MovieChat Forums > Therese and Isabelle (1969) Discussion > Wow, WTF was that ending? (SPOILERS, obv...

Wow, WTF was that ending? (SPOILERS, obviously)

posted 14 years ago by Splash_Woman
3 replies | jump to latest

The movie literally goes from, "We will never be separated," to "Isabelle's family has spontaneously left the country," in about two minutes. Therese cries for a few minutes, and then is suddenly laughing and playing a spirited game of catch with another girl. She doesn't even seem vaguely bothered by Isabelle's departure at that point, so why she'd go back to the school twenty years later is puzzling in of itself. If she's not terribly bothered, why bother reminiscing on a brief teenage romance?

Then there came the final line, "I never saw Isabelle again." It honestly pissed me off. How could these two girls form this deep loving relationship, be split apart in a matter of moments, and then apparently never even make any future attempts at contacting one another? If I were Therese or Isabelle, I would be heartbroken for years, and there is no way I would possibly give up on trying to regain contact with the person I deeply loved.

I know this movie was made in the 1960s, but c'mon! Surely there was a still culturally acceptable way to end the film that was far superior to what we were given. I really feel as if the last ten or so minutes of the film nearly completely ruined the first hour and fifty minutes of above-average film-making.

If anyone actually reads this board and also has an opinion on the ending, I'd love to hear about it.

[–] hmlsmall 14 years ago

I glanced at the IMDb page before watching Therese and Isabelle a couple of hours ago and saw your topic heading but decided not to read the post until after I was done watching it. And as then end came around, and she throws the ball to the little girl like nothing had happened, I thought, wow, this really is a WTF kinda thing. The only thing I can figure with the ending is that, regarding Isabelle's abrupt departure, maybe that's how the book that the film is based on ended. She just left, and the girls' first love was over. Isabelle seemed to be in trouble a lot at the school and maybe after spending the night out her mother decided that enough was enough, though taking her around Europe hardly seems like punishment. As for Therese's reaction, it was totally out of place after the promises, the sobbing, and the fact that she felt some impulse to return to the school years later to relive it. I can understand not being able to track her down, but to just go off playing ball like that was really absurd. Wouldn't she want to be alone or something? Anyway, the only thing I can think of that accounts for that is the director, Radley Metzger, went on to direct hard core porn. Maybe a believable, thoughtful ending wasn't on his mind after the previous two hours of erotic frolicking? Maybe the director had meant it to be artistic in the 'ah, well, young love, life goes on, it has its ups and downs, blah, blah, blah' kind of way but it was so rushed and silly. Also, I would have been curious to see how Therese's life turned out after leaving boarding school. As it was made in the late '60's, it would have been interesting to see how she led her life knowing that she was attracted to women. All the audience knows is that this relationship with Isabelle was a profound experience for her.

[–] Splash_Woman 14 years ago

Thank you for the reply. For the longest time, I honestly thought I was the only person who had watched this film. I had never actually bothered to look in to who directed this film, but it makes sense that he would later go on to direct pornography. For its time period, there's no question that this film was very much on the erotic side, though I thought it was generally handled quite well.

I've never read Leduc's novella, but I would certainly like to. Unfortunately, English printings of the book don't seem to be terribly common, and they usually go for a lot more than I could justify coughing up for a book whose first English printing clocks in at a whopping ninety-six pages. Reviews for it weren't generally that favorable either, and they suggest the ending is probably very similar to how the film goofily presented it. 'Tis a shame, truly.

[–] mjb442olds 11 years ago

I believe both of you have mis-understood the ending. I watched this wonderful film this morning and totally fell in love with it. The scene when Therese was crying, when the girl came over with the ball, I took it that the little girl wanted to help her get her mind off what was troubling her. As they were running and tossing the ball back and forth it looked like Therese was NOT laughing. Therese was resigned to the fact that Isabelle was gone from her life, this young girl just was along because she felt sorry for her sadness and to befriend her. Therese came back to the school to reminisce, to remember the sweet moments she had with Isabelle. I loved the flashbacks, the editing was right on the mark. In the final scene we recall Therese walking up the the bench to see the girl crying. In the opening scene we didn't know who it was, the girl was her. At that moment I felt tears in my eyes, she remembers how totally hurt she was. Therese deeply loved Isabelle. We don't know if she ever searched for her, that interpretation is up to the viewer, but we know she wasn't successful. I wouldn't have changed a thing in the movie.
If you ever lost someone you deeply loved, believe me, you'll go on with your life but will never stop thinking about the one who got away. Certain things you do, some places you've been together, a song, a shared thought will make you think of them. This movie was romantic, with a sad ending.

Only at the point of dyin'
Once Upon a Time in the West