Hey, I've heard a few different takes on the ending of the film. the main one seems to be that, he is collapsing, sick of his lifetime of hedonistic pleasure and she will pull him out of it.
however, my thoughts were that she was about to get pulled into this web that he seems to get women to fall into. and we understand why anna went awol.
any thoughts?
Both of your ideas are valid. When I saw the movie for the first time today, it seemed to me that she would forgive him for his new "adventure", for being so impulsive. When she saw him on the couch with another woman, I think Vitti did't know the woman was a prostitute, but believed he would betray her and maybe even leave her. At first glance, I thought she would then throw herself over the wall and commit suicide. But in the end there is, I think, forgiveness.
After the whole film, which impressed me, I was a little bit disappointed by the not very strong ending.
What do you think?
i kind of like those up in the air endings. like lost in translation.... where your opinion of the end kind of depends on the mood youre in.
but, yeah... what a great film... amazing photography...
why didnt you like the ending?
i just finished the film a minute ago so my ideas aren't all properly formulated yet. at the moment, the ending for me is more about both of them together and how we always end up turning to our 'self' (as opposed to say, looking for anna macguffin).
also i think a lot of it is transference and i think claudia may have played out her role. i don't think they'll end up together. why should they or anyone, right?
great, great movie.
i dont think she forgave him. probabaly felt sorry for him and for each other. they just realize how pathetic their lives are. whether they do indeed get back together or dont is somethign that noone can tell. but yes a great movie indeed.
shareTo me it did not look like she forgave him. to me the last scene showed understanding from both parts. Claudia understood how naive she had been by falling in love with love and Sandro understood the way he treated women. The difference was that Sandro looked as if he was sorry for himself whereas Claudia seemed to grasp how to overcome her naiveness and felt sorry for Sandro only. I do not think that they will end up together, it would be like going back for Claudia. I think they will probably remain good friends.
shareThis is one of my all-time favorite films and have mulled over the ending many times...I think Claudia's strength grows throughout the film ever so subtley as she exerts herself more and more only to be pulled back down from time to time. The hotel scene where she is singing and happy only be dragged down when Sandro doesn't give her true confirmation of his love...the scene in Noto when she tells him she won't go into the hotel with him only to be left feeling totally vulnerable with the town's men learing at her and then feeling disgust at their relationship.
I think in the final scene, as she stands at the railing she momentarily loses it after Sandro's infidelity but then her transormation is complete as she regains her composure, she is the one in control now and he is child like. She stands behind and above him as he shrinks on the bench, in my opinion the last scene with Antonioni shooting to their backs with the screen split by the wall on his side and the wide open volcano on her side is one of the most striking visuals ever put on film. Antonioni to me is about the now and IMHO that was the dynamic of the relationship at that moment, will it remain... probably not.
I saw this at a cinemaclub some weeks ago with Danish subtitles (I'm a swede), so I had some difficulties understand everything, but I have to agree with your thoughts that she was about to get pulled into this web that he seems to get women to fall into yet again. Further I think it was a great movie.
shareI think it's also signifigant that she put her arm on his shoulder, rather than hugging or kissing him. She didn't forgive him, but she was able to relate to him and comfort him.
shareThe ending seems to state that these two have such a vacuous relationship that something as trivial as monogamy is neither an institution nor an expectation.
When confronted with the alternative, Claudia must admit that her life hasn't exactly been a Hallmark moment. To return to a life that is without friends, family, or even content, is unthinkable. For his part, Sandro, is probably grieving over yet another chance squandered. While his life is as devoid as Claudia's, he has had the opportunity to change that outlook. It is, however, something that he is apparently incapable of doing.
In the end, these two were--rather depressingly--made for one another.
Saw this great film last night, then again w/ the commentary. I agreed w/ the commentator, who had seen the film 12 times when it 1st came out. Due to a subtle change of her expression, he thought she had an epiphany while she was looking down at Sandro, moments before he came up to where she was. It was that she had the strength & will to carry on alone; she knew for sure exactly why Anna wanted to have nothing to do w/ him (i.e., he was incapable of loving anyone & she was merely a fill-in for Anna, or a role that any woman would play in his life); & that he just is what he is & is incapable of ever changing. She merely pitied Sandro & also accepted that life is what it is - boredom, lack of morals, etc. & all. The wall to the right of Sandro also seemed to indicate Sandro's impenetrable nature & the dormant volcano behind & to the left of Claudia seemed to indicate that although her life was dormant (ennui), there was at least the possibility of it coming to life.
shareI've seen L'Avventura twice and here are my thoughts on the ending.
I agree with what the commentary stated in which Antonioni does not symbolize ethics or moods. It is actually the mood itself that Antonioni is trying to exploit. So...
In the first 2 hours and 16 minutes Anna has disappeared, Claudia and Sandro start an affair, and everything goes back to normal until Sandro is caught diggin' with a woman. Sandro has never loved Claudia. He can't stand even 1 minute w/o a woman. Then he finds Claudia (since Anna disappeared) and he needs contact with a woman. They have sex which is only means of contact not love. As Claudia says "fling". This whole relationship was a fling. Claudia is up in the bedroom while Sandro is at the party. And (He can't stand even 1 minute w/o a woman) he has sex with a prostitute. Just in those few hours Sandro has become empty and needs contact. Claudia is realizing she is about to disappear in her relationship with Sandro (just like Anna). (That's the main point of the movie, the emptiness of people leading into disappearance of values)
Claudia and Sanro go outside and Sandro sits and weeps. Claudia stands. Claudia will not disappear. And in one of the most heartbreaking moments in cinema Claudia puts her hand on Sandro's shoulder. With this she shows compassion. With having sex in the earlier parts Claudia was flinging. Now she shows compassion. The value is still there.
by - odyssey_2001dave on Sun May 21 2006 05:52:12
"And in one of the most heartbreaking moments in cinema Claudia puts her hand on Sandro's shoulder."
I totally agree...this was one of the most sickening endings I've ever witnessed.
Antonioni wrote an essay for the press release which is read out on the Criterion DVD by Jack Nicholson says...
And today a new man is being born, fraught with all the fears, terrors and stammerings that are associated with a period of gestation. And what is even more serious, this new man immediately finds himself burdened with a heavy baggage of emotional traits which cannot exactly be called old and outmoded, but rather unsuited and inadequate. They condition us without offering us any help, they create problems without suggesting any possible solutions. And yet it seems that man will not rid himself of this baggage. He reacts, he loves, he hates, he suffers under the sway of moral forces and myths which today, when we are at the threshold of reaching the moon, should not be the same as those that prevailed in Homeric times, but nevertheless are.
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pkchung - I think this is just brilliant. Thanks for letting us see the forest for the trees. It can be so difficult to "see"/see these ideas, as Antonioni is totally masterful at both presenting moving and still images that we are mesmerized and distracted by, as well as the general pageant of human life.
she's a sucker setting herself up for more misery is what I think about the ending
I'm proud to say my poetry is only understood by that minority which is aware.