MovieChat Forums > Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes (2000) Discussion > What was the significance of the window ...

What was the significance of the window scene (possible spoiler)


Towards the end of the movie, Vera tried to open the window but it was jammed. What do you guys think it was that all about?

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[deleted]

I doubt she wanted to commit suicide. She hardly knew Franz, imho.

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[deleted]

That's just your opinion, which is just as valid as mine. I think she was just reflecting on the whole incident. Just because my views are different from yours, it doesn't mean you're right and I'm wrong or vice versa and you need to get pissed. Whatever. Thanks for your reply anyway. I hope I expressed it in a civilised enough manner.

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I think she did want to commit suicide because of her story with Leopold and the pain she had. To me, the fact that the window couldn't be opened was a sign for her: killing yourself is not the solution, the solution is not giving up.

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Interesting, maybe that was what she was trying to do.

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i thought it was significant as she was trying to open the window but couldn't - she was trapped in her misery - no escape.

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That makes (more?) sense too....

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To my opinion, it was all about heat.
I don't know what about you, but I had this cold-warm feeling while watching this film.
The atmosphere in it is physically warm, while mentally it is cold. Leopold asked Franz more than one time to turn on the heat but he didn't do so. in fact, most of the time, he was walking around the house in light shirts, while leopold was always well dressed. I think that Franz was actually free when he took the poison and had Vera's coat on him.
The characters shared an obsession!
The window scene brings those two elements to the viewer. I think Vera is trying to open the window because she realized it. She wated the outside world and Leopold's world would become one, and maybe then, her sufferings would look sane. She couldn't open the window, and that's how Ozon (or Fassbinder), I think, try to describe Leopold's character once more - the man is a psychlogical trap, living on other people's weaknesses and mental needs, besides the fact he is good-looking and attractive.

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[deleted]

Interesting to see how this scene which would have been deem insignificant can lead to so many different and plausible interpretations.

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Quite true.

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I think it meant she was trapped

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Hmmm, this in another interesting take on the ending. I think see where you're going with it.

The apartment is an extension of, or a metaphor for Leopold's character.

When Franz attempts to leave with Anna, he cannot bring himself to do it. He keeps telling Anna that he want's to stay just a little longer. Leopold has a psychological hold on him and the others as well.

There are a couple of scenes where both Franz and Vera ask Leopold if he needs them, and Leopold replies, "You need me." The sad part is that they do need him, or at least believe that they need him.

Vera had been gone for something like 10 years, but still came back.

In one scene, Franz packs his bag and is going to get his own place, but still have a relationship with Leopold. I believe that it's Leopold that says something about having the best of both worlds, and later Franz says that Leopold wants to have his cake and eat it too. I think that this ties in to what you said about Vera wanting the outside world and Leopold's world to become one.

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I agree.

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Does anyone know how to get a copy of the soundtrack to this movie? And if not, who sings the song that opens and closes the movie?

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I think she felt like she was trapped.
J

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And possibly trying to look for an escape route, out of her miserably life?

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The window scene is a symbolical allusion to the way human beings become stuck in a selfdestruction inner obsession to which in its extreme case no escape is possible. They become emprisoned by their own misery and fears.

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Quite simple and straightforward, really. It had to do with the intensity of the relationships; no one was getting out, least of all her/him. Giving in to all of the intensity was far better that getting out. The window was a metaphor for not getting out even if one wanted to because "inside" held such a strong attraction.

Kind of like the line in the Godfather .....

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So they were all trapped in a way then, willingly or otherwise....

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I got the idea she was thinking of leaping to her death. The fact that the window wouldn't open was symbolic of her being trapped in her relationship to Leopold.

Some velvet morning when I'm straight...

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She was doomed to stay in the Leopold / lust / destruction lifestyle as opposed to the life / conventionality lifestyle, symbolised by the outside of the window. All Leo's characters mistakenly believed their lust for him was equal to love, whereas really love exists in life.

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