does she know at the end


I just watched the movie and im wonderin if the mom knew at the end that her son had set up the whole thing and that all that had happened was really a charade. She died happy but that could have been because of her appreciation of her sons deed and love or because she never found out the truth. Lara told his mom about how there was no boarder anymore and that the country was unified even if she didnt believe her. And in the end when he plays the last tape if you notice the whole time she doesnt really watch the tape but she stares at her son. I was just wondering if this is just me or anyone else thought this too.

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Yeah, Lara told her. The mother keeps on looking at Alex when watching the broadcast because she knew everything already...

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yep

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what matters is that she died happily, because of the fake newscast, and whether she knew the fact or not is unimportant.

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Actually it's much more powerful if, in the end, she returns the favor by keeping from him the fact that she knows everything was a lie to make him happy. So yes, her knowing is an important piece.

"What kind of idiot tries to make a point by referencing someone's sig?"

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I also think it's clear that the mother knows, and that her happiness does not spring from the fact that "her" GDR finally triumphs, but from the fact that her son a) came up with the decpetion to protect her in the first place and b) that he continues the deception even after she came clear about having lied to her children about their father, thus showing that he still loves her and forgives her.

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I agree with the previous two statements. The audience is made to well understand that Lara told her the truth. Don't forgot also that immediately after that, her husband and her spent over an hour together. I am sure he told her the truth and affirmed what Lara was saying. It's a giveaway that she knows when she keeps looking at him during the "newscast." Now that I think about it, was her husband at the funeral? I don't remember seeing him. I also think, that at the end, when she is looking at the fireworks, she knows the truth and that the celebration of country unification is representative to her of her family reuniting. She was set free from her guilt of never taking her children across so many years earlier. Also her son says at the end he had come to associate their former socialist country with his mother. His continuance of the fabricated story was his way of keeping his mother alive.

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Yes, I assumed with no doubt she knows. And it is one of the reasons I find this story so beautiful and touching.
She dies happy because she sees all the love in Alex.
She is even marvelled to see he got the cosmonaut to appear on the "news" and turns to him in wonder.

Alex, paradoxically, turns to be the one who believes what´s not true. And that makes him happy because he accomplished what he wanted- his mom not to wake up from the dream.

I LOVE this film! It´s so beautiful!! It´s a real love story. Without the Hollywood paraphernalia and false sentimentalism. Just PERFECT!

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I think you summed it up perfectly.

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I concurr. There's another thread (Help, need some clarifications) which answers the same question.

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I agree that this is a great love story! There are different types of love stories and this was a refreshing one of a son's love for his mother.

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The husband was at the funeral. The fact that the father came to see her proved he also still loved her and the children. She choose not to follow him or contact him. Yes, he didn't come back but it still doesn't mean he didn't love them.

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Yes, Robert the father was indeed at the top of the building watching the rocket launching into the sky with other families and friends and neighbors. But it didn't show if the sister finally talked to her dad.

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I agree with everyone else that yes, she does know, and that she ultimately doesn't care... she finds out she's much stronger than she thought, not only because she can take it for her country no longer existing as she had known it, but also seeing her husband again and accepting the fact that he has his own life now.

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I watched the movie yesterday for the second time and I must admit I missed the point of Lara telling her the truth, the first time I watched it. It makes the end even more moving - as pointed out in several messages in this thread. I missed the gist because in the voice-over at the end it is said that mother never knew the truth about the "Wende". But it is of course Alex' voice who is telling this to us. And he didn't know at that moment what Lara told his mum. Maybe the whole family concealed this fact forever for dear Alex...

Is the idea of space travel, that protrudes the whole movie, not a beautiful metaphor for the yearning for freedom in the DDR?

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I think one of the beautiful parts of this movie is how, in the end, the rest of the family is protecting Alex from the truth (the fact that his mom already knows about the reunification). After all of the tireless work that he has put into caring for his mother, he forgets that he also needs to be cared for. There is a reversal of roles here: In the beginning Alex convinces the whole family to keep the secret from the mother, but by the end everyone is keeping the secret - that she knows the truth - from him. This is why, during the last television broadcast, the sister can't keep a straight face. Also, there is a deleted scene in which, Alex having just walked in after seeing Lara talking to the mother, the mother says that she's just found out the truth. Alex assumes that she is talking about the wall falling, but then she goes into a story about how it's ok with her if he wants to live with his girlfriend. Both Alex and Lara look confused at this - Lara, having just told the mother the truth about the reunification, was expecting her to be talking about this. This shows the mother's desire to keep her son happy by allowing him to continue to think that he's protecting her! (Phew, this is even confusing in my head!) The point is, both Alex and his mother love each other enough to lie to each other, and protect them.

Amen. And all that cal.

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A sweet irony indeed.

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That was deeply moving Samuel.

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