Love to see old threads that I missed in my searches - thanks THX!
One of the great things
about the photos on the piano that is they reinforce the retro, noirish feel of Deckard's apartment and, at the same time, give a sense of loneliness to the Deckard character.
I'm in the "Deckard is human" camp, so I believe the "old photos" are simply a collection Deckard has. The only speculation I would have about them is whether they are his family photos, those of his ex-wife, the apartment's previous occupant, and/or he just collects old photos.
While Deckard comes off as a "cold fish" throughout most of the film, I believe the piano scenes establish that he was once an emotional, maybe even sentimental person (at least privately). Maybe the photo collection was his way of connecting to a "brighter past" that he never knew (he'd have been born in the early 1980s). Maybe he enjoyed (playing) music at one time. You'll note that when Deckard sits next to Rachael while she plays, he closes his eyes, as if in appreciation of the music. He tells her she "plays beautifully" (before making a play of his own
). I think his years as a Blade Runner and his divorce killed Deckard's sentimental notions, but he still hangs onto the photos and piano to remind him of the man he used to be while he wallows in his "mid-life slump" we find him in during the film.
As for the "Deckard a replicant" theory, I wonder why they would give the Deckard replicant such old photos. Rachael has the photo that's supposed to be of her with her mother. Leon's photos are even more recent, so why black & white prints for Deckard?
Anyone care to speculate about the duck figurine on the piano?