so what was the door in the floor? - The Door in the Floor (2004) Discussion

[–] Reed_Rothchild 14 years ago

please a answer

reply

bodies maybe he was a serial killer of children?, j.k i dunno i wondered the same thing, maybe he goes down there to write novels

reply

[–] rap31264 13 years ago

I don't know if it was a symbolization for anything but I believe his book, "The Door in the Floor" was inspired by the door in his squash court in the barn. You see him and Eddie climb the stairs to go to the squash court in one scene so it wasn't anything evil or gruesome. I think the squash court was his sanctuary.

reply

[–] sydnee_man 13 years ago

Check out the post with the subject line: "where did the door go to?" by flickdesign. Some good explanation/theories there.

reply

[–] LextheXFile 13 years ago

It's been a while since I saw this movie, but I remember the scene where a young woman comes up to the main character (ah, forget his name, the writer) and says she did a paper on his children's book and asks if the "door in the floor" is a metaphor for the vagina. Which made me laugh at the time, but makes sense considering that the wife goes nuts after her "babies" are killed in a car accident (of course they were teens at the time, but from a metaphorical standpoint are still her "babies"). So I just took it as a metaphor to mean being born... either literally, or emotionally. At the end, when he literally goes down the trap door, you have the sense that he has resolved some of the issues with his wife and his dead boys (even though she is leaving him and taking off) and he is being "born" into a new life as a bachelor and in a way can start over. I think there are several things that could stand-in for the door in the floor metaphor, depending on what scene it is.

"I want to Believe"- <3 Fox Mulder, The X-Files

reply

[–] cloudshoveller 13 years ago

If you watch the "bonus features" on the DVD, John Irving talks about the screenwriting adapted from his novel. He says the movie ends at a much darker, cynical point than his novel does but he likes it because it is chronilogically accurate to the book.

I am sure the film-maker did intend some of the metaphorical meanings people have alluded to in their comments.

Definitely the writers and film-makers did not intend it to mean suicide as some have guessed. John Irving (the writer of the novel that the movie is based on)states in that interview that the end of the movie is the perfect jumping off spot to get back into the novel to find out the rest of the story. He said that Kip lives into his 70's and Marion's story is resolved as well.

reply

[–] aviatorcbg 13 years ago

Love this movie and just caught it again the other night on TV. I lived right near where this was flmed, and watched some of the filming. Regarding the door, I have always presumed that the door pre-existed when the house was purchased--very commonly in this part of Long Island, such barns were once potato barns. A few times a season they would have been filled up to the very roof-every inch of space- with potatoes (this was achieved via a shaft near the roof). Commonly, tools not needed until the next season would be stored under the floor, through a trap door exactly as shown in the movie. Some were very deep and had short stairs, like a crawl space. Seems as though Ted bought the house and barn from a farming family (or had the barn transported from a nearby farm-- also something that people do out there) and converted it into the squash court. I don't think the door is symbolic unto itself, but becomes symbolic TO Ted--his imagination is captivated by it, and he uses it in his book to portray the idea that we don't know (and that we fear) what is beneath the surface.

reply

[–] CoraJack 13 years ago

I am reading the book right now. If you have questions you have to get the book. No one kills themselves. That is not the meaning of "The Door in the Floor" at all. Everyone comes back after they "grow up" and there is an interesting twist. I'm too busy to write anymore. Just read the book as it will answer all of your questions.

reply

[–] rex_ilusivii 13 years ago

IMO, that last scene is used as a quick recap of the entire plot of the film, which started with Ted coming up with the idea to "give" the young man to Marion, inter alia, sexually (which is hinted at right away by Marion's remark, "What would he actually do... for you?"). Such a plan can, obviously, go wrong in so many ways, yet Ted still opts for it. The entire film is the unfolding of the consequences of Ted's decision to do what the boy in his story did.

The theme of taking the risk to open the foreboding door is also repeated on a micro scale more than once in the film: Eddie goes ahead and takes the risk to masturbate (twice) without locking himself even though he's aware he could be caught; Marion goes ahead and offers the 16-year-old sex even though she knows that is a risqué thing to do; the women who accept Ted's invitation for posing know beforehand they're getting into a situation that may turn sour; and so on. Was it not playing with the fate also to allow both sons to sit on the front seat, on a dark, snowy night?

I think the film plays with the theme of playing with fire or opening the Pandora's box.

But it doesn't say: "Don't do it." It jusk asks: "Wouldn't you do the same?"

no i am db

reply

[–] lulupalooza 12 years ago

@rex_ilusivii: Thank you for such an excellent analysis! The "risk" aspect has not really been discussed on the board much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbhrz1-4hN4

reply

[–] chelle-35 13 years ago

Death is my guess.. the door in the floor was a grave.

reply

[–] Mrpinkeye 12 years ago

i didnt consider suicide for one second although thinking about it now the film does leave showing the daughter being looked after so she'd have a new family if he did...

but i thought the door in the floor was just about facing your fears! no?

reply

[–] lulupalooza 12 years ago

The door in the floor led to the stairs in the lower storage area that Ted and Eddie walked through previously. It was a converted barn if you recall his explanation for the squash court on top.

The door was just an unusual inspiration for Ted to use in one of his books, much like the sound his daughter heard before waking him during the night. However, the symbolism of how he needs to move into another chapter of his life, and the risks that we all take, was also represented by that door in the floor.

The final door scene put a smile on my face. I don't know how anyone thought of death or a vagina. In fact, Ted found the college girl's over-anaysis of his work to be rather amusing. He indulged her for the sake of continued flirting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbhrz1-4hN4

reply

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jeffsayyes (146) 2 years ago

I still think its a vagina from the perspective of the unborn child

reply

[–] MrAleisterCrowley 12 years ago

My thought has always been that it is metaphor for death -- the death of the sons drives the narrative in the novel as well as the film. Nobody who disappears through the door returns, a metaphor or symbol for the grave.

reply

[–] lost_dream 8 years ago

door in the floor , when you can't get what it mean thats mean the writer and the director failed to deliver it to you so it was good movie or not the meaning of the door in the floor at the end made no sense which i hate about such movie and doesn't deserve any analysis .

reply