MovieChat Forums > The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986) Discussion > The ending (spoilers)

The ending (spoilers)

posted 17 years ago by horrorhag
8 replies | jump to latest

can someone explain the ending to me. i just dont understand why she would go to all that trouble to be back with him.

[–] ctizon 17 years ago

It wasn't simply that she wanted to be back with him...she wanted to truly get back at him by putting him in the same situation she was. She went through all of the pain to abandon her children and get massive surgeries, all used as a tool to show him how she felt. In the beginning, he's the one who has the power in the relationship, cheating around as he pleases and not even bothering to hide it from Ruth, but she still has to stay with him because she has nobody else. So she does the same thing. She BECOMES his mistress, becomes the more powerful one in the relationship, and now he is left without anything--no more family or friends or power.

Make a little more sense now?

Why does Sadako hate?

[–] hodie 16 years ago

<she wanted to truly get back at him by putting him in the same situation she was.>

... and she certainly did. I found that extremely disturbing, actually, watching Bobbo at the end. She'd become no better than he had been. And she seemed a lot more cruel. It made me wonder if Bobbo had been so wrong in the first place, when Ruth was engaging in the very same behavior. Mixed message, but a great series. I would love to see it again.

God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety

[–] gham693432 17 years ago

It's all about envy - Ruth wanted everything Mary Fisher had, and that included Bobbo.

[–] ginda2000 17 years ago

Its all very complex and it gives out mixed messages. Its been a long time since I have seen this mini series (and read the book), but from memory Mary Fisher dies by falling. In the book Mary dies from cancer. The producers probably felt this topic a little grime to reinact in the context of a TV series, but basically Ruth becomes stronger whilst Mary weakens.

However - the strange thing is - when Mary dies Ruth is devastated. In the mini series I don't think this came across as strongly as it does in the book.

By the end of the story we (the audience or reader) are not really suposed to know whether Ruth has done the right thing. She has surgery to shorten her legs and is told (by the doctor) that this is the most dangerous thing she could do - as she will spend the rest of her life in pain and on medication to stop her blood clotting, yet she still choses to do it.

She breaks Bobo and has him as her own, but more importantly she destroys Ruth her true self and everything she was. Mary is punished by death and Ruth continues her life - but really everyone loses out.

I think ultimately the message to the book is revenge is a bad thing - nobody wins especially the person instigating it.

[–] samanthaseaotter 16 years ago

Oh, I think Ruth got exactly what she wanted. All the things she was envious of - and then some. Life was hers to do with what she liked.

I think you missed the point of the book - as Ruth moves toward her goal, everyone profited from her presence. First, she met the pharmaceutical rep (Geoffrey Tufton) - and he ended up starting to pay attention to his wife again, no more chasing around other women. The girl she helped by "selling" her babies ensured that the childre had loving homes who would treasure them and the girl could do what she liked. (This was NOT shown in the movie version, likely for time.) She fixed Judge Bissop's household (again, not shown in the movie) by getting him into a different "schedule" so he stopped the S&M with his wife, settled down, and they had another baby named after "the nanny" and life was good. Nurse Hopkins had a flourishing agency to run "and a little boy to love" since one of the working mothers Ruth employed was an aspiring opera singer who pined after her long career. After helping Ruth out, she went back to pursuing her operatic career. Even Elsie Flowers got a new identity, five years of her life back and went to live in New Zealand. The residents of the nursing home were vitaminized instead of drugged out and having a good life.

They really don't go into all of it during the movie but the book is very clear that the only folks who were put through hell were Bobbo and Mary Fisher. There's even subtext on Garcia and Joan and their baby with the hole in its heart. I love the movie - Julie T Wallace and Patricia Hodge were amazing (not to mention the always-spectacular Miriam Margolyes) but the book is extraordinary.

Samantha
"Nobody's perfect."

[–] ginda2000 14 years ago

I read the book twenty odd years ago, so I don't remember all these points. I agree with what you are saying about the book, but the TV series plays very differently.

In the TV series Ruth causes as much distruction as she does help. She messes with Elsie Flowers life, seduces a priest and interferes with the judges household.

The book is a very deep multi-layered piece and what comes across is Ruth's love for Mary Fisher. She is devastated when she dies, its ultimately Mary who Ruth admires and her love for Bobbo is over before the story has even begun.

For me the story is still ultimately about the negativity of revenge. In the book Ruth is almost a visiting character in a collection of short stories, she turns up, turns things around and then leaves. In the TV series Ruth is very much executing her revenge in all of these different settings.

[–] samanthaseaotter 14 years ago

The book is the original. So no matter what you got out of the tv series, Fay Weldon's meaning is pure and uncorrupted when the book is read. It is a dark comedy, and for a dark comedy, it has a happy ending. Ruth gets everything she wants and improves everyone's life but Bobbo's and Mary Fisher's.

Negativity of revenge? Not at all!!!!

Samantha
"We're here. We're dead. Get used to it."

[–] The-Last-Prydonian 14 years ago

Or maybe that is just yor perception of the ending. Two people can read the one story and garner something the opposite from what you did. No matter what the purpose of a book at times someone might take something different from it. Maybe there is no right or wrong answer as to how you look at the end of the novel. It could all be subjective. A lot of stories can be left up to our personal interpritation.