Vanessa Redgrave said "you were the only one". So Cliff Robertson was the father? Ewwww that is incest! What about the ending? Did he stay with the daughter and V. Redgrave left them? It is a bit unclear. I would welcome any help or suggestions.
shareYes, I think it's clear that he was the father. (Among other things, note the name Joanna -- a combination of Joe and Ann.)
I've always wondered about the end. I get the impression that it was Joanna who stayed and Ann who left. See the Trivia page for further comments on this. Anyone else have any thoughts?
Any registered IMDb member could contribute to the Trivia section. In the film, it was deliberately left unambiguous. The viewer could not see the face of the woman that boarded the train, and the woman that played cards at the end. Of course this comment won't help any since that was the intention of the scriptwriter. Earlier, either Ann or Joanna could have passed for the woman that undressed in Joe's room, until we learned later that she was Joanna.
It might be that Ann was disgusted with the other two and so she left, but there are also arguments against that. Assuming Ann did not lie, Joanna was clearly their daughter and so Joe could not have stayed as her lover. Also, the hotel was Ann's property that she was planning to sell. In addition, Joanna had always been the one who wanted to leave that miserable place and earlier she suggested to Joe that they leave together. So it appeared reasonable that she left at the end - though she had to do so without Joe. Lastly, it was the mother who seemed fond of playing cards - perhaps she had played often with Joe in the past.
My point is that making conjectures based on certain characteristics of the person that you see may not necessarily give you the answer - if the intention was that we don't have the answer. If the scriptwriter intended the ending to be ambiguous, so let it be.
The hands in the final scene are absolutely SG, so I agree its pointedly ambiguous. Likewise, both women were shown playing cards. I think all that was done to muddy the ending. And Joe's line about playing cards could fit either woman either he's revisiting his past with Ann, or revisiting his past with Ann, or reliving his past with Anna through Joanne.
And I don't see Joe and Joanne as remotely moral enough to care that they were father and daughter. Incest probably wouldn't even phase them.
It's a very strange picture.
Based on the hands alone, I agree they were Susan's hands; earlier it shows Vanessa's hands wearing a large ring, not seen in the final scene.
I tried to like this movie. I don't love me the way the daughter treats her mother at all. It just seems seems strange and confusing.
shareThe daughter resents being stuck in the sea side town and apparently when she was younger, the mother sent her to some kind of children's hospital or boarding school which she hated even more. The duaghter character is supposed to be only 19, Susan George looks older than that & one would think she could leave on her own.
if man is 5
then the devil is 6
if the devil is 6
then God is 7
and if God is 7...