Loved the movie but...
I loved this movie but I thought the ending was kind of weird.
shareYeah, thats one of the things about french films. they try to stay away from the cliched happily ever after ending, Georges killing himself was just a way to finish the movie in a kind of bittersweet fashion.
Life is like animal porn...its not for everybody-Doug Stanhope
I think of it every time I see that Simpsons episode where Homer's comatose and Grampa says something like, "This world was not meant for one as sweet as you".
I love this movie too, but yes the ending almost feels like a cop-out inasmuch as no-one ultimately has to deal with Georges, including Georges himself. Almost like saying, "There really is no solution". Which is incorrect.
My kids love it. But we have had to steer my eldest (who has Down Syndrome) away from it a bit as he starts telling us he wants to die, like Georges. He's a teenager and it's difficult enough to deal with teenagers' occasional morbidity (and given that a tragic few actually follow through) without the additional communications difficulties on both sides. Plus, we have doubts that he thinks death is permanent, though we're working on that misconception.
But anyway, a great film, and often achingly funny. The scene at the auto show is priceless. Auteuil is brilliant. Pascal Duquenne is a legend.
five or six years ago and it keeps creeping back into my thoughts. Would love to see it again. It is a bitter sweet ending that I agree is very much in the "French" style.
shareI love this movie too, but yes the ending almost feels like a cop-out inasmuch as no-one ultimately has to deal with Georges, including Georges himself. Almost like saying, "There really is no solution". Which is incorrectNot necessarily. It can be interpreted differently. Georges finally obtained what he ultimately wanted: to see his beloved mom in heaven.
Georges loved Harry so much, as a friend, that not even this friendship was good enough for him to bear the pain of not seeing his mom. Harry at one time in the film told Georges that he was no burden at all on him. I think Georges and Harry could have had a forever-lasting friendship, so to say that "there is no real solution", as you say, is incorrect in my opinion. Georges did not kill himself, because there was no solution. He killed himself to be with his mom. share
You may be right. That depends on your interpretation of how real his mom's visitations are. They are real enough to Georges, but he also thinks he can fly around his hotel room and commune with mice.... heh.
I'm also moved by the scene at his sister's house. My bloke has sibs and this is a situation they may face in the future. My wife and I have always taken some comfort from the fact his sibs are there, but WILL they be there? CAN they be? SHOULD they be? Like Georges' sister, they have a right to their own lives.
It's a fine work of art that can summon up these questions though there are no easy answers.
Just for the record, the movie is belgian, not french. French is one of the three official languages in Belgium, so french dialogue doesn't make it a french film per se.
shareNot to make the discussion all about where the movie is from, but..
The movie was shot in Belgium and directed by a Belgian, however it as a collaboration between France, Belgium and the UK, as you can see on the films main page. It also premiered first in france, on the Cannes Films Festival, and afterwards hit the French theaters first.
Besides I've seen a couple of Belgian films, and there's a lot of simularities between French and Belgian films. Anyways, no-one can despute the fact, that this film's theme and story (and ending) is very "French"..!
Setting all that aside, I love this movie to. I saw it first at a french lesson in my school when I was about 14, and it just stuck with me, I have never been able to get it out my head and why should I, it's a wonderful film about a wondelful man, who never gets to live the life he deserves, all because something made things a bit harder for him.
film is not french it's from belgium so that's put that theory out the door
shareshould have spoiler warning before your stupid comment.
shareIF you are going to discuss endings, please add 'Spoiler' warnings prior to typing anything. that way others know not to read it if they would like to watch the film.
I often come to discussion boards to find out if a film is worth watching, generally people are very good not to spoil the end, and most add spoiler warnings,.
where's the spoiler alert cretin?
share