MovieChat Forums > La mort en direct Discussion > Can someone explain the ending? *SPOILER...

Can someone explain the ending? *SPOILERS*


**SPOILER ALERT**


So in the end he says to Max Von Sydow: "I'd like you to meet my wife" Then his wife narrates something like "he walked around the first day but didn't come home, well shy should he?" Can anyone tell me what that means...?

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She says that in the beginning of the movie, too, right after he gets his camera/eyes operation. "...well why should he? He hadn't been home for three years, anyway." Or something along those lines.

"If you just talk, I find that your mouth comes out with stuff." ~ Karl Pilkington

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So what is the meaning of that statement and how it relates to the story?

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"he walked around the first day but didn't come home... well, why should he?"


I think it may have something to do with "the prodigal son" story.

For those not familiar (and to keep it short):

"one of two sons sells the land their father gives them so as to use the money to find his way in the world. He travels.. and parties with women and drugs.. until he is broke and destitute. After many years, he comes back home, whereupon the father says to the older son to slaughter the fatted calf, invite all of their friends so as to celebrate the son's return. The older son says "I have stayed and served you faithfully for all of this time, yet you never celebrated my loyalty." The father says "You have always been with me, but your brother was once dead, but is now alive. He was lost but is now found."

I think it is important that Roddy introduces her as "his wife" and not his "ex wife" (also note the look on her face when he says this). So maybe the point of her comment being repeated is that he left her to find his own way, so how can she expect him to come home on his first day of leaving her? He had to find his own way back to her, which he did (ie an appreciation for what is important in life, such as sharing your life with those who care).

Remember Max von Sydow's story of the lions (as they eat, the Wildebeasts simply watch... they don't attack or flee... they just stand there and watch.. they can't help it. In the end, it simply happens. Not everything has to have a meaning). The only meaning in life is what we make of it. Life in this near future has become so medicated and comfortable that people are missing what it is like to strive to live. It is the reason for the show DEATH WATCH's existence to begin with: to allow people to see how someone faces death in their last moments, whereupon they can experience the emotions that are missing from their own lives.

I think it is also why they never show Katherine actually die - the filmmakers are giving the fictional character the dignity to die without the audience seeing it, being that we are essentially the audience for the show DEATH WATCH.

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