I enjoyed this film and I enjoyed the remake(for Eckhart and Breslin of course) but I was wondering something about the ending. Were they trying to adopt Lina? Did they decide to move to Italy to be closer to her or something? All I saw was them reuniting, looking at some building and then having a party in the backyard so I guess they DID move to Italy but did they adopt Lina from her dad?
shareI think it was purposely elliptical. I like to think they moved to Italy and lived near Lina's father and, as the ending banquet with everyone all melded together at the table might suggest, all lived happily and shared Lina. It could happen... Or maybe they just moved near Lina, opened a restaurant, and were a huge part of her new life with her father. Either way...delightful.
shareMakes sense. Mario did say near the end how much better Italy is compared to Germany(Germans have a sense of humor about their country?) and Martha really didn't have anything else going for her in Germany, why bring her back to essentially nothing when she could start a new life in Italy to be near her niece, still have Mario in her life and have her own restaurant
shareThe way I understood it, they opened their own restaurant in Hamburg and Lina lived with them, but they often went to Italy for their holidays (probably Lina spends all of her holidays with her father).
shareThe way I understood it, Lina returned to Germany to live with Martha and Mario, and lived happily ever after. I don't think they moved to Italy just like that. Remember the scene where Martha and Lina running/jogging in the park? I assume that's not Italy.
And I assume that she visits her father regularly too, as it was implied he was good to her. And regarding the backyard scene; maybe they were on vacation in Italy, while Lina was visiting her father?