I own a copy and cry ever time I watch that ending.
No matter what interpretation you give it:
1. She's alive and in hiding
2. She's dead and he's hallucinating everything
3. She's dead and her spirit has come back to help and comfort him
the end result is it's either he by himself coming to grips with losing her (if he's hallucinating) or it's both of them coming to grips with it (if it's her alive or her spirit).
They love each other but they can't be together.
1. If she's alive, she's hiding for political/religious reasons and also strongly believes that a marriage to Fielding could never work; he would never be a successful President or Senator with her at his side, something the movie explored in the early stages. This is actually the more emotionally painful scenario because things could change in Chile, in the 1990's, in the 2000's, etc. As long as she is alive there would always be a chance that they could be together, but in 1984 she leaves........again. 10 years have gone by.....even if she comes back in another 10 years now that things have changed, maybe their views have changed, it would likely be too late. One or both finally married, etc. That's what makes this ending if she is alive so wrenching. They fully realize again how much they love each other.....and then she leaves again, very likely dooming their chances at ever being together again for good.
2. If she's dead and it's her spirit visiting him, it's obvious why they can't be together. Still under this scenario they are given a chance to say a goodbye to each other they did not get to make in 1974. Plus it means they are both really there, since Sarah's spirit would be real, rather than a figment of his imagination.
3. If she's dead, but her spirit is not visiting him, he's hallucinating everything. In this viewpoint, Sarah herself is still in Heaven and isn't really involved in this ending scene; it's Fielding having a hallucination that results in his coming to grips with losing her.
The lost love is always the most haunting of all.
I want to believe they are both there in that room together. But I dont' want to believe that Sarah ripped herself away from Fielding to live a lie for 10 long years for some transitory revolutionary purpose.
So in the film I choose to interpret it as her spirit really being there, really helping Fielding and herself to heal and come to grips with their loss.
Because this interpretation means they really do share that moving goodbye together, something that makes her leaving again in the morning more bearable.
It also means her spirit is real, and so is his, and one day they can be together again in Heaven.
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