Caché *Spoilers!*

rcaz

I saw Caché the other day. Great film, but the part where Majid slits his throat raised a couple of questions with me.

Firstly, would the blood from the cut really spurt up the wall as high as it did in the film? Secondly, would slitting your throat really cause death that quickly?

It's been annoying me ever since I saw it. Thanks.

DrIndy

blood pressure is normally around 120/80, if during stress, you could reach 200 or even 250mmHg systolic.

Density of mercury is 13.6 times that of water/blood so would roughly mean 3400mm or 3.4m of water - meaning that blood could technically spurt that high. Now say that there is increased resistance from blood vessel tear and then include air resistance, but it is quite significant and could make 6 foot.

Death from cutting a major artery does result in rapid death as blood loss is phenomenal - but this would need a complete cut and then holding the wound open for maximum bleeding effect. A young healthy person could stand quite a lot of blood loss before going into shock, but a major bleed results in rapid death.

rcaz

Thanks for that. Nice one.