the cathedral. interpretation

Rating: 9/10 (24 May 2001)

Spoilers:
Most likely, John had been raised an orphan until the time when he had been taken into the freak show. More so, he had been beaten often and treated like an animal. In a life of punishment and obeying to avoid more punishment, John had been living in order to achieve the interests of his master, never himself. Upon emancipation from this nefarious situation, John's life becomes devoted to self discovery, realization, and confidence.

Yet John cannot even begin to engage with his self if he cannot even engage with others. With the help of the good doctor, this language barrier is overcome. First words are anxious and reserved, but through continued conversation he becomes more self-confident. Moving John from the isolation ward to the normal area is symbolic of his traversing the language barrier.

With his newfound ability to communicate with others, he can finally communicate with himself and magnify his search for self. Beginning the construction of his cathedral is symbolic of John's beginning search.

At first, he builds only the part of the cathedral viewable from his window. This represents the first stages of his search for self. He begins by coming to grips with his only-viewable aspect, his deformed body. By ending his veiled days, he shows his overcoming of his previous self-dislike.

Later, he further tests his identity by engaging in talks with females. Extraordinary courage is needed to put himself in a position of possible rejection and even hysterics. (This tension between desire for females and fear of repulsion is first alluded to when the doctor states that although John has abnormalities over 90% of his body, his genitals were completely unharmed) Throughout these journeys into self-discovery, his cathedral is symbolically becoming taller and taller.
Yes, these are abstract journeys, but even the abstractness is symbolized in the cathedral. After he gets past the appearances of cathedral/body he must, as he states, use his imagination for the remainder. He must go deeper and discover the hidden self - not only his deformity, but his emotional relationship and understanding with it.
Just as his self-concept is coming to light, an eclipse occurs. A group of sight-seers shows up in his room and thoroughly dehumanizes John while at the same time destroying his new self-image of someone more than a freak show attraction. Likewise, the cathedral is also destroyed during this misadventure.
However, when John goes into public and stands up for himself ("I am not an animal!") and when he attends his first opera, he has finally overcome his greatest fears. The cathedral is completed and from the few visible towers, a magnificent foundation is discovered.
John has finally come to complete self-realization and acceptance. Yet, he is not happy with the completed picture. He sees that if it took such hardships and struggle for he himself to accept himself, there is no chance of the outside world reaching this perspective. Sadly, self-realization coincides with self-destruction and John leaves this wickedly cruel planet. But both John's built cathedral and remembered image will stand for a long time to come, he will never truly die. Great movie, great ending!