MovieChat Forums > City Lights (1931) Discussion > Was the ending happy or sad?

Was the ending happy or sad?


I couldn't tell whether the ending was saying that "love is blind" in the sense that now she could see him, she didn't want him, or that now she could see him, she still loved him.

~Formerly known as "eowynmaiar".

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I'd say the ending was like a 'and they lived happily ever after'... or at least I hope...

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Yes, that's what I hope too.

~Formerly known as "eowynmaiar".

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That's what I hope too - but I don't think so. I think her blindness corrupted her and she did not want to deal with him after seeing him. I hope though that they stay together - but that laughing bit was a little... bitchy, haha :)

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I too like to think that they end up together - but I think the money that she has now, as opposed to her sight, is what would have corrupted her, if indeed she is corrupt. But who knows?

What's the spanish for drunken bum?

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And THAT was the hallmark of all Chaplin's films.
He once said that there can be no great comedy without a touch of melancholy in it. (Just as it happens in life, I suppose.)


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I wouldn't call the ending of the film "happy" or "sad" ... just terribly, terribly SWEET.

I borrowed City Lights from NetFlix recently after reading that it is considered by many to be Chaplin's greatest film, and one with a remarkably touching ending.

For the most part it was an enjoyable 90 minutes, with lots of physical humor and Chaplin's typical clowning. But the very final MINUTE of the film, I suddenly found myself with tears virtually SHOOTING out of my eyes.

Who would've guessed?

CHUCK ANZIULEWICZ
http://anziulewicz.livejournal.com/100382.html

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Amazing film!

Wonderfully sad and uplifting ending!

Chaplin at his best!

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I think the ending was left ambiguous.

You're not sure whether she still loves him or not. It's implied that she does, but there is the possibility that she doesn't. This is why the ending is one of the greatest and most emotional endings in the history of cinema.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym2xF6Wv-5E

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Agreed.

Her look of acceptance.

Chaplin's look of hope and approval.

Awesome ending!!!

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Agreed. I'd like to think that she loved him too, but it could go either way. It was an emotional ending either way.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

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I thought it was so happy it brought tears to my eyes.

It's all part of the plan. - The Joker

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I have tended to think that the formerly blind Flower Girl's reaction to the discovery that her benefactor is the Tramp is one of mixed emotions.

I cannot help but feel that the emotions are a combination of revulsion, disillusionment, anger, and, redeemingly, feelings of gratitude and moral obligation--which I doubt will lead her and the Tramp down the wedding aisle, but she will certainly furnish him a place to live and help him get on his feet again. Then, again, he'd probably be unable to deal with that scenario and will probably hop on the next freight train leaving town.

Virginia Cherill was not really what one would call a gifted actress; it is a tribute to Chaplin's genius as a director that he was able to utilize what little talent she DID have and even exploit her thespian weaknesses to make every scene she's in work beautifully--especially the ending.

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I don't think there's anything "negative" in her gaze -- but I certainly agree that it's not necessarily one of Love. As people have said, it's merely (and gloriously) acceptance.

A running theme throughout the film (and throughout all of Charlie Chaplin's Tramp films) is that of social inequality resulting from economic inequality, i.e. treating the poor as less than human.

Ultimately, I'd like to think that even if the two don't end up together, the Tramp will at least have a decent shot of winning her love -- which is all one can ask for in life, anyway.

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You know what? I just watched CL again after more than 10 years since my last viewing. I have to admit some of my previous posting analyses are a bit more flawed than I'd thought, because I was going on memory of something I hadn't seen in so long.

I retract the "revulsion;" I thought I saw in the now-sighted Flower Girl's eyes; but I still doubt that the Tramp, given his station in life, can make a suitable mate for her -- and I think the Tramp is honest enough with himself to realize that much, judging by the closing shot of the mixed emotions that were running across his face.

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I am as tough and stoic as any guy out there, but the ending of City Lights is one of the few times I've teared up. It happens every time I watch it.

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You've got to be kidding me if you think she is in love with him. She is in shock. You guys think that starwars loving geeks in their basements can go to the local hot spot and just get the cute blonde girls hanging out to date him and fall madly in love too don't you? haa. c'mon. get real.

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Yep, that's the truth. A few moments before the ending, a rich, taller, more hansome guy comes into the flower shop and the girl hopes it is the man who paid for her rent and eye surgery. She is young, pretty and of course wants (and surely has no big trouble finding) a handsome man. She even hopes that the rich man she is waiting for, is also handsome. She would be way out of reach for the Tramp if she had been able to see all along.

It is her good heart making her accepting the Tramp in the end when she recognizes him by touching his hands. The final shot shows the Tramp timidly smiling, hiding behind a flower. They don't fall in each others arms or kiss.
His motivations are not that incredibly unselfish either. I mean, she is a very sweet girl and it is easy to fall in love with her. Would the Tramp have helped her if she was just a 'plain Jane' or even a rather unattractive woman?

My humble interpretation of it all is that the Tramp falls in love with a babe he could never have. Her blindness allows her to "see" only his good heart - because she also has one. But as soon as she sees him, she just accepts him and is still very grateful - but definitely does not have burning desires for him (as I mentioned above, moments ago she 'lusted' after a tall, rich, handsome guy who came into the flower shop - so that point is clear). The Tramp of course knows the game.

I think the ending brings tears into our eyes (I don't know but perhaps men might find it even more moving than womem) because we all recognize ourselves in this (unless one is incredibly handsome that is) and perhaps makes us remember 'that' girl (perhaps back in high school) we would have done anything for but we could never have...

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Love might make blind, but not quite as blind as the shock that a reversed reality would provoke out of a person who imagined the situation as completely different. One question which comes to mind is if the girl was able to see up until some point in her life, and hence did have an ideal of "handsome" established in her mind -- or if she had been sightless for her entire life and the interest in handsome men that is revealed at the end is simply the result of something she has been told after the operation, that pretty girls MUST find a man who looks and behaves such-and-such. Mind you, when she tells her grandma about "the millionaire" and her grandma remarks that "he must be very wealthy," the girl says that "he is more than that"...which, in one sense, suggests that she, as a blind girl, is not obsessed to find a man equipped with the qualities that the stereotypical "machoman" may do; far from it. But at that point, she is in fact blind. Not only is she unable to see him; perhaps she doesn't care so much to see him as we tend to believe, as she probably have learnt to take her situation more or less for granted. Once she is able to see, however, that puts her in a completely different situation. As a girl able to see, and with her beauty, she is far from helpless any more and, as a result, feels forced to find a typical, "classy" man. That is not to say that she isn't sincerely disappointed when the true identity of the Tramp is revealed. It is just that, had the Tramp told her about himself as he really was while she was blind, I don't think she would have paid too much attention to it, lonely and needing as she was. But he was blind to her expectations.

--Snorre M

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Snorrem, after reading your post, I still can't figure out if it means that they live happily ever after or not. What's the general understanding of the ending?

Last film seen -- "WALL-E" 4/10

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(***possible spoilers below***)

I think it's left open to the particular viewer to decide for himself. But most seem to agree that the ending indeed is not a happy one and that while the couple may wish to try to work it out, it's doubtful that they will succeed over a longer period of time. When the Tramp smiles at the girl and she returns it, what they really do, I think, is to act and pretend even more than they did while the girl was blind.

But I don't know, really...

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This is just perfection in the fact that it's both happy and sad. You know that the flower girl most likely won't want the tramp romanticly but she pretty much owes him her life because of what he did for her. Just a touching tear-jerker of a scene.

________
"we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas." N.M.

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When the Tramp smiles at the girl and she returns it, what they really do, I think, is to act and pretend even more than they did while the girl was blind.

I think it's more that the roles are now reversed. When she was blind, she was truthful and he was pretending, but now the Tramp is almost involuntarily showing that he does want her, while she's pretending to not be too saddened by his appearance and social standing.

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Solution: how did YOU feel at the end of the film?

That's the answer.

All this bull***t about, "They ended up together," or, "I think this, or that..." is mental masturbation. There is ONLY what YOU bring to that moment.

I hope I don't have to explain this again.

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[deleted]

in the "will they end up together living happily ever after" sense, of course it's completely ambiguous.

but when the flower girl says that, "yes, i can see" that can be taken multiple ways. most obviously, she now has her eyesight and can live a normal life. on a deeper level, discovering that her benefactor wasn't rich and handsome has been enlightening for her, making her wiser and her already good heart even better.

so yeah, put me down for "happy" ending, but probably not in the sense you intended.

ps- i don't see the tramp and the flower girl getting married, that doesn't seem like the kind of relationship they had. it seemed more father/daughter to me, and he worships her too much to marry her. but who knows - it's impossible to project a 2011 mindset back 80 years, so maybe it would work after all.

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I think the ending was left ambiguous.

You're not sure whether she still loves him or not. It's implied that she does, but there is the possibility that she doesn't. This is why the ending is one of the greatest and most emotional endings in the history of cinema.


I concur, the ambiguity of the final scene creates a lot of questions. Is it a happy or bittersweet ending?, is the Flower Girl quietly disappointed that her ideal man is a tramp whilst still grateful to him?, and is the last close up shot of the Tramp's face showing us his naivety of the situation?. Personally I hope that the Flower Girl sees past the ragged looks of the Tramp and is forever grateful for his contribution to her new lease on life, but I doubt they loved each other as a couple. It would have only been the Tramp who still held feelings of romance.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".

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The ending was meant to be ambiguous, but here's my interpretation:

The scene is short and ends abruptly. The girl doesn't really have time to get past her shock and confusion. (She must have been confused, thinking, "where did this little tramp get all that money?") That is all Chaplin lets us know about her feelings. But...

Since the tramp has sacrificed so much for his pure love of her already, I don't believe he would consider romantic involvement. She is young and beautiful and has a good business, while he has nothing to offer her. He could only hold her back in life.

I think the ending is very much like the ending of The Circus. When he asks Rex to marry the girl he loves, he says "I can do nothing for her."

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[deleted]

The ending of this movie is like an emotional Rorschach test for me. Every time I see it, I understand it in a different way.

When I saw the movie for the first time, it was clear: she didn't love the Tramp, she only pitied him. It was a brutally sad ending. The second time I saw it, my opinion changed completely. I saw her holding his hand against her heart, gazing at him, remembering of all the things he'd done for her when she was blind. I decided she really did love him after all. It didn't matter about his social standing or lack of money. She saw through all of that and loved him anyway.

After seeing it just now for a third time, I have a new opinion. For me it hinges on her line: "Yes, I can see now."

I think she said "Yes I can see now" because the situation is so much more complicated than just "she loves me, she loves me not", and she finally understands the real implications of who the Tramp is, who she is, and what happened while she was blind. She sees that the Tramp is a very sweet person who's clearly in love with her, but she also sees him for who he is: a homely, goofy, lower-class citizen. She sees that there really isn't a hope of them getting together, in the social climate of the day. But she still feels gratitude toward the Tramp and wants him to understand that she accepts his generosity and kindness. She really does love him, in a sense, because of what he did for her; their time together while she was blind is always going to be a treasure to her, but it will probably end there. I also think the Tramp realizes this, and he's just happy that she could finally see his face and understand.

It really is amazing the amount of depth this ending achieves with only a few simple lines, a gesture, and some beautifully understated acting.

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I think it is possible that all three of your interpretations are correct. Perhaps in a moment all she had was pity. Then she moved onto something else as she remembered their time together and what he did for her. Then she her thoughts about his social class become part of the equation. It might be when that happens she feels they have no future together as a couple or it might just be she is going to need time to sort it all out. Of course he will need time to sort things out as well because clearly he needs some help and 80 years ago it wouldn't be very socially acceptable for a man to get help from a woman, even if he had helped put her in that position.

If you love Cheezits and are 100% proud of it, copy this as your signature.

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I think it's a happy ending in that she does accept him and is grateful (she unambiguously holds his hand to her heart and smiles at him). But I also agree that they're never going to be in a relationship, and they both know it. The dream of love that they both had will never come true, which is why we have that quick fade out. Had the film continued we would have eventually come to the usual shot of the tramp walking down the lonely road.

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I don't think the ending is at all ambiguous. It is a moment of perfection and a perfect moment. What happens afterwards is almost irrelevant.

Simply put it is a moment of recognition, of transcendence, of divine love.

That "she can see now" means, among other things, that she now realizes the great extent of his sacrifices for her.

And her acceptance of him means that her feelings went beyond gratitude and/or the desire for a rich, handsome husband.

They see each other in their essential selves, beyond circumstance, appearance or even personality.

It is a perfect ending, perhaps the only one in the history of cinema, and even more so for ending on the perfect note.


“Your head is on the block and you worry about your whiskers?”

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