MovieChat Forums > Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1965) Discussion > Question about odd resolution (spoilers)

Question about odd resolution (spoilers)

posted 15 years ago by onepotato2
37 replies | jump to latest

Charlotte upends a planter on two people and kills them. The next time we see her she's leaving the house, her sanity regained, her reputation restored. The locals are seen to have mild, pleasant feelings about her.

How do you remain free after killing two people? How does that incident restore your reputation, make neighbors relax their vindictiveness? The movie doesn't need to be longer at that point, but there's not even a hint of due process.

A viewer is asked to assume that, with no witnesses Charlotte is able to exculpate herself, produce evidence (Drew's drugs) and a loopy story, that the two victims were trying to drive her crazy and kill her for her money..?

More likely, she would have been perceived as a nutjob making up the whole thing, and killing two more people.

I've liked the movie for decades but, that's a stretch.

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[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

jsmmov...

It's an interesting reading but it seems unsupported by the film. People gossiping don't necessarily mean they're pointing you to the truth. The crowd/biddies also remarks on how nice she looks.

I always assumed she regained her sanity in the end, because she has composure and is free of outbursts, as nowhere else in the film.

Also, she exits in a car on her own. That does not seem like the means a municipality would use to insure a crazy lady gets to an asylum.

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[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

ophi, do you also think she is off to the booby hatch? Even with a note that says "I, the recently deceased Jewell Mayhew, killed hubbie John with an axe."

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[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

I've seen the movie many many times and never thought she was off to the booby hatch. Although one thing to support that reading is that everyone she knows is now dead. She's certainly not going to live with them.

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[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

Yeah, she finally seems at peace. That's why I assumed a happy ending was implied (Charlotte is free).

I'm fine with ambiguity also.

[–] Doylenf 15 years ago

She has just deliberately killed two people. She's being taken away by authorities either to be locked up in an institution or to get immediate psychiatric care. Either way, she's far from free.

She's calm and composed for the moment but obviously will have to be examined to determine what the next step will be. She can't be let go after the two cold-blooded murders, even if they were plotting against her. She'll probably get a lawyer who will have to defend her against prosecutors who will obviously try to put her away for life. That's the way I see the ending.

"Somewhere along the line, the world has lost all of its standards and all of its taste."

[–] lenlarga 15 years ago

"She'll probably get a lawyer who will have to defend her against prosecutors who will obviously try to put her away for life. That's the way I see the ending."

Maybe, but the larger point is that Charlotte has been liberated from her illusions. Mostly, her illusion that her deceased lover and father were great men to be idolized (they were the two biggest womanizers in the county). In a way, the prison that she made for herself in her own home and in her own mind was far worse than any institution she faced in her future.

So in that sense, the ending is a happy one.

[–] lastmidnite2 15 years ago

Other people have commented that there's nobody else in the car with her. Actually a man, who I assume is some sort of law officer, gets into the back seat with her just before the car drives off.

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[–] lm362 7 years ago

She would not be "let go". There would be an investigation and I'm sure the doctor and her cousin, as all criminals do, would leave evidence of their trying to drive her insane. I'm also sure the reporter in the story would find a friend for her to stay with while the investigation was going on. I don't see any prosecutor even being willing to bring her to trial with all the defense evidence in her favor. And I don't see that she was truly insane. Her wild behavior sprang from her wrong ideas about her lover and her father. That is all cleared up now that she knows the truth of how killed her lover. I also believe that her leaving her home was meant to show that she has given up wanting to live there.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
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[–] sloanrules 15 years ago

Ive always the thought the ending was supposed to show how Charlotte finally freed herself of all of her hallucanations and crazyness, yet ironically she was being take to the looney bin....,

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[–] lm362 7 years ago

No. The reporter would let the authorites know about the note he has showing that she did not murder her lover. I also believe that after everyone learned the truth, they would know she was not insane and a danger to others. Her dangerous attitude and actions were the result of guilt, wrong ideas about her father and John. When she finds out what her cousin and doctor were planning, I think she was free of the guilt, hallucinations and wrong ideas.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
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[–] brefane 9 years ago

Especially odd considering that earlier in the film she upended a planter that very nearly killed the character played by George Kennedy.

[–] moosefeathers 9 years ago

She wasn't free at all. They were extending a respectful courtesy to her by not making it look like an actual "off the insane asylum" ride.

There's no way after the events of the story that she'd be a free woman, even if she were the victim. She killed two people.

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

[–] engle_james 9 years ago

She was not going to the "looney bin." If she were, it would have been immediately, not later as the movie suggests. Between the guy who was investigating why Jewel Mayhew never collected the insurance, the note from Jewel, Velma's death, the drugs found on the doctor and/or Miriam, finding the mannequin with the missing head and hand, and Charlotte's report of what Miriam and the doctor had said, there was more than enough evidence of what really happened. Charlotte looked sane at the end because she finally realized the truth about how Miriam hated her and had lied to her for all those years, which finally freed her mind.

As for being a free woman, she could have said it was an accident or more likely a result of the drug-induced psychosis she was in due to Miriam and the doctor. That is, if she hadn't been so drugged up by them, she wouldn't have done it. And since they had killed Velma (even if that couldn't be proven by court of law, everyone would have suspected them) and tried to drive Charlotte insane by terrorizing her, who would feel badly for Miriam or the doctor enough to pursue charges? But honestly, we have to suspend our disbelief at this point, just like we did when she tried to kill the foreman at the beginning of the film. She wasn't arrested then, and there were plenty of witnesses to that crime.

[–] moosefeathers 9 years ago

The woman killed two people, manslaugther at best but i'm sure they were sending her for a psychiatric evaluation....where do you think they (THE AUTHORITIES) taking her? for a nice picnic on the riverbank?

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

[–] brefane 9 years ago

Well, frankly, it looked like they were taking her to a nice picnic on the river bank. LOL!

[–] moosefeathers 9 years ago

^"a nice little place where they could LOOOKAFTER[HER]....."

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...

[–] MWallace77 9 years ago

I always assumed they were taking her to an insane asylum. In more enlightened times, people acknowledged insanity.

[–] lm362 7 years ago

I would assume they were taking her to the police station for an interview about all that had happened, which does not need to mean anything bad for her.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
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[–] lm362 7 years ago

But it does not mean she is off to jail. Upon being taken there for an interview, I think the reporter who had tried to talk with her and who would tell the authorities his knowledge of things would try to find her someone to stay with while the investigation is going on. Also, it is not out of the realm of possibility for one of the townspeople to take her in. Yes, she would need to speak with a mental health professional to see what her mental state is, but that would not require her to be hospitalized.
As for the death of the two people, I'm sure the evidence would show self defense and that because of the evidence they would uncover about the plans to drive her insane, she would not serve any time.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
I try doing this with my posts

[–] 398 9 years ago

When I first saw the movie decades ago, I assumed Charlotte was being taken away to be committed,

and the commentator on the DVD certainly came to that conclusion,

but watching it yesterday, I think it has a happy ending and Charlotte walks. The letter, off what the old English guy says, includes both Jewel's confession and info that Miriam knew who did the murder and never reported that to the authorities while blackmailing Jewel.

There is also the death of Velma, which I think will be looked into.

Also stuff like the phony head, the suit with the water weeds on it, the gun with blanks, etc., etc., etc. which will probably be found in the house will give credibility to Charlotte's story.

And blood samples should show that she had been drugged by her physician and Miriam.

I think the killing could be viewed as self-defense, or certainly temporary insanity due to being drugged and psychologically abused.

Would you press charges if you were the DA?

Would you vote to convict is you are on the jury?

I would answer no to both.

[–] brefane 9 years ago

A case could be made that the evidence with the phony head...was removed by Miriam and the doctor, and that the physician was just doing his job by sedating the patient. Mariam and the doctor were killed by a planter; the same thing Charlotte nearly killed George Kennedy with at the beginning of the film; she also threatened to shoot anyone who came on her property. Not an open-and-shut case IMO.

[–] 398 9 years ago

brefane

Was the drug the physician administered a sedative? It didn't seem to sedate Charlotte much. If he had given her a sedative she would have been asleep and they wouldn't have been killed.

If Miriam and the doc destroyed all the evidence, that would make it harder, of course. But they didn't have much time for that.

If George Kennedy tells the truth, he would have to admit he was twenty feet away when Charlotte pushed that planter over. It came no where near hitting him. Nor, I think, was she trying to. She was trying to scare him.

Threatening to kill anyone who comes onto your property is not relevant to killing two people who obviously meant you harm, and had murdered Charlotte's best friend.

[–] brefane 9 years ago

The dialog with Miriam and the doctor at the end indicated that first thing in the morning doctors from the state institution would be arriving so it's doubtful the doctor would have given her anything but a sedative.

And since they expected visitors the next morning they would have certainly removed any damaging evidence or artifacts before they arrived.

And the 2 of them hardly had any time for the elaborate schemes they did pull off such as Charlotte and Miriam dumping the doctor's body only to have him return to the house before they arrived back home.

The fact that she would scare someone by pushing a huge planter from the second story would hardly make her seem less innocent when 2 people were crushed by the very same and Charlotte was apparently the only other person in residence. And the audience knows of their scheme and so does Charlotte at the end but...

[–] 398 9 years ago

brefane

"the audience knows of their scheme and so does Charlotte at the end but"

I think Jewel's letter will be the key. The dialogue by the English guy indicates that Jewel not only confessed to the murder, but spilled the beans about the blackmail (I don't blame her--a hole in the plot is that Miriam doesn't ever seem concerned that Jewel might leave a confession behind at her death which if she tells everything she knows would implicate Miriam as an accessory after the fact to murder and as a blackmailer).

**"elaborate schemes"

I love the movie because of the acting and the way it's done, but the villains' scheme is laughably improbable. With her physician involved, wouldn't it have been a lot easier for Charlotte to have been found dead one morning from an overdose of sleeping pills?

"Charlotte was apparently the only other person at the residence"

My point is not that any one would doubt that she killed them. It is that she will get off with self-defense or justifiable homicide of two people who were trying to do her great harm, and had just committed a murder.

At worst, some sort of manslaughter conviction. The fact that the doc had her on drugs would help her. Charlotte was rich and could hire good lawyers.

[–] brefane 8 years ago

Jewel's letter wouldn't prove that Charlotte is sane and it wouldn't implicate Miriam or the doctor. Ultimately, there are 2 dead bodies and a crazy lady in residence.

[–] lm362 7 years ago

If I were the DA, I'd be afraid to prosecute because of how the townspeople now feel about Charlotte. They like her now and would likely retaliate against an unfair prosecution by not voting for him to be reelected.

I have no idea why the commentator on the DVD would think Charlotte was being taken to be committed. It was clear to me that once she heard what was planned for her by the doctor and her cousin, her mental healing started and when she got the note from the reporter, it completed her mental healing. But I am sure she was seen by a mental health professional so they could make sure. I think that even back then, you could be seen by one of them without being committed.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
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[–] 7 years ago

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[–] lm362 7 years ago

No, it isn't a stretch. There was proof that her cousin and the doctor were trying to drive her insane. Criminals aways mess up and leave proof. Charlotte killed them by reason of self defense. That is easy to prove and the verdict would result in no imprisonment due to the proof of all Charlotte has gone through.
There is a lapse of time between her killing them and the next time you see her. Likely, it has spread among the people the truth about everything and the townspeople are now friendly and sympathetic towards Charlotte. Yes, there surely was an investigation and maybe even a trial, but why show that when the viewer knows how it would end? All the ending did was show that there would be a happy, or as happy as can be, ending for Charlotte.

"Do All Things For God's Glory"-1 Corinthians 10:31
I try doing this with my posts