Anybody have any ideas about Nicole being illuminated by what we can only presume to be the headlights of Billy returning from his tryst in the last shot of the film? Did it mean anything?
shareAs Nicole was redeemed after her lie, it was a kind of enligtenment for her in a symbolic context.
share[deleted]
I might not be remember it perfectly, but I always thought that was the night before the bus accident. It was the last night of their lives--literally for the children, and figuratively for everyone else. It's Billy's last night with his children, and it's their last nights in their beds. It's Nicole's last night of playing the role of protector for the children--there won't be any children left. It's the last night she can walk. It's the last night of her incestuous/disturbing fairytale relationship with her father. The pied piper's coming in the morning.
I'm not sure that there's actual proof of that being the significance of the last scene in the film, but I've always assumed that to be the major part of its meaning.
Why does everyone assume that the story book reading happened the day before? Billy's son says he wants to sit next to Nicole on the bus tomorrow but on the day of the bus crash, he doesn't. I think they were days apart. What made this movie interesting is how it jumped back and forth in time to make the story.
I really loved this film.
I am a man and I would gladly give birth to a baby if it were Keira Knightley's.
I agree with you. When Nicole accepts the clothes that Billy gives her, she's wearing a pink miniskirt and when she's reading to the kids she's wearing jeans and a gray shirt. The chronological point is not important. I don't know why people focus so much in it. What is important is the message of the movie.
And to the poster that blamed Billy for not saying hello to Nicole... what the heck?! The poor man has lost his young wife and two children. He's about to be dragged in every stupid court so Nicole's dad and a heartless lawyer can make some extra money. Nicole was clearly emotional and there was not much to say. Out of all the characters in the movie, Billy is the only one I truly admired. You have to be an extremely brave and virtuous man to carry on like he did. My heart broke only for him. I wish there were more men like him out there.
That being said,I have a couple of my own questions:
-Why is Nicole's dad so cold with her after the accident?
-When Nicole is talking about the Pied Piper (his cold lips that brought death) the camera is focused on her father's lips first. Why?
-The whole "she grew out of it" scene with the clothes I didn't get. Didn't Billy's wife die of cancer?
-How could all the other member's of Nicole family be so oblivious to the incest?
-Why the hell was a three year old Zoe breastfed by her mother after a spider bite?
-In the end when the lawyer calls the young girl Allie she corrects him :"Allison". To show what? that she's matured?
That's exactly the same conclusion I reached whilst watching it !
The night represents the darkness of the cave.
The light represents the cave door opening to allow the children in, we are seeing through her eyes what the crippled boy left behind would have seen before the door closed behind the children.
And tomorrow she was to become as he was, the cripple left behind with no children in the town.
Okay, I guess I missed the whole point of the movie. I thought that the headlights meant Billy was coming home. Billy and Nicole were sexually involved. That's why Nicole lied in the deposition, thus causing the case to be thrown out. It's been years since I've seen this movie, but that's always been the impression I got.
shareTo Brunswick84 -- wow, that idea (that Billy and Nicole were also involved) never crossed my mind. I don't think that is the case, but having just re-watched the movie the other night, I can see how one might be led to entertain that thought. And that's what makes this film so deep...what was left unsaid...what wasn't seen...how all the stories and themes overlapped...it left so much open for your own interpretation of the events.
Overall, I agree with the first two responses on the symbolism of the final shot.
What a haunting closing scene and what an amazing film!
I recently named it the Best Film of the '90's:
http://davethenovelist.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/revisiting-the-sweet-h ereafter-the-best-film-of-the-1990s/
Brunswick,
Nope. Nicole was clearly not having a relationship with Billy at that time, though his giving her his wife's clothes and his unconsciously coming on to her pretty strong in that parting shot where he gets carried away by saying his wife 'grew out' of the clothes and held himself back at the last moment just as he was reaching over to give her a kiss and embrace.
He clearly had the hots for her, and if he had his way he would have happily carried on an inappropriate relationship with her. She was clearly confused by his awkwardness and didn't understand the gesture of giving her the clothes in that moment.
Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
- Kin Hubbard
The notion that there was *some* kind of bond between Nicole and Billy would also give Nicole another reason to lie at the deposition. She knew (overheard) that Billy wanted the lawsuits dropped. She was smart enough to figure out that blaming the accident on Dolores speeding would kill the lawsuits, so she lied at least partly for the benefit of Billy.
The scene where Billy gave Nicole his late wife's clothes definitely suggested that he admired Nicole - even if he knew that acting on it would be wrong. The fact that Nicole felt awkward accepting the clothes may suggest there was no (sexual) relationship between them. If there was, Nicole would have likely accepted the clothing as a romantic gift. Maybe even embracing the idea of her assuming the role of Billy's "wife".
There might have been some reciprocal treatment of Nicole when she chose to lie for Billy. But I thought it was pathetic the way Billy treated her when he saw her in the wheelchair after confronting her parents about not wanting the lawsuit to proceed. He didn't even say a thing to her. Just left. What a prick!
Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
- Kin Hubbard
I have to agree with Sburge. It appears that was the last night of what Nicole has known as normalcy in her life. I don't think she lied for Billy, but lied because of her father. I wasn't sure whether she was mad because now her dad didn't see her in the same light as before the accident therefore stop sleeping with her, or if she felt abused and this was now her retaliation against the abuse. Now I only wondered if she's mad because the day before her deposition, her dad says they don't talk anymore, she says they never really talked before and asks about the stage he was gonna build for her(lighted by candles similar to the setting they share when they have there tryst) and he abruptly ends the conversation and leaves the room. It's like he doesn't feel that way about her anymore and it seem to have saddened her. Just my thought on the movie. I thought it was a great plot, acting and the issues were handled with great care.
shareWell, her accident definitely opened her eyes to any pretensions she might have held about her father. It became clear to her that he used her only for sex, as all the promises and empathy he showed her prior was just an act. He didn't really love her in the ways he claimed as all the promises he had made to her disappeared after the accident as soon as she no longer became desirable to him and was now only using her to land a fat monetary settlement.
So what better way to get revenge than to scuttle it where her father would know exactly why? This is why after wrestling with it for a long time, I've finally accepted that the lawyer did likely abuse his daughter as well given his statement to the father of something like "You need to ask yourself why your daughter would lie to do this to you, now that's what you should be worried about".
Some fellows get credit for being conservative when they are only stupid.
- Kin Hubbard
I think it must also be considered that Nicole's father was not only rejecting her because she had been paralyzed (the reason, I am assuming, everyone believes he is no longer attracted to her) but also because he will not be able to profit from her expected success as a musician.
Even without the incest component I think Nicole's actions to debase the lawsuit would have been valid if the accident allowed her to realize that her father always intended on making a profit from her somehow.
However, clearly the incest deepens the sense of despair with the loss of her father's affection, both physical and not.
I agree with eYeDEF.
How incredibly ironic after showing everything that a father was willing to do to save his daughter, he would also end up hurting her as well.
~What if this is as good as it gets?!~