ENDING- Real or Fantasy?

This is a good question, and I had wondered that as well. I think the very final scene, with Rupert in bright red suit staring at the applauding audience, is fantasy. However, I'm not sure about the newsreel commentary being fantasy or genuine.

From a larger theme of "obsession with celebrity" this could be genuine, and certainly supports Scorsese's overall commentary.

However, it does fit the bill with Rupert's fantasy as well.

I think it makes more "literary" sense for the newsreel montage to be genuine as it highlights Rupert's mediocrity being thrust into greatness by an act of perverse sensationalism rather than talent.

Regardless, the final frames are, in my opinion, fantasy as I believe we are returned to Rupert's thoughts. There is something both settling and unsettling that his fantasies have become real, and yet he remains entrenched within them.

My goodness..it's been decades since I've seen this film, and the only reason I came across this was because I'm trying to find a copy. This film is now on my "bucket list" ...it consists of films I saw when I was very young, and I want to see again, and own so I can watch again and again before "the end". All the films on my bucket list are films that meant something to me in some way -- scared me, perplexed me, out of the ordinary, foreign films, etc., and these films have been rarely shown.

Now that this point is mentioned, I never even went that far with this film, but I am sure that it is a valid point. At the age I saw this, I took it as a "isn't that payback" kinda ending. That celebrity comes with crime, and as Rupert's paying for his crime this is what enviably happens afterwards: him getting everything he chased, BUT the cycle begins again with him (and we as the audience were to know that what Rupert did, was going to happen to him as well). But now this point...could be a wish, a fantasy of a man who still could not give up his dream/his obsession even in despair.

"Logic is an enemy and truth is a menace" - The Obsolete Man

Just watched it, I thought the ending was a fantasy too. It was probably his most realistic fantasy in the entire movie so it's a tough call.

I think the movie is certainly open to that interpretation. We have several scenes in the movie where Rupert is clearly acting out his fantasies. So it's quite possible that the ending is yet another fantasy, yes.

Personally though, I don't really go along with that interpretation. I think it's a bit of a cop-out, to be honest. It doesn't really give us any further insight into Rupert's character, or make any wider point.

We already know that Rupert spends his time living in a fantasy world as this has been well established in the movie. Driving the point home in the ending doesn't really add anything to the story.

It also removes the wider point about the nature of celebrity and how people can become famous without really doing anything to earn that fame, or for all the wrong reasons.

The point of the final scene is to show that, while Rupert has finally managed to achieve his dream of becoming famous, there is no real follow up act for him. In the final moments of the movie, Rupert is out of jail and he is making his return appearance to TV. The announcer introduces him, and the crowd goes wild. Rupert stands there on stage acknowledging the applause. But that's all he does. This final scene is held for an inordinately long time. Rupert drinking in the applause but doing nothing else. The point being that Rupert has absolutely nothing to say. He is not famous because of any kind of special talent. He is merely famous for being famous.

This suggests that Rupert will be confined to the dustbin of history as soon as the public switches its attention to another fad. At best, he will be remembered as a freak show curiosity. So while Rupert was driven to become famous because of his abusive childhood, to get a sort of revenge on the people who bullied or ignored him, his newfound fame will not bring him any respect. In fact, he will continue to be a figure of ridicule, only now he will be ridiculed in the public eye.


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Just saw the movie for the first time. I feel pretty confident the end was in his head. The biggest clue to me was when he is in the bar at the end, seeing the taped stand-up of himself. The crowd seems to really enjoy it, laughing heartily, (which would have translated to those around him) but then when the detectives are taking him to the car, one made a comment about how bad the jokes were. It seems the ending story of him getting out of prison and making big waves with a book and new show is his new fantasy. This ending scene is what he's imagining from prison I'm guessing. For example, the producer said, go out and get a gig and call us and we'll check it out. There's no way to get to a certain level without going through the hard part of playing small clubs, there is no easy route is the message I got from it. He might have been able to get better someday if he had done the hard work, be vulnerable in front of a crowd, taking rejection, pushing through that rejection, but he, like many others are too scared to do that or just don't want to do the hard work. That's why he will forever live in his fantasies, trapped in a prison of his fears. Some people seem to have the perception that in today's culture, people who have "made it" are pushy, law-breaking, self-centered, take-no-prisoners people. In my opinion, it takes mostly elements of passion, creativeness, dedication, talent, likability, luck and refusal to quit. But mostly talent, and Rupert simply did not have it, or at the very least refused to nurture the seeds of talent he did have, instead he tried to force his way in like a bull in a china shop, pushing himself deeper into his own fantasies when he landed in jail.

Thats what i like about this film the ending makes you think is it real or not real is it another one of rupert' illusions.
I think the book scene is real but the very end where rupert is in front of the audiance i think is his illusion..
Scorsese could have wraped up the questions by adding a scene after of rupert still in his prison cell and like acting out the show on his own.
But its good that he did it like this to raise questions.

Like shutter island at the end. Has teddy's mind relapsed back into his fantasy story or was he just acting like he was to get lobotomized because he could not live with his memorys and quilt

I feel that the ending is real. Think about it – if that situation happened in real life, OF COURSE he would be instantly famous and get a million dollar book deal. Perhaps not his own show, but you never know! If the media could find a way to spin the story to make Rupert out to be the good guy, it's certainly a possibility. I do think that in the very last shot of Rupert in front of the TV cameras, the look on his face shows that he has perhaps changed during his time in prison. He doesn't look as thrilled to be there as he would have been six years before.

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