How did this end?
How did the film end? I watched it up to the point where Willie gives birth, what happens after that? Thanks!
shareThats funny because I just finished it today. You really should have kept watching, because the last ten minutes are open to interpretation.. I'll try: Willie delivers a stillborn. We fade away to a delivery truck puling up at the bar. Pinky has become child like again. She calls Millie her mother to the deliveryman. They walk back to the house, where Willie is waiting for them. Very odd.
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I'd like to think that the 3 women killed Edgar.
Robert Altman himself says he'd like to think Edgar is buried beneath the large pile of tires seen at the end of the film.
Remember Edgar said something about hating to face a woman who could shoot well?
(not verbatim, but you get what I mean).
Was Edgar to blame for the baby being born dead? He left Willie alone in labor and went to Millie's apartment drunk and looking for a good time. Edgar slept with all 3 women. Maybe the women considered it just revenge.
I also think that the Millie and Pinky felt they owed Willie a family and they became her family.
Of course all we fans can have is our own opinions on this masterpiece.
Altman makes a point of showing that each of the women has become an excellent shot and is capable of shooting a man in the throat or head. It would seem that the man is dead, the baby is dead, but the women survive and no longer need men. They have adapted and evolved into a new species.
This movie becomes more profound each time you see it. The images and photography alone are worth studying.
indeed!
Enrique Sanchez
It's also important to remember this movie was inspired by a dream and I think dream logic and imagery is significant here. You can think of the characters and events as subconscious symbols and archtypes. I don't think this movie actually has a "plot". The characters behave without motive.
-We got a job-
-What kind?-
-The forever kind-
Good insight...of course it was an Altman dream...and that makes the symbols the motive...
Enrique Sanchez
Willie says at the end of the film, "I just had the most wonderful dream, but I can't remember what it was". I think that Altman was speaking directly to us, through her character, on what we have just watched. Was it a dream? Was it real? When we "see" it again, will it have the same meaning? Impact? Total fill-in-the-blank ending either way. Brilliant.
shareI suspect it was all a dream. Inspired by Willie's painting of the 3 enmeshed, interwined women. Perhaps it was meant to represent the stages of women: maiden, mother and crone. And the names--Millie, Mildred and Willie. I think all 3 women were indeed one woman. Or 3 generations of a single bloodline. Or they became 3 generations--from separate bloodlines. I don't know--but maybe it doesn't matter. A thrilling film with profound imagery and amazing performances.
shareAnother interpretation is that instead of assuming they become three genrations of women (grandma, ma, daughter), that they become a family with Willie becoming the father (she has the masculine name, she failed to give birth, she has the most reason to hate edgar).
also, did anyone notice that Duvall's character calls Spacek's character 'millie' in the end?
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I watched this movie to the end again instead of letting it run out of steam and get online to find out about my e-mail.
After watching this movie numerous times, I finally saw something on the left wall of the bar that sissy spacek was sitting at.
As Shelley Duvall walks out of the bar and into the backyard.............10 acres to the front of that torn about house did I notice that on the wall were placards of the bullet ridden boards that the 3 women had been practicing their shooting skills.
It seemed like a tribute to Edgar and also a reminder of what a dead beat this man was and how to avoid the creepiness of men in general who still lived in those parts of the desert.