Everybody is trippin over how they say the ending could have been better, but I mean, what were you all expecting instead??? Tell me please because I think it was fine the way it was but of course you cant satisfy everyone, so whats your idea of how did u expect it should have ended?
shareI would have killed her.
I rather enjoyed all the cheesy "YOU did this to ME! No! She's LYING!" shaking and crying of Jessica Lange and her crazy wandering eye. Kind of a Mommy Dearest vibe there.It was bad. But it was funny.
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"Love means never having to say you're ugly." - the Abominable Dr. Phibes
Ok, I love this movie & can watch it over & over-(& have it on, right now-lol)but one thing that I wish did happen in the end...I wish Gwenyth busted out with the locket in front of her husband & have him put 2+2 together, so he could see for himself & not just going on her word about how scandalous his mom was. Or at least mention to him it was his mother that setup her attack! & the locket was the proof. That woulda been awesome! To be all dangling the locket in front of both of them & have him go 'where did you get that from?" & she could tell him, I found it in the drawer of the secret nursery your mother had planned for our baby! etc. Let the mom try to explain that one! & I just noticed too that doesn't the mom take her wedding ring back & have it on her finger? That seems a little shady & it woulda been cool if the husband noticed that either his wife wasn't wearing her ring or noticed it on his mother.
shareMy favorite part of the ending was that Alice got to see her grandson, and the beautiful picture of all four of them with the garden around. I think if she killed her, that would've turned the movie into another cliche thriller. They closed it nicely at the end.
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Everyone?? You wrote this post in 2005. And even so, definitely not everyone. . .
Exactly, you can't satisfy everyone. I had no expectations as how it should have ended. But if I go back now to the beginning of the end, maybe I expected Helen to be more injured by the mom by the son being too trusting and not rescuing her.
I don't say this often, but yeah, the ending could have been better because it had a goof with regards to character placement in the scene.
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<< maybe I expected Helen to be more injured by the mom by the son being too trusting and not rescuing her.
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The son's turnaround is kind of too quick and forceful, too.
He raises his eyebrows a little, then is all "You will never see anyone in my family again!!"
It would have been more dramatic if he had a harder time choosing.
And Yes....I wanted to see that locket again, too!
Personally, I loved the ending. Killing her would have been to easy, but 'killing' her by not letting her see her son or grandson, that's just deliciously cruel. It was a perfect ending for Martha.
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AH, summerishere77, someone is paying attention! I was going to post exactly what you said.
That swinging door was just the beginning....
Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...share
I haven't seen this movie in well over a decade, but when I worked at Sony Pictures at the time of its production and release, I remember seeing the ORIGINAL ENDING where Jessica Lange's character DIES in a fire. She abducts the baby, sets a converted barn on fire while inside, but her son rescues the baby but is unable to save her. From what I recall, the movie tested really poorly with audiences, so the ending was re-shot prior to its theatrical release. I so wish Jessica would discuss this movie in her interviews. Would be great to better understand why the film was plagued with problems, title changes, postponed releases, etc.
shareYou're lucky you got to see it, I wish we could. I want to see how it was originally intended to be. If this were made today it would have deleted scenes and an alternate ending to the film on the dvd. Most films today released on dvd/bluray capitalize on special features like this. The reshoots imo ruined the film and contributed to many plot holes. Also the actors look older and Gwyneth's wig looks awful and she looks much thinner. I wanted to see the climatic barn fight and it looks like someone in the trailer is committed to a mental hospital (Gwyneth?). The original ending sounded so much more exciting. If you look at many great thrillers old and new, the bad guy ends up dying (ex. Die Die My Darling, Fatal Attraction, Misery, Hand that Rocks the Cradle.).
I hope this gets released with a director's cut someday. It's too bad some films get ruined by studio interference and so called 'test audiences.' Hollywood also feels the need to give audiences a happy ending rather than letting it be more dark like in European films. Sony obviously wanted to sugarcoat this film and also perhaps to garner a PG13 rating to attract younger audiences. It's a shame. This could have probably been a classic thriller had it not been retooled with the new subplot about Martha killing her husband and making the son think he did it.