MovieChat Forums > Lost and Delirious (2001) Discussion > Great movie with ridiculous ending

Great movie with ridiculous ending

posted 14 years ago by Anzerion
12 replies | jump to latest

Yeah... so right up until the part where she's standing on top of the building looking down, this movie was pretty fantastic. However, look closely at that scene and you'll see something. First of all, there's like a 20 foot drop in front of her -- from where she's standing to the edge of the building. It isn't sloped terribly well either -- the friction between her clothes and the shingles would have prevented her from going very far. It looks like a pretty rough roof.

Second, there is a guard rail at the edge of the building. When you watch her fall, she kind of falls forward, as if she's just falling off a straight dive. Doing this, however, would have landed her face first on the roof. She would have proceeded to slide a bit, slowing down from the friction, and she would have slid into the guard rail... and stopped. It appears to be solid metal, and there are hooks every couple of feet into the roof. It doesn't look like it would have gone anywhere.

This is why girls have such high -attempted- suicide rates and low successful rates... they suck at killing themselves. This girl is no exception.

And of course the reaction of everyone after she 'jumps' off the roof... let's watch the bird? Wtf? For a second I actually thought she turned into a bird and was flying away, and that's why they were all smiling (watch it again, they're all smiling...) And it kind of made sense, because she had been saying all along, "We're going to fly away together." And then after she jumps, they show the bird flying away, and the roof is completely empty (to show she isn't there anymore and she has fallen). Yet obviously because the roof is sloped, it would have taken her some time to slide down it, and they showed it empty right after she lets the bird go. Hence, she basically disappeared. It's a miracle.

Also, that dude's wound, when she stabbed him... barely a flesh wound. She didn't really build up any momentum to plunge it deep into his leg. It looked like a pretty clean stab, maybe half an inch deep.

[–] hubble-hallow 14 years ago

Talk about pointlessly over-analysing a movie. A pretty rough roof? You have too much time on your hands dude.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] NightRider2000 11 years ago

That's exactly what I thought! Man, way too much time in your hands to write a novel about the roof slant. Get out of the house and get a Burger or something for the Love of God!!!

[–] adamfrito 14 years ago

Its a work of art...don't over analyze the inconsistencies. The ending is meant to signify how Paulie affected everyone.

[–] Mister_Anderson 14 years ago

I agree that the ending was bad. Not because the drop was too short or the roof too slanted or whatever, but because everyone--not just Tori & Mouse--were watching the bird fly away and not reacting to the girl who just jumped off the roof. I understand the symbolism, but in a movie where the other characters were played realistically consistently throughout, this took me out of the movie. And the wide shot of them all motionless on the field looked like something out of Dawn of the Dead.

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[–] icaredor 14 years ago

I agree that L&D is a work of art, but that doesn't excuse inconsistencies. Part of a film rising above the level of entertainment to the level of art is producing a coherent whole, within the restrictions the work places on itself. It doesn't have to be 'realistic,' e.g., Alice in Wonderland. L&D, though, does chose to be realistic, so the plot taking incomprehensible turns or characters behaving inexplicably diminishes the overall effect.

When the camera pans so beautifully upwards from the panting Mouse, it makes sense to see Paulie on the roof. The film has very carefully led us to this expectation. Paulie reciting her lines, dramatically stretching her arms and falling works perfectly. That is what Paulie would do. Switching to the hawk flying into the sky works perfectly. This is all the symbolism the scene needs. The bird's-eye view of everyone starring upward is absurd. It’s absurd for many reasons.

First, it deviates ludicrously from the realism of the situation, as people repeatedly point out. Second, what are the characters supposed to understand from this? Mouse is the only one who has any idea of the symbiosis of Paulie and hawk. Tori knows Paulie has the hawk but hasn't seen it since the day they found it; no one else even knows the hawk exists. Third, the actors don't seem to know what they are supposed to be experiencing or how they're supposed to be reacting. Barton's half-smile conforms to the symbolism though not the realism or the moment. Jessica Pare looks clueless about what Tori is supposed to be feeling during the scene; everyone else just loiters around looking awkward. Fourth, the shot is totally unnecessary. The audience gets what this is supposed to mean. Mary gets it, her final voice over confirms that. What the other characters are supposed to get from the flying hawk isn't explained by the shot and is irrelevant anyway.

L&D is a beautiful work in nearly every way, but with this shot Lea Pool makes a monumental artistic blunder. It is a clumsy, heavy handed collapse of artistic judgment.

[–] laflic 14 years ago

I think the ending is the best part of the movie by far. It makes a point how much the film is based on the switches between gravitational realism and the ethereal spirituality. It's a poetic and surreal ending, poetry doesn't need realism, watch some Bergman or Bunuel films, he also constanly switches between pure realism and surrealism. That's the whole point of the ending, the film is made almost like trough Paulie's eyes and mind.

[–] blacknyellowsquid 13 years ago

Yeah, I agree. I had an adverse "wtf" moment with them ALL staring at the bird. I can understandy Mary and Mary alone staring at the bird because, like mentioned above, she knew of Paulie's connection to the bird and all, so it was like aw there she goes flying away free, her soul is soaring away at last. etc.

But everyone else should have been screaming and/or running over to where she fell. Not staring at the bird. They easily could have ended it with just Mary lookin at the bird, and then showing the bird flying around -- the symbolism would have worked better that way.

[–] RickDVD 12 years ago

I've watched it several times and have never really liked the ending. The fact there wasn't a reaction by others is more disturbing than anything else. You figure Tori and Mary B don't need to follow the bird, but what about everyone else.

I wasn't expecting to see the dead body, but to end it like that was just a little arty for me.

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[–] coleburg83 12 years ago

I agree. I think they should have had her sent to an asylum. She obviously had serious problems.

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[–] plume_rider 10 years ago

I had a very emotional reaction to the last part of the movie, so I would say that the ending worked for me.

[–] duongdogg 7 years ago

It was a very Shakespearean ending.