Ending - Pusher (1996) Discussion

[–] frederikdahl 17 years ago

Nope. the second is about Mads Mikkelsen's character. The third is about Zlatko Buric's character.

In the second movie it is hinted that Frank fleed the country. That's it.

PS. I liked the ending. I love sudden and open endings...

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[–] Pinhead_2 17 years ago

No they don't say that he fled the country, just that they haven't seen Frank anywhere, my opinion is that Milo or his associates killed Frank when he didn't had the money he promised him in the end of the first one.

And the tragic thing is that Milo and Frank were just starting to getting along again and then that bitch of a girlfriend stole his money

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[–] wickedspice83 17 years ago

I think they were just trying to get him to their place. They were going to kill him anyway if he showed up. They laid out plastic on the floor of the kitchen there. I have a feeling after that phone call Frank would have gone to Milo's to try and explain thinking that him and Milo were good again, but that they just killed him anyway.

Wicked

"This crying in the morning thing, this depression, let's get that fixed."

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[–] noveltylibrary 16 years ago

There's no way they were just starting to get along...they were setting the scene up to kill Frank when he arrived...the plastic sheet was a giveaway. I was actually surprised he believed Milo.

And calling her a bitch after all he put her through is just cold.

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[–] modianos 15 years ago

"PS. I liked the ending. I love sudden and open endings... "

ditto. i thought the ending was perfection.

************************************
call me snake...

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[–] BSHBen 13 years ago

I agree 100%. The movie is about all the walls closing in on Frank (often due to his own mistakes) and the ending represented the perfect culmination of that.

"I am trapped in this body and can't get out" - Radiohead

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[–] duckie_bb 9 years ago

Yes! Great Ending!

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[–] seimus006 13 years ago

it can also be read from Zlatko´s comment that he met an untimely death and was sort of intimidating tonny

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[–] jonnoyes000 17 years ago

what was with the people in the van with the rifle r whatever?

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[–] jdaharman 17 years ago

It was the body builder/dealer and his friends from the gym. The guy that Frankie steals money from at gunpoint, with the gun that he originally sold to him in the toilets of the club.

It is not made 100% clear that these guys going after him are fact or his imagination. As with the folowing scene at Milo's with the plastic being laid out. I think that the director wanted to illustrate Frankie weighing up his rather bleak future, were he to stick around in Copenhagen.

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[–] RobDB9 17 years ago

The reason Nicolas Refn's denounment was left open ended was to send a specific message to the viewer. There is a very fine line between dealing and using, which in most cases always ends with an individual in a conflict pertaining to money in the end. The scenarios related to Frank's character are universal to every individual faced with those circumstances. Each person would naturally have different scenarios but the message is clear and unified metaphorically. I felt it was a great touch, to make one think between the lines.

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[–] sativ27 17 years ago

I watched the whole film, than turned to pick up my drink from the floor and the film was over. Last thing I saw was the girl Vic going in a car - was she kidnapped - wtf happened?

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[–] djnaboo 17 years ago

his girlfriend stole his money and legged it lol...

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[–] geebo76 17 years ago

but didn't you feel like she robbed him because he'd let her down again... deciding not to flee to Spain? i didn't feel like she was a "bitch" for doing it. am i alone on that? it was a very interesting relationship, but she seemed to really love him, even though he would never really acknowledge her as his "girlfriend"...

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[–] kimberlymhn 17 years ago

Vic has had an emotionally hard time with Frank. He does not beat her or pimp her, but she feels he does not respect her. Remember earlier in the film while Tonny is bragging about his sexual exploits, Frank admits he has a problem with being with her because she is as she says herself a 'champagne girl'.
Later, when she tries to come onto him after recieving a gift he violently pushes her away.
Maybe Frank is paranoid about catching HIV/AIDS or may secretly have it himself and not want to infect her. Whatever reasons Frank has for keeping her at arms length, he does not share them with her.

Imagine how she feels when she goes to the club with Frank, under the impression she is finally going to have a real relationship with him and suddenly is told it's all off. Bear in mind as well that she has lost her surrogate child (King the dog) & just nursed Frank back to health after his beating from Milo, Radovan & Branko. Finally by stealing from him she unwittingly saved his life - he would have been killed if he had gome back to Milo's place.

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[–] nft-1 17 years ago

I don't know if Vic stealing from Frank saved his life??? I believe it just postponed it. Milo and Radovan would eventually find him, and that would be the end of Frank...

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[–] FurMint 17 years ago

Well, there's alot of drug politics in this. Frank seems to me to be an intelligent guy who happens to find himself in an unwanted and unsuspected position. Whatever his relationship with his girl is like, I don't for a minute think he would bring her into the chaos that is building around him. Had he been living the sweet life perhaps he would. I bet he regretted the lot when she left with the money. That same money that would make his day and their relationship both left at the same time, and both because of his actions intended to save them both.

This is not the angle of the dangle!! This is not the angle of the dangle!!!!

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[–] fallen_elite 11 years ago

When I first watched the movie, I figured he pushed her away because she was getting physical right after receiving a gift. He had a problem with her being a 'champagne girl' as you stated... it probably upset him to see her come onto him after getting gifts due to the nature of her profession.

Either way, they were both pretty dysfunctional and she didn't love him that much if she abandoned him in such a dangerous situation with no money or assistance. At the very least, she wasn't in love with him after he recanted the Spain idea.

Oh well... tragedies seem to be more appealing to movie audiences than seeing two people with *beep* up lives (especially violent drug dealers) turn things around.

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[–] SpookyDog321 17 years ago

You are alone, she was a bitch and sent him to his death. She didn't love him she just needed someone around to make her feel like less of a whore. She has trouble coming to terms with her role due to her profession, and he served as a counterpoint to other's accusing her of being a whore. She shows her true colors when she abandons him and flees.

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[–] jimrin 14 years ago

I think guys who want to refer to her as a b**** for taking the money have their own problems. You're right, there's no simple, straight-forward answer in a complex situation like this. And as someone else posted, assuming Frank realized the mess he was in without money, hopefully he realized going back to Milo would be a bad idea without the money, so she might've ended up saving his life... But I didn't consider Frank that smart, so it wouldn't surprise me that all the people he pissed off would end up catching him anyway.

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[–] Fwank_The_Nutter 14 years ago

No, Frank isn't too smart. The dumbest thing was that he believed Milo on the phone. Throughout the movie he seemed a bit smarter than that.

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[–] DavidBr04 17 years ago

just have to point out the ending of this film is very similar to ,"the long good friday" with frank sitting in the back of a car reflecting on the previous weeks events

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[–] sdea1903 17 years ago

David I was just about to post the same thing, great minds think alike eh ;) lol

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[–] Fwank_The_Nutter 16 years ago

The ending, to me, shows that his situation was basically hopeless. He was alone, he had no money and two groups of gangsters were after him. If he went back to Milo, he would be killed and in a small place like Copenhagen, the bodybuilders wouldn't take long finding him if he stayed around.

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[–] michaelamurphy 14 years ago

Though the ending does work (they definitely were going to kill him, theres no other reason to lay out the plastic matt) but I felt like the film needed a little more closure. Film was fantastic though: realistic, gritty, and enticing.

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise

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[–] Jaythestingray 14 years ago

I usually like endings like this. Very antihollywood ending. One can form their own opinion of what happend and that is cool sometimes. IMO

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[–] thao 13 years ago

She saved his life because he would have been killed if he would have staid. That's the irony of the whole thing. She helps him by robing him.

- No animal was hurt during the making of this burger -

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[–] shotgun_mcguffin 13 years ago

I really like the ending.
According to Nicholas Winding Refn on the directors commentary, he orginally wrote an ending where the bodybuilder frank steals from shoots him. It was during the shooting of the movie that he decided that it should have a more open ending.

http://farthouse.tumblr.com

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[–] Hynes22 13 years ago

I enjoyed the ending found it cool how he weighed his options and kind of realized just how terrible the situation was he was in. I thought she took the money so he wouldn't go to the meet up. That might not be true because it would have made a lot more sense for her to just tell him and she did take the money right after he shot down the whole Spain idea.

Possibly "A$$hole tax" ala Fight Club?

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[–] gorski983 12 years ago

No she didn't know what was going on, she didn't even hear the telephone conversation.

But she either inadvertently saved his life (by giving him chance to flee the country), or really delayed his murder by a few hours.

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