My wife and I were unsure about the final scene with the Grandmother and Ting-Ting, so we thought we would ask it here.
When Ting-Ting sees her grandmother for the last time, is that really a dream, and the grandmother never really got up? That Ting-Ting needed this to go on with her life?
We THINK it's something like that, but we're not 100% sure.
Thanks in advance!
I'm 99.99% sure you're right that it was a dream and/or fantasy rationalization on Ting-Ting's part. For one thing, the recovery was too nice and complete. Po-po has a lot of muscular strength, energy, and paper-folding coordination for someone who's been in a coma. Another thing, the grandma we met at the beginning shares the same distinct characteristic as NJ and Yang-Yang--they're all very reticent, talk very little. But the "post-coma" grandma is talkative.
Oh yeah, and Ting-Ting actually falls ASLEEP during this scene and is just waking up when we find out what really happened to grandma.
I agree that it was a dream sequence. Having just re-watched the scene, the medical personnel that arrive mention time of death at 2:30pm -- not sure how this relates to when the high school day ends for Taiwanese high schoolers.
I would imagine the scene was intended to bring closure to Ting-Ting's narrative of guilt (i.e. feeling she caused her grandmother to fall and enter into a coma for having not taken out the refuse)
I agree with the other responses.
But the director made things a bit more complex, with Ting-Ting, when she wakes up, finding an origami made by her grandmother that afternoon...