MovieChat Forums > La cérémonie (1996) Discussion > (SPOILERS) What Happened In The End?

(SPOILERS) What Happened In The End?

posted 19 years ago by emucec
11 replies | jump to latest

I missed the end of the movie (during the end credits). My friend said there a joke or something during the rolling or very end of the movie that summed up the movie. What was it?

[–] lucvischer 18 years ago

One could hear the recording of the opera with the talk of the women and the shots who killed the family. so it was the evidence to the police that the two women were the murderers.

[–] mac_alain 16 years ago

One could hear the recording of the opera with the talk of the women and the shots who killed the family. so it was the evidence to the police that the two women were the murderers.

Very clever, that. A good "Chabrol".

[–] Jesstears 16 years ago

Why would your friend refer to it as a "joke"?

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[–] vpalme2 16 years ago

While this movie differed in many ways, with the Ruth Rendell novel that it was based upon (Chabrol's characters are much different than protrayed in the novel). It was ultimately the recording, in the book, that lead to the capture of Sophie (in Rendell's book the main character name is Eunice). However, the way that Chabrol's film ended and the way that the car crash was timed with the discovery, I sort of had the feeling that the recording was something in Sophie's memory and the way that she was approaching the emergency crew, at the end of the film lead me to sort of believe that she was going to get away with it. Perhaps the replay at the end of the film was a demonstration of Sophie's conscience? I think this was one of those, draw your own conclusions at the end type of films. I liked Chabrol's version better and thought that Huppert and Bonnaire created a unique amosphere.

[–] artihcus022 15 years ago

Maybe your friend was referring to the fact that the end of this film is a total send-up to the Deus-Ex-Machina.

Jeanne(Isabelle Huppert) and Sophie(Sandrine Bonnaire) seem to get away with it, when out of nowhere she gets hit by a car, which turns out to be driven by that jerk of a priest. A literal God in a car.

"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes

[–] withnail69 14 years ago

hmmm. I saw it like this....

On the recording only Jeanne speaks she says "your husband is dead" and then shoots them. If you watch Sophie whilst the policeman is playing the recording you can see her sneaking away in the background. I think the blame will be on Jeanne and Sophie will get away with it.

[–] Trippetta10 12 years ago

The police will be able to figure out that two guns were used, and the church people know Sophie and Jeanne are close (and saw them acting in an odd, abrasive manner earlier.) You wouldn't have to be much of a detective to connect Sophie to the crime. The look on her face at the end suggests she knows it's over for her.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 10 years ago

I think the blame will be on Jeanne and Sophie will get away with it.

I agree. This is my take on what we see. What's interesting is the connection with the story/opera Don Giovanni in which the latter seems to elude capture for his various crimes.

I give my respect to those who have earned it; to everyone else, I'm civil.

[–] karnevilelp 8 years ago

What's interesting is the connection with the story/opera Don Giovanni in which the latter seems to elude capture for his various crimes

Well, "seems" is right because there's the whole "dragged to the pits of hell" part at the end. 

[–] ivanhoe1-1 11 years ago

I guess the end is handled better in the book.Possibly the whole story and the developement of how the characters come to these killings.
Indeed what is that car doing there? And how got the police there so fast? It's in the middle of nowhere and there are no cellphones to call them.

[–] MrEdnablackadder 11 years ago

The ending is deliberately open. We see Sophie leaving. We don't know if her voice has been recorded like Jeanne's. But I'm pretty sure she's doomed. The police would certainly be able to reconstruct the circumstances of the killings and understand that Jeanne wasn't the only responsible for the slaughter. Many people had seen the two women together. Sophie was also seen leaving the place of Jeanne's accident: if one of the cops were to remember her face, he would have found strange that she had gone away in silence after finding out about the death of a person she was associated with. And if she was to escape.. well, I doubt she would have gone far, considering that she was semi-illiterate. That's a bit of a drawback if you plan to hide away from the authorities your entire life.