NOTHING HAPPENS. I was waiting for this guy to explode, after all he lost his wife and his dougher is marrying a moron.
What happens is the transition of Warren from a lifeless machine - in the beginning of the film, to a human being wanting to live, at the end.
That drawing of a little boy holding the mother's hand at the end of the film, was not that orphan kid Warren was fostering, it was Warren himself desiring to be reborn - note that there was no mother+father in that drawing, but only an adult that could be a mother, but doesn't have the attributes of one - no long hair (no hair at all, no breasts, only a slight indication of a robe) and connected to him/her like from an umbilical cord, a little boy.
Schmidt went through a series of explosions, which torn him apart:
realization that his work at that company was futile, meant nothing.
realization that his marriage was a lie.
realization that his daughter was not his legacy, but a complete stranger.
realization that he has no power to fix what was broken in his life.
realization that his life was nothing, and that he is nothing (like everybody else)
I'd say your mind refused to register these chilling explosions, to protect itself from such awful truths.
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