This is my absolutely favorite ending to any movie ever. I just love the look on Tina's face as it dawns on her nobody- not her husband, her lover, her kids, her psychiatrist or the people in group give a damn about her. Nobody. That has got to be the most cynical ending to a movie I've ever seen.
I wanna buy your carbon offsets.
my wife and i loved the ending too. I however saw something a bit different. somewhere towards the end I thought i saw her cheeks raise, like she was smiling. her eyes seemed to smile too. my wife didn't see it. we were at the theater so there was no rewind button. if she did smile, then she is just laughing as all the bs and somehow accepts her predicacment.
eiher way, a great movie.
I actually just watched this for the first time last night, and I agree, she has a very slight smile. I interpreted as a sort of a "At least I am not as crazy as some people" sort of look. I guess the ambiguity acts as a good Rorschach test when you see this movie. I cannot believe this is not available. It must be unusual for Academy Award winning films to be unreleased on DVD. Add this to the list of shamelessly AWOL movies (Chilly Scenes of Winter, Made for Each Other, Serial...on and on....)
Leah
How about: Tina is a complete masochist.
She married the worst husband ever. Her children treat her with contempt. She has an affair with a guy who tells her - repeatedly - that she should not fall for him. And she ends up in the most insanely unhinged group therapy ever assembled.
The smile is one of quiet satisfaction - she's gotten what she's wanted.
Did we see the same movie? I recall the ending as the morning after the Great Party, when Richard discovers his house trashed and artwork stolen, and realize that all his guests are users and probably laughing at him, and he "comes to Jesus" and starts talking about leaving the city and going to live upstate. So...?
When you think of garbage, think of Hakim!
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All of the interpretations here are so insightful! I guess that what makes that ending so poignant. That smile is as ambiguous as the Mona Lisa's. Is she sad, happy, satisfied?.....
She does seem to suffer in some sort of satisfied semi-silence.....
I think the smile meant she was going into some kind of fugue state.
shareYes!! So good! I love movies that make you THINK after it's over. Endings that raise questions... So much more interesting than a happy, all wrapped up perfectly type of ending for sure.
I thought about this movie for weeks after I watched it, and I simply love that I can't decide what was the truth or what was from the imagination of our poor little housewife.
Now.....if only Criterion would pick up this title and give it the release it deserves. How is it that a critically acclaimed film that was successful at the box office, as well as nominated for Oscars, is just left to gather dust somewhere? Not only that, but it is a wonderful artifact of married life back in a time just a couple of years before the women's rights movement got started in full force, and casts a knowing eye on the lifestyle and dysfunctional relationship paradigm that fed that revolution in thinking.
The bad news is you have houseguests. There is no good news.