MovieChat Forums > The House of Yes (1997) Discussion > the very ending, again (spoilers)

the very ending, again (spoilers)

posted 13 years ago by blacknyellowsquid
7 replies | jump to latest

Okay it seems 90% of the people on the board read the ending back to when she was a kid as her telling Marty to 'stop' sex thus he was the true rapist who drove her to be insane, or something.

I didn't see that at all. I just finished watching this, and that scene to me was not even remotely ambiguous. The movie began with her frolicing around the house pretending to be Jackie Kennedy giving a tour of her house, with someone video taping. So it ends with that same day, and she refers to the camera man as Marty. She was acting normal and stately at first but then this last scene, suddenly she's in a very suggestive position. when he says "you want me to stop?" he was referring to stopping the camera and their little Jackie-Kennedy-giving-a-tour role play. She wanted to stop doing that role play and stop the camera so that they could have sex. She was givnig him that same creepy lustful manipulative psycho look that she would when older too. So it was like...ew creepy, she was a psycho perv even as a kid.

So yeah, interesting that so many people read that scene as her asking him to 'stop' having sex with her? I really don't get how it was interpreted that way lol.

[–] MrBook_ 13 years ago

There are two levels to it. She's obviously being very coy and seductive with the way she says it, egging him on, but there's something about the way she says "Stop it" the last time at the very end that makes me think on some level she knows what they're doing is not right, and Marty, being the relatively saner and less impulsive one, has the power to stop it.

Even if that's not what she is deliberately saying or implying, I do think the makers of the film/play are saying it, and indicting Marty by putting such emphasis on that line. That was the tipping point; he had the chance to put a stop to what they were doing right there, and chose not to.

Get on up.

[–] apocalypse_please24 13 years ago

People really think that? Wow. That thought never even entered my mind. It's not even really about what she's saying but how she says it. How can you think she wanted to stop what they were doing when she was looking at him like that? I agree with the OP.

[–] SinisterTwist 13 years ago

I actually found a clip of the ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROYgxd_aVVo

I'm not sure how to see the whole "who is at fault" thing here. It's been a long time since I've seen the movie, so bear with me if I'm forgetting anything here.

The easy way out is to say that Marty is the one who is at fault here and that he pushed Jackie-O into a sexual relationship or that he should have at least had the sanity to know not to take that step.

Then again, Marty might not be as stable as he appears to be. Not everyone's mental instability is as readily apparent as Jackie-O's is. Marty went out of his way to try to be normal- that might be a sign that he was just as unstable as Jackie-O was. She just wore it on her sleeve while he buried it deep inside of him. If he's as insane as Jackie-O in his own way, then wouldn't that kind of make the blame 50/50?

[–] cynema 12 years ago

In my interpretation, what really matters is that the interpretation of the crimes a hand are left as ambiguous as the JFK assassination was to everyone else. The video tapes notwithstanding. The HOUSE in question is a symbol for america. Burying his body in the yard 'next to daddy' also notwithstanding.

"The more real things get, the more like myths they become. " R.W. Fassbinder

[–] MrBook_ 12 years ago

Interesting! The House of Yes equals post-war America. I can dig it.

END THE WARS. TAX THE RICH.
THIS ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE.

[–] sirtj228 9 years ago

What happens if he became ultra violent if she broke character. She is asking to stop while trying to stay in character.

[–] Noufa (378) 3 years ago

If that's the case, Marty would be in total control of the abusive relationship. Why would he spend the entire movie trying to move past it?

1997 audiences would have immediately understood Jackie as an equally active participant in what they were doing. Even as a child, she was no shrinking violet. She walks into her dad's office over Marty's objection. And when she fully breaks character, she excitedly yells "Come on, Marty!" as she ascends the stairs. She's shown as willing to push boundaries & leading.