MovieChat Forums > The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) Discussion > ONCE AGAIN: the ending - plothole?

ONCE AGAIN: the ending - plothole?

posted 17 years ago by wim_mols
26 replies | jump to latest

I hope I'm wrong, but I smell a huge plothole here!
In the tavern, towards the end of the movie, the farmer persuades Tomas to drink, telling him that he and Tereza can stay the night and bring the truck back to the farm the next day. WHERE did the farmer and the farmhand stay the night? It doesn't seem very likely to me that they stayed in a hotel as well, neither that they went home WALKING (I seem to remember it was rather a long distance from the farm to the tavern).But then, maybe I overlooked something...

...the Master is coming....

[–] TopFrog 17 years ago

WHERE did the farmer and the farmhand stay the night? It doesn't seem very likely to me that they stayed in a hotel as well

Why not?

From the novel:

"I can't drink," Tomas reminded him. "I'm driving."
"Don't be silly," he said. "We're staying the night." And he went off to the reception desk to book two rooms.
....
They went back to their table. She danced twice more with the collective farm chairman, and once with the young man, who was so drunk he fell with her on the dance floor.
Then they all went upstairs and to their two separate rooms.

-- TopFrog

[–] wim_mols 17 years ago

Hello TOPFROG,

well, I haven't read the book, yet, IN THE MOVIE it wasn't clear though and for some reason, to ME, the farmer and his farmhand were not the type who would spend a night in a hotelroom, if you understand what I mean...

...the Master is coming....

[–] TopFrog 17 years ago

Fair enough. I saw the movie before reading the book, and to me it seemed very reasonable that the farmer and the farmhand would get a cheap room there to sleep off their drunks.

-- TopFrog

[–] american-dsi 17 years ago

Who writes Sabina that letter?

I thought it was the farmer who wrote the letter because they survived.

[–] TopFrog 17 years ago

In the book Tomas's son wrote the letter to Sabina. I don't recall if the letter writer was identified in the movie.

-- TopFrog

[–] IreneHvR 17 years ago

his son??

oohhh that's different from the movie

well in the movie the letter is signed with Pavel
which I think is the farmer

and you don't see them sitting in the back of the truck either

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TopFrog 16 years ago

How come they weren't driving the farmer and his farmhand back the next morning?

Who says they weren't? I looked at the ending again last night. Tomas and Tereza were in the cab of the truck. There's one shot that shows the back of the truck, but the back is covered, like there's someone or something back there that needs to be protected from the rain. Seems a reasonable assumption that the other two men are riding back there. Or did I miss something else in the film that rules that out?

-- TopFrog

[–] mateofeo 16 years ago

that makes sense, both had a history of getting hurt and recovering(the surgery and the dislocated shoulder)

[–] cine-maum 17 years ago

Where did the others stay ?
I dont think its really a plothole. It didnt matter to me where they went.
It was already on to disk 2 and well over 2 hrs, so tidbits like this werent necessary to wind it all up---for me IMO.

I thought this was a very good movie BTW

[–] oscarstegland 17 years ago

I haven't seen the film but I've read the book. I don't think they ever end up staying in the hotel. Tomas and Tereza die in a car crash in the countryside, which I think is this instance. They end up driving back but Tomas is drunk and they crash, resulting in their deaths. Tomas' son writes the letter to Sabina, which makes sense cuz he lives in the next village.

[–] hellojenil 16 years ago

You mean to say this movie ends with Tomas and Tereza dying in the end? The whole story made no sense to me and then in the end the main characters die? That type of ending only belong to movies like Thelma and Louise or Bonnie and Clyde

[–] oscarstegland 16 years ago

In the book they die. It's not made clear how but they do die. I personally think it's when Tomas is driving back from the hotel. The whole story is very philosophical, so it won't be your typical Hollywood story on screen. Read the book, it's really good, a lot better than the film from what I've heard.

[–] TopFrog 16 years ago

It's made very clear in the book how they died:

For the past few years they had been living in a village, where Tomas was employed as a driver at a collective farm. From time to time they would drive over to the next town and spend the night in a cheap hotel. The road there wound through some hills, and their pickup had crashed and hurtled down a steep incline. Their bodies had been crushed to a pulp. The police determined later that the brakes were in disasterous condition.

What isn't made clear in the book is whether the return trip when they died was the one from the trip that included the farm chairman (with his pig) and the young man with the dislocated shoulder.

I second the recommendation of the novel. The film is a different animal. It's actually very good for what it is, but it doesn't begin to capture the philosophical aspects of the novel.

-- TopFrog

[–] oscarstegland 16 years ago

That's what I meant, by it's not made sure how they died. I suppose I should have said when instead. You never get to know if it was that time at the end of the book, but I think it was then. Just my hypothesis.

[–] TopFrog 16 years ago

Earlier I wrote, "What isn't made clear in the book is whether the return trip when they died was the one from the trip that included the farm chairman (with his pig) and the young man with the dislocated shoulder."

Having just read the book again, let me amend that. Actually it's clear in the book that the return trip where Tomas and Terza die is not the same one as the trip involving the farm chairman and the young man. The trip with the other two is made on the same day that Tereza urges Tomas to answer his son's letters and invite the son for a visit. Earlier in the book the invitation and subsequent visit are described, albeit briefly. Also the trip with the farm chairman and the young man is described (in the book) as the first time that Tomas and Tereza have gone to that hotel. In the letter to Sabina reporting the death of Tomas and Tereza, it's stated that they had gone to that hotel from time to time over a period of years.

-- TopFrog

[–] rondlite 14 years ago

maybe good to say that tereza was finally happy for once in her life. when I read the book I found it the only way for a 'happy end'.
movie and book are in my top 5 of all times.

[–] blewellyn 14 years ago

No, that type of ending is like real life. People finally settle into life and are happy and then tragedy strikes. This was a bittersweet ending but it was true to reality.

B

[–] mobbs_47 16 years ago

Tomas has a son? When did that happen? Who is the mother?

[–] roadogg31 16 years ago

Geez people. Okay, in the MOVIE, Tomas did not have a son, that much is obvious. In the BOOK, he does. Sometimes (actually, quite often), the series of events is changed from the book to the film, or parts are completely left out. Examples of this would be all the Harry Potter movies and I Am Legend to name several. It is made quite clear IN THE MOVIE that Tomas and Tereza die on the way back from the hotel the morning after the night the film presented. There were people in the back of the truck, otherwise why would it have been covered? It was raining after all.

Even if the farmers didn't stay the night, it would not be implausible for them to have walked back to the farm (in the film); the hotel was only 4 kilometers from the farm (about 2.4 miles).

What would have been helpful to show in the film is how Sabina ended up in the United States.

Whether or not the farmers stayed the night at the hotel is not a plot hole, since it doesn't really have much to do with the plot.

[–] fearnotofman 16 years ago

40 kilometers, not 4.

[–] Bai-Ling 14 years ago

The farmers could have got a lift with someone else. Or perhaps they were riding at the back of the truck. Both assumptions are equally believable.

One way or another, Pavel survived the accident, as he's the one who wrote the letter (in the movie) since Tomas had no son (in the movie).

[–] ProfessorFate 12 years ago

What about Mephisto? I doubt the inn keepers would have let Pavel keep the pig in a room over night, and I doubt Pavel would've stayed anywhere without that pig.

Regardless of where they stayed, I loved the movie. A beautiful, thought provoking, and very sexy film. Must check out the book.

"Push the button, Max!"

[–] mobbs_47 16 years ago

Ok, well, I've answered my own question about the provenance of Tomas's son by getting hold of a copy of the book published in 1984.

[–] lobouivante 16 years ago

Easy, Tomas and Tereza spend the night together and feel united again after some complicated situations. On the folowing day they have an acident which results in their death due to the road being wet and damaged brakes.

[–] ntsci 11 years ago

I should note that the cost of a hotel is directly propotion to the number of tourist who wish to stay in the place, and directly propotion to the abilty of people to pay for accommodation. We're not talking the Ritz or the Four Seasons... a local hotel in a rural setting would be pretty inexpensive, in an area that is unlikely to get any tourism, would be affordable to a farmer.

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RIGOLETTO: I'm denied that common human right, to weep.