I'm not sure I understood the ending. The only thing I could come up with was that life went back to "normal." The parents reunited, their son was still sick, and the lover left. Did the affair end because the "healer" lost his power? Could he not love and heal at the same time? Or, did Julie stop loving him when he was no more use for her son? It definitely wasn't a Hollywood ending!
shareThe ending really bugged me too. Depressing movie, by the way. What I noticed in the end were all the crows that were hanging around the trees around the family's home, and crows are a know omen of iminent death. So i assumed the director was trying to say that the little boy's future would be grim. The last scene just left me wondering: where did Alexy go? what about his baby she will soon have? how does the husband feel about all this? I just felt there was a lot left up to our own interpretation, and being an American accustomed to american film, I have a hard time feeling good about films that leave so many unanswered questions. And of course, why couldn't Alexy heal any longer? Obviously because he had sacrificed his virginity or purity or something like that, but then if that is what happened then that really sucks because he can no longer heal needy people, and all because of the woman too! Would Alexy get his powers back? did he lose them at all? or was it like "movietvgal" said that he couldn't "love and heal at the same time." I guess that explains why he wasn't in the picture in the end, because he had to give up his love for the woman in order to retain his gift. Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on this I would love to read about it. Thanks.
sharehi:)
this ending left me weird also..
at the end i heard the healer say to the husband , they are cold, meaning his hands are cold, some one posted they heard him say something else to the husband when the husband asked him to try again, i didnt hear that..
weird to me , i mean you leave a woman who is carrying your child, & she is like ho hum , while with her husband...& the child has the cancer again, it seems like he mite be dying & with those crows, however i did like the movie just wish the ending would have been more complete , to me..
peace&blessings all :)
For what it's worth...This film seems to deal largely with matters of faith or, perhaps more accurately, faithlessness. The movie opens with Henry's unfaithfulness to his wife who reacts by losing faith in him and turning away. The film goes to some lengths to show that the husband and wife also lack faith in organized religion. Then there is Andrei. I don't know much about faith-healing, but I assume the power comes from both the healer's and the healee's faith in God to work through the healer. The film suggests that the healer's faith requires him to avoid worldliness, a requirement best evidenced by Andrei's refusal to accept money even when it would help his mother. But he betrays this faith by accepting the worldliness offered by physical love. He loses faith in himself so he cannot cure the son again. Julie's attraction to Andrei seems based on her faith in his gift, when he can no longer heal she loses that faith and turns away, much as she did with her husband in the film's beginning. I disagree with some of the commentators who find the ending a harmonious one. I do agree with "shizarit" that the crows are an ominous sign but I think they are more than an ill omen of the son's imminent death. I think the marriage between the husband and the wife is a fragile, if loving, one that is waiting for the next event that will again challenge their faith in one another. Faith is a struggle and not one I think these characters are capable of sustaining.
shareFeel quite puzzled about happenings in this movie as well.
As far as my knowledge stretches healing power has to do with sexual energy and a lot of faith of course. I guess that when Alexei became sexually active the energy was released in this way. I am curious to know whether his healing powers returned after he quit the relationship/disappeared from sight.Anyone knows more about this subject?? Did he feel less man without his powers and was therefore unable to face Julie?
Anyway, better focus on what WAS shown in the movie.
I thought that the portrayal of Alexei, a healer in Poland, was very interesting. Never seen anything like this before. I could understand that he was interested in experiencing sexual and emotional intimacy with a woman just like any other man. He most probably did not know what the consequences would be with regard to his healing properties.
I thought the scene of Alexei's first sexual experience with Julie was well done and convincing. Alexei was so obviously inexperienced while at the same time curious and tickled about what was to happen.
These are the only 2 reasons why I would recommend the movie to anyone else if they wouldn't mind to get stuck with more questions than answers.
++++
Had another look at the movie.
After Alexei failed to retrieve his healing powers on Nick, Henry asked him to please try again. Alexei answered he could not because: "he saw it". It never gets clear what he saw, but I assume death itself. Perhaps his healing powers don't work when death is too close by already. Ok, this does just adds another question to the existing list.
I further concluded for myself that the movie should have 2 more scenes.
a) Alexei and Julie in a "showdown" which might have given us some more insight about Alexei's "quitting" and b) a "reconciliation" scene between Julie n Henry to get more insight into Julie's state of mind n reason for getting together with husband again.
Noticed that the movie was basically a movie about Julie coming home to herself. At the beginning of the movie she was at odds with husband, father, son's illness and above all herself. The trip to Poland with her son to find the healer was also a trip to find herself and inner strength. With this comes understanding and acceptance. At the end of the movie she was definitely more at peace with herself and surroundings while seeming to have found acceptance about son's impending death.
I didn't completely understand the movie myself, and I didn't understand what it was about. But I think mariawong_99 is right:
"Noticed that the movie was basically a movie about Julie coming home to herself. At the beginning of the movie she was at odds with husband, father, son's illness and above all herself. The trip to Poland with her son to find the healer was also a trip to find herself and inner strength. With this comes understanding and acceptance. At the end of the movie she was definitely more at peace with herself and surroundings while seeming to have found acceptance about son's impending death."
About Alexei losing his powers...when I first watched the movie I got the impression that he couldn't give life anymore because he had just created life, or something like that. Since he had just found out that Julie was pregnant with his child when he couldn't heal, it just seemed to make sense that all the power he had to heal and give life to dying children was "used up" by making a baby. I'm probably wrong though..it's just the first idea I had after watching it.
Just saw this movie tonight... I thought it was good, and like the rest of you, was very confused. After reading some of the posts about the confusion on the ending, I realized that maybe this movie is just about having faith. The main character "Julie" is really what this film is about, and her coming to terms with all of the mishaps and dissapointments of her life, her cheating husband, loss of faith in God, loss of faith for the doctors trying to heal her sick son, her family.. etc, and realizing that you can't rely on other people. You have to have faith in yourself to make it through. Maybe thats what the director wanted us to see? Maybe for us to make up our own ending, putting our faith into what happens to these characters.
shareHe doesn't say "he saw it", he says "I sorry"
shareWhile I can easily do without an explanatory showdown between Julie and Alexey, I too would have liked to see the reconciliation scene between Julie and Henry. As much as he wanted her back, her being pregnant by someone else should have given him pause. And the fate of the healer is left completely to the imagination, which I found irritating. Where does poor Alexey end up now that he's lost his powers? The film took so much care over little moments between the kids and singalongs in the car and the pointless fight and arrest scenes, but they couldn't spare more time for these glaring loose ends?
PS--And speaking of loose ends, did anyone else wonder where the unworldly Alexey found the money for a sudden non-healer-business trip to Canada?
PS--And speaking of loose ends, did anyone else wonder where the unworldly Alexey found the money for a sudden non-healer-business trip to Canada?
[deleted]
[deleted]
I didn't understand the ending either. It was a little disappointing, after watching the whole movie, to see Alexei walk away from Julie. Perhaps he spent too much energy *beep* Julie and later he had not enough power to heal her son. Who knows? It seems that Julie is gonna have her baby at last, and her husband is seemingly accepting this baby without problems. Everything was too messy to finish in such a foolish and simple way. And what about the boy? He seems to be back on illness. Shame.
shareThis film reminded me a lot of Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut' in terms of the use of colour and themes. Also it seemed to me to be a modern take on the garden of Eden myth. Julie tempted Alexi away from his 'duty to heal people' and kept him to herself and this destroyed his powers of God or Good or whatever. Notice how when they ran away with each other to the cabin they were eating berries and apples just like Adam and Eve. And right after they got together bad things started happening ie The fight with the dog-beating man, intercourse (bad?), his loss of his powers. The first third of this movie, not including the intro which was also great, i.e. the family drama was amazingly well done and acted. This movie sparked my interest in healers in general. I want to research them and see how legitimate it is. Great film in general check it out.
shareI think that he couldn't heal and love simultaneously. I think the reason the woman went back to her husban was 1) It could never work between her and Alexi and 2)She really loved her husband, more than even she knew. The ending may have been depressing, but it was true to life.
shareI agree with your post, Just because she had sex with him did not mean she was ready to be with him. She was still in love with her husband as it became easy to get back with him, although I don't think she actually left in the first place. she already was married, If the husband had not cheated she may have not done it either. How do you cheat and become pregnant and then say i'm leaving you because you were unfaithful. He even went as far as to tell her he would love the child as his own. Sounds like a pretty good guy to me...... They had went thru a lot with the dying boy then she becomes pregnant by a man that does not cure her dying son so why be with him.....One last point it seems she never loved him anyway, She may have engaged in sex but she had to have had a lot on her mind at that point having sex with the healer was more of a release than love. If she had by all this going on with[ the marriage, you made a child but could not save mine, i am not sure of my feeling towards you and my husband, the other child, house, divorce, etc.] he she had chosen him after all this it would have lasted about a week at best. She would always be tied to her current family and the death of her son. I was happy the way it ended it seems any other way would have been wrong.
shareI just saw this movie last night on Sundance and was pretty intrigued. However, I got up to go to the bathroom and it must have been very near the end because I came back and the credits were running. At first I thought I missed something really important. However, I did see the scene where Alexei leaves the hospital and says his hands are cold (knowing he cannot heal the child) and I did see the scene where the two children were talking and the sister said if something? chimes 14 times then you will live? to the boy. This is when I just had to take the bathroom break. So I thought I must have missed something key. However, after reading everyone's comments, it seems there was no clear ending to this movie.
What happened to Alexei? Where did he go? Guess no one knows. So Julie just has his baby and Nick dies. Is that it? Confused.
I am in the minority here. I liked the ending. I think it had to be open-ended or else it would have offended anyone whose sympathies lied with any of the major characters. If she had gone off with the healer, it would have made the husband seem more sympathetic. If her child had died, the film would've been labled a tragedy. If the husband would have left, he would've seemed like even more of a jerk than he did at the film's outset. I think we often expect Hollywood endings or the bitter independent alternatives. This was neither of those, and we can read into the crows and the symbolism any way we want too. I think life itself is open-ended even when someone dies, there are unresolved conflicts and relationships, both in the sense of family and romance, are always changing and never as predictable as one would project them to be. There were many flaws in the film, but I think it became a succesful 3-star film. Faith is a difficult issue. There have been credible Hollywood films along this nature, like Steve Martin's "Leap of Faith" which I admired at the time (I have since studied Bresson and Tarkovsky-LOL!). But, there was always the danger with this film that it could evolve into a mere intellectual soap opera, and at times, such as the moment when the Asian couple looks at buying the house and when there is a confrontation over religion, it does indeed temporarily become one. But, I think the acting and the film's mostly sharp directing help prevent this. I can however sympathize with those who were confounded by the ending. I had to think about it myself for a while, but in the end I think that is a good thing.
A.F. "Tilly" Gokbudak
Everyone guessing their own endings and shaping the story ... that is the beauty i would say .
Well , one more alternative way of thinking ,
The polish healer wanted to be know about Julie's true feelings. ( Even Julie didn't know , it was sth. she has never felt before - maybe like the love of god .... ) By not healing her son he made her make this choice. ( that was cruel for me to say since the guy only helped to heal everydody who came to his door )) ) .
[deleted]
I know a lot of people had problems with the ending, and I thought I'd share my experience while watching it because it just seemed so odd: I had this vibrant vision in my mind's eye of Julie laying her newborn on her sick son's chest and him being completely healed.
Before the scene where we see her pregnant, I panicked and thought, 'well, it's obviously been transferred, the healing magic, to her belly, and the new life within. I just hope the child lives the nine months until the next one is born'... and that's when we see her very much pregnant, and Nick still very much alive.
I also noticed when Julie was singing to her boy in the hospital in those last scenes, that the camera stayed on her hands for a long, long time, as they fluttered over and over the boys chest. As if she had imbibed some of his healing talent, by virtue of the fact that she carried the next healor inside her.
She had told her husband that she inexplicably felt like Alexi "needed her". Alexi himself told Julie she was "really special", much to the consternation of the other beautiful blond woman who jelously guarded him in Poland. She obviously loved him as well, but it was not reciprocated. Perhaps I am painting him too much the saint when I say this, but I would like to believe it is because he was so "tired" that he came to Canada to release himself from the burden of healing by passing it on through this "very special" vehicle that was Julie...
When Alexi speaks to his mother at the wedding about her worry for the future... I felt like he worried too, but for less so for monetary reasons. I felt his worries were those of no mere mortal, but instead, that with the end of his own life, the end of his gift of healing would also be inevitable. He'd looked so forlornly at his friends as they wed, watching how family could become one's future; pointing out that which he lacked.
But where the healor has now gone, I'm not sure. I picture him back with his mother, earning a meagre living doing something simple and sweet to help her into her old age, secure that his offspring is now safe. He was so selfless in so many ways, is it really that much of a stretch to believe he created a situation whereby Julie's husband himself, even if the new child was not his, is swayed to make a selfless decision to continue to love them all enough to re-inspire Julies' faith in him? As if Alexi had healed Julie's ability to love as well?
It's a bizarre analogy I know, but perhaps because I'm an optimist, I will also add here that the crows seen at the end are not always symbols of death, but have historically also been linked to 'sheer magic and transformation.' And healing the sick through touch alone certainly falls under that category. The film was more about this magic than about death, thematically, so perhaps I just prefer to see it this way?
Ahh... Imagination is a wonderful thing, isn't it?
I pretty much agree that the healing power was passed on to the baby Julie is pregnant with. Alexi probably went off to find his own life & be "normal" instead of healing everyone else & never really having a life of his own.
shareSaw this film last night and it was called, The Healer!!! It was repeated this afternoon and I had to see it again. Interesting movie in that it isn't typical. Of course Lothaire was the whole movie for me, even though the woman was lovely. He was so attracted to her and I can see why, however, when he engaged in an affair with her, I believe he lost his great gift. He became an ordinary man. Perhaps it ended so abruptly so that we think another healer is going to be born. I think when he lost his power, he did not want to see her again and apparently it didn't bother her too much for she went back to the husband. Hmmmmmmmmm
sharekatajrina: It's been two and a half years since your post, so you probably won't see this, but I'm really impressed with your interpretation.
As for myself, I saw Alexy as being in a state of stunned shock after the failure to heal. True, falling in love was a great change in his life, and he said he wanted to give up healing to be with her. But his entire identity up to that point was bound up in his healing powers. They were always there for him, his reason for existence almost his entire life, and to have his identity fail him when he needed it for someone he was close to must have turned everything upside down.
I'm not at all convinced, by the way, that his powers are gone for good. But I think his shot at happiness is, as he faces the grueling "factory work" of healing endless strangers for the rest of his life once again. Makes me sad.
I loved this film, BTW, which I'll almost never say about films without totally happy endings, *especially* ones with ambiguous endings. (I always say that I don't like paying money to use my imagination, because I can do that for free.) And it really bothers me that that Batman Dark Knight piece of crap currently has a 9/10 rating, while almost no one will ever see this movie.
I'm not sure I understood the ending. The only thing I could come up with was that life went back to "normal." The parents reunited, their son was still sick, and the lover left. Did the affair end because the "healer" lost his power? Could he not love and heal at the same time? Or, did Julie stop loving him when he was no more use for her son? It definitely wasn't a Hollywood ending!
Thought the other way around it being for him to let her go. to rectify her life. Just what did he have to offer? it was easy for her to let him go. As the film showed, To me she would have not accepted him anyway. Some of you are giving there affair way to much meaning.
share