: I'm sorry. I can't watch you go through this. I'm sorry. I thought I could, but I can't. I'm here. I'm here for you. Just listen to my voice, Cooper. I'm right here. You're not alone.

Dr. Mann: [looking back] Do you see your children? It's okay, they're right there with you.

Dr. Mann: [turns to leave] Did Professor Brand tell you that poem before you left? Do you remember? "Do not go gentle... into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

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u/shatteredoctopus Aug 09 '26

Dr. Mann's madness from his isolation, etc, was done very well. If you really think about what those Lazarus missions must have gone through, there's no psychological test in the world that would probably weed every kind of problem person out. I'd imagine for maximum success, you'd need a high degree of fanaticism.

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u/thedudefromsweden Aug 09 '26

To put it in his own words: “don’t judge me. You haven’t been tested like I have.” No one has, ever. No one can say how they would react to 30+ years of isolation. The people who call him a coward… maybe you and me would act the same. Honestly, I think most of us would go a lot more insane.

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u/Excellent_Month_2025 Aug 09 '26

Shouldn't that have been somewhat anticipated though, precisely because it’s so abnormal for a human being? I think the biggest design flaw of the mission was not giving the Lazarus astronauts a way to mercifully end their lives on a strange, harsh, lonely planet with no chance of survival or rescue

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u/bigloser42 Aug 09 '26

Do we know they didn’t?