MovieChat Forums > 37°2 le matin (1986) Discussion > But WHY did he do that..?

But WHY did he do that..?

posted 18 years ago by Mon_Mothma
15 replies | jump to latest

*spoilers ahead*

I liked this movie so much (watched it yesterday for the first time) before I came to the ending. The ending ruined it a little for me...

Zorg is a reasonably sympathetic character and he clearly loves Betty. Right before he kills her he says they are meant to be together, and that they will never be apart. So naturally we assumed he would kill himself after having killed Betty. That was the only thing that could give it meaning.

But he doesn't kill himself. So then what was the point of killing Betty??

[–] Bloom6000 18 years ago

That scene where he kills her is kinda like the last scene in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: Betty Blue has now become a vegetable and there was no way she would get out of that hospital - she was stuck there for life.

Zorg knew the carefree Betty didn't wanted to be a vegetable so he spared her the misery by (mercy) killing her. He freed her from that dreaded state of vegetation.

In Cuckoo's nest that Indian inmate wanted to escape the ward with McMurphy, but McMurphy was now a vegetable. The Indian says: "Let's go", and mercy kills him, and in a way McMurphy's spirit came with the Indian as he left the ward.

So it's like that in this film, Betty's spirit was released and went with Zorg whenether he went.

Hope this clears some things up!

[–] joeforever 18 years ago

i really liked the ending- it was really romantic though i'm not sure i'd like the idea of betty's spirit following me around all day long...

[–] thelouderyouscream 18 years ago

i like that Zorg killed her. Its a good story for one. but also very indicative of his deep love for her that he could do that. i dont think he's being callous by carrying on with his life and writing the book. he's living the dream for them both. The cat? You can either see it as her spirit or just whats left. him and the cat. amounts to the same thing. But i love this film!! its a good test of character. some people i know thought it was just soft porn?? wierder than any story line....

[–] badgerking10 18 years ago

The film isn't much of an advert for modern medicine's ability to cope with mental illness... The suggestion seems to be that, by the end, Betty's beyond help and will spend the rest of her life either in hospital or so medicated that she's no longer the old Betty... As for the talking cat... I suppose it's a way for Zorg to still have Betty around without having to put up with her less attractive features - hacking out of eyes, kidnapping children, arson, etc... And - I have to say - this film is a masterpiece and much more than soft-core porn... Though, having said that, I'm always more than happy to watch JHA walk 'round with his kit off.

I just got done taming a wild honeymoon stallion for you guys.

[–] ArtfulLodger 17 years ago

Treatment for Schizophriena and all mental illness varies dramatically country by country and even region by region. What we saw was typical of rural French treatment in the mid-80's, whereas progressive treatments work with the patients to exorcise their pain and manage the conditions as opposed to a lifetime of incarceration and misery - a prison sentence just for being ill.

[–] Talking_of_Michelangelo 18 years ago

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I think he did suicide at the end - just not physically.

He euthanised her to take away her pain. He loved her and couldn't stand to know she was in her own private hell.

He then went home and soon enough, at the very end, we see he has given into his own brand of insanity. He has abandoned hope. His companion? A cat that speaks with Betty's voice - the one way he feels he has left to join her! He has gone insane - a metaphorical death and one he has in effect chosen. The suicide of his sanity...

Thanks for posting this - I didn't think of this until now!

"Sometimes when you lose, you win..."

[–] derpazifist 17 years ago

I dont know if some of you have also read the great Book from Djian, which was the source of this Movie. In the Book, the Storie continues for about 30 Pages after he has Killed Betty, so a way longer than in the Movie (Directors Cut)
In the Book, there is explained, that he allways feels Betty along with him (even in The Sequel, playing 5 Years later, he often hears her Voice and it is told that she never really left him). I don´t think that in the Movie the Cat is representing Betty in any way, she has another Meaning, what you can see because of the fact she appeared already before Bettys Dead. Hearing Bettys Voice in the last sequence was the reference tho the written Fact, that the two have an eternal Band, which even Dead can´t Cut, therefore Zogg doesnt feel remorsefull for killing Betty, he freed her and so she can be with him forever.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] chorando 17 years ago

The cat seemed to act as book-ends to the story of 'Betty ' , her arrival in and departure from Zorgs life. Cats also symbolically represent freedom from constraint and independence. Cat's have their own way of doing things, can be purring one moment and then scratch you the next, Cat's also, unlike dogs cannot be trained to come here or fetch. The Cat also being white represented a purity of spirit. Therefore in Many ways the cat was a representation of qualities Betty also possessed. In this respect you could say the cat echoed the spirit of betty ; her fierce independence and her inabitity to cope with constraint. Zorg Knew these qualities in betty and therefore had to suffocate her and ultimaltely free her spirit. For Zorg himself the Cat was the reminder that there was life before and life after Betty. Not in a callous way but in as much that his own life was enhanced by her being there and to throw that away with his own suicide would be a diservice to Himself and Betty. For me the Cat scene was one of the most beautiful in the film.

[–] real-flaim 17 years ago

The speaking cat rescued the killing.

[–] scarletminded 13 years ago

"Cat's also, unlike dogs cannot be trained to come here or fetch. "

I know people who train cats. They can be made to come when they are called or to fetch paper balls. My friend's dad taught his Siamese cats all sort of tricks. It's just assumed cats can't be trained. :)

[–] jtuijl 17 years ago

The book makes it so much clearer, but that does not mean the film is not better. It seems to me, if you have read the book: you know that Betty has gone insane and Zorg's actions have you (had me!) in floods of tears, and you know there was no way back for her. The book spends much more time welling up to her insanity and much more time with Zorg and how his life will be after he freed her. Forget talking cats, the film never does that sort of obvious stuff, did they break the piano on the truck like we all thought they would? no, there was much more to it than that, therefore the film would not do something silly. Zorg is clearly going to devote the rest of his life to doing what Betty wanted him to do: writing. The cat may be a symbol but her words are in his head, like he said her words were in his head all the time when he was by her bedside in the hospital.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] scarletminded 13 years ago

To original poster: I didn't get it either. I thought it was unrealistic to just assume after a two day stay in the hospital, that Betty would be a vegetable. For one, she sure moves a lot when she is being killed...I almost thought Zorg was trying to bring her to life by trying to kill her...like revive her in an extreme way.

I mean, it was too quick...it was like, wow, she isn't responding and it's been too days...so let's kill her. I would have thought Zorg would have at least smuggled her out of the hospital. It just seemed sort of fickle for his character to commit murder of a person he loved so much. That he would try to revive her before deciding to murder his true love.

[–] skay_baltimore 11 years ago

@scarletminded:

That was my take as well. The end left me feeling as if the whole movie had just gone out the window. I enjoyed it right up until the end.

"Love isn't what you say or how you feel, it's what you DO". (The Last Kiss)