where did the door go to? - The Door in the Floor (2004) Discussion

[–] larpine 13 years ago

The Door in the Floor.. I'd welcomed to be proven wrong, but it has to be a metaphor for the passing from life to death. The term "the other side of the dirt" meaning dead and the door in the floor is the entrance.

The sons who have died in an accident, the parents who are unable to move beyound their grief and although still alive, their spirits are dead.

The mother's realization that her attempt to fight off death with the abandonment pleasure of an innocent young man does not save her. She then prepares to abandon her daughter and husband, to leave to go throught the door in the floor,(to kill herself), yet we're not shown this and understandably for the film is dark enough.

The father remains, but in his own hell, protected only by alcoholism with his entire world in self destruction and abusive behavior.

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[–] lulupalooza 12 years ago

@ larpine: In the book she does not kill herself.

This film only covered 1/3 of the book.

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

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[–] catfish-er 13 years ago

Earlier in the movie Eddie and Ted are downstairs... Ted explains that the barn was coverted into a squash court, the court is upstairs. Downstairs is mostly just storage and such. There is no significance as to where the door leads, only that there IS a door in the floor; and, if you were that six year-old boy, wouldn't you want to go through that door?

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[–] wcalvinl 13 years ago

The "Door in the Floor" is a metaphor life. There are at least two instances where this is clearly a metaphor for life. First, the boy in his mother's womb...his "door in the floor" is his mother's vaginal opening. And if you know anything about a pregnant woman before she gives birth, there is a "door" that opens to life. The mother is afraid because she has lost children (Marion?), the boy is curious and wants to experience life, even though there are trials and tribulations.

At the end of the movie Ted goes through a "door in the floor" re-entering life after a squash match with himself. He finally realizes after some time that he too has to move on in life. So he exits the squash court through a "door in the floor".

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[–] z_noland 13 years ago

He went down there to kill himself I believe, but metaphors are nice too

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[–] johnnymonsarrat 13 years ago

Hi!

With due respect, the tone of the closing scene is way too dark to be a metaphor for a curious boy.

I also don't think the end signifies suicide. Ted's future has already been foreshadowed: he's met a new woman and her daughters.

I think it's a metaphor for being making decisions in life that you are unable to return from, for finality.

-Johnny

Johnny Monsarrat Consulting. All content by Jon Monsarrat!

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[–] CoraJack 13 years ago

The girls Ted meets talk about a paper one of them wrote analyzing Ted's children's book "A Door in the Floor". I think it was a huge script flaw that we never got to hear or see this book....but anyway...

The girl says she wrote in her paper that the Door in the Floor is a woman's vagina--as it is the door to life.

Ted is seeing going through that door in the floor in the last scene, so he is not killing himself....he is moving on with the women, his daughter, the gardener and the reconstruction of his yard that he was never able to do before.

As far as Kim's character killing herself--we don't know if that is what she left to do. She left to save her daughter from her darkness and depression. I personally think that was a very brave thing to do. The poor kid had been traumatized enough.

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[–] mworenstein 13 years ago

Someone mentioned that Ted states that underneath the squash court is a room that contains storage etc. In one of the final scenes, Ted states his son was wearing an Air Jordan when he died and his foot was severed. When his wife when to go get the shoe for her son, she saw her son's leg and was traumatized. The door in the floor to me represents the painful secrets of his families past.

Doesn't it seem plausible that underneath the real door in the floor is storage, where his son's shoe is kept?

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[–] sydnee_man 13 years ago

You may want to check out the movie again. Ted actually did read the book to a group of people. The pages of the book were shown on some type of projector behind him.

It was a really good "book" and I'm surprised that it wasn't ever published. (At least I don't think it was.)

BTW, I believe the door in the floor is just another transition in life. Or moving from one chapter in your life to another. In Ted's case from a married man to a divorced man and single father. Going through the door means that he has accepted this and is ready to move on. And I agree with you, that it has nothing to do with suicide. jmo

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[–] CoraJack 13 years ago

sydnee man....I have watched the movie 4 times, I don't need to watch it again to know that Ted does not read the ENTIRE "Door in the Floor" book to the audience. We don't get to hear the whole story....instead just bits and pieces. I think a better script would have Ted reading it to Ruth so we could have a few more hints on this. Or maybe the book was written in the script in just bits and pieces....I'm not sure if the entire book is included in the book the movie is based on; so I guess I'll have to check that out.

However, the college student did pretty much explain that the door in the floor is a metaphor for the vagina. And truthfully, isn't that what caused MOST of the trouble in this family? First their two children die (came through a vagina), then the husband cheats like crazy on the extremely depressed wife (another vagina), and then Marion has sex with the assistant and teenager (another vagina). I mean, this movie was full of references to vaginas.....so that's my theory.

Then Ted goes through the door in the floor at the end, so where is he going? I doubt I have to tell you what he keeps doing.

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[–] sydnee_man 13 years ago

"The girls Ted meets talk about a paper one of them wrote analyzing Ted's children's book "A Door in the Floor". I think it was a huge script flaw that we never got to hear or see this book....but anyway..." - CoraJack

This was the message from you that I was referring to "never got to hear or see this book." But of course we did, because he read it to an audience. I also believe he read the whole book, but I believe we can both agree that he read the book in the movie.

The vagina theory interesting but i believe the movie is more than just about vaginal sex. If that were the case, someone could argue that it was about "sex" or "penis."

But it is always good to hear other opinions and theories. I still think its a metaphor for moving to a different stage in life. But of course that is just my opinion.

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[–] CoraJack 13 years ago

I will agree that it's a start to a new life. But I just watched his "book reading" scene again and he does NOT NOT NOT read the entire book. I don't know if you are trying to play with me or be "proved right" by lying to people who don't know better, but he never reads that book in the entire movie. We don't have to agree to disagree. The proof is in the movie. He reads a few pages then goes on to screw college girls.

If you want to make up your own movies become a screenwriter, but don't try to make other people appear stupid;or mislead people who are trying to understand the movie.

Jerk.

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[–] Dinferno3 13 years ago

wow you are unnecessarily rude! and your theory about the whole door representing a "vagina" is too basic, I'm pretty sure Irving intended for it to represent something a little bit deeper than that!

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[–] CoraJack 13 years ago

I'm rude because I'm correcting a constant inaccuracy on this board? Opinions are one thing--everyone has one. However, when a person constantly writes the inaccuracies on a messageboard where (obvious) movie-lovers are trying to figure out plots and stories it's just wrong.

He never read the entire book in the movie--PERIOD.

Get over yourself.

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[–] Dinferno3 13 years ago

like whatever, you need to get over yourself! why don't you go back to watching your movies and telling everyone that their opinions are wrong, because its obvious thats all you do.

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[–] sydnee_man 13 years ago

Ok. Thanks for your response.

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[–] pianocellolove 13 years ago

Spot on sydnee..good points here. I'm still pondering the ending.

PCL

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[–] super-staff 13 years ago

She left to save her daughter from her darkness and depression. I personally think that was a very brave thing to do. The poor kid had been traumatized enough.

I think so, too. If she'd killed herself, I think the movie would've shown it.

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[–] lulupalooza 12 years ago

In the last part of the book, Ruth, unexpectedly, re-unites with her mother Marion.

So, Marion never killed herself and Ruth sees her again.

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

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[–] sydnee_man 13 years ago

I believe the door in the floor is different for everybody and is just a life transition.

I believe that Ted finally accepted that his wife had left and that he would be a single dad. Going through the door in the floor was his way of moving on to the next chapter in his life.

Good question and good discussion. Thanks

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[–] noveltylibrary 13 years ago

what i don't get was that he called himself an entertainer of children...that was no children's book.

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[–] sydnee_man 13 years ago

lol. Good point.

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[–] mturne2 13 years ago

I actually thought it represented how shallow Ted really was. The girl in the bookstore talked about how she wrote a long paper on the meaning of it. I think he was just inspired by the door on his squash court like he was inspired by a simple line his daughter said. Although in his book "The Door in The Floor," it seemed to represent the untalked about subject, between Ted and his wife, of their sons' death and where the blame lay. As in "Let's not go there."

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[–] FountainofR 13 years ago

I agree.

It seemed like Ted was somewhat bemused and smirking when he was talking to that girl and found out how long her paper was, as though she was way over-analyzing things, like some may be doing here.

The Door in the Floor was literally just a Door in the Floor.

To me, the end of the movie represents him going down to storage to finally deal with his past, what happened and who is to blame so he can get on with his life.

Or it represents him moving on to a new chapter in his life without knowing how things will work out. He and Marion seemed to have been stuck in the same rut for years, with her being able to predict exactly how he would deal with Mimi Rogers's character, and how he would strike the boy and back down if punched in the nose.

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[–] CoraJack 13 years ago

Jeez, why does everyone have to engage in name-calling and other crap here all of the time? Everyone has different opinions. I was stating a FACT. If you look at the book when he is reading it to the audience you can see that over half of the pages are still not turned. He stopped. At book readings authors don't read their entire books. They read their favorite parts or bits and pieces to make people want to buy it. If they read the whole book then sales would be less!

He asks if YOU wouldn't want to open the "door in the floor" like the little boy. And that's it. He quits reading. Now it's time for everyone to buy the book to finish it for themselves.

The ending of his reading of "The Door in the Floor" and the movie are ambiguous. Did the boy open the door? We don't know. We know that Ted did for sure and so did Marion. They opened themselves into life and paid the price.

If you believe it's symbolism for a vagina or not that doesn't matter. When people are born they decide what chances they are going to take and deal with the circumstances. When we all go through the door in the floor we are going to hear those horrible things Ted mentioned when he was reading the book. Life sucks and is sad most of the time.

There is no way to prove that he didn't read the entire book because there is no "real" book of the same name. I searched. However, if you read "Widow for One Year" it will answer most of your questions about the movie.

Now settle down and debate nicely as we were taught in grade school.

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[–] Mrpinkeye 13 years ago

not vagina. not suicide or death.

facing your fears... imo

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[–] lulupalooza 12 years ago

@preecejon: Yes, the intention was for Ted to finally face his fears...and move on. Additionally, it was only a storage area below as he explained to Eddie earlier on (converted barn with two stories).

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

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] lulupalooza 12 years ago

@ rogereldredge: Excellent points. I completely agree.

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

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[–] blacknyellowsquid 12 years ago

yyyeah I'm not sure exactly what the door in the floor means but I got the similar impression as what mturne2 got. As far as, the girl in the store was overanalyzing his story to death, and what she got out of it was probably not in the source material. I was an English major and this is what we did all the time, regardless of whether it's what the author had intended or not...which always actually pissed me off. Anyway, so even before we're shown the door at the end, and when she was spoutin off about vaginas and whatnot in the store, I didn't think for a moment that's really what he intended with his story, nor what we're supposed to take seriously. It was clearly just a big ego stroke for him that she had read into it so much.

At the end, when I saw the door, I thought "aHA there's the 'door in the floor!'" Sometimes it really is just as simple as that...writers can get their inspiration from all sorts of things, even if small and trivial.

Now...for whatever reason, my impression of any deeper meaning behind it, was that this spot was a place he liked to hide when suffering or when he couldn't handle life, almost as a coward. Him going into it at the end demonstrated the pain he was truly feeling inside about everything, in spite of his almost laissez-faire attitude throughout the movie.

That's what I got out of it. but I have not read the book.

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[–] queenshan 13 years ago

The fact that this movie is only the first section of the much longer story of Ruth's life, "A Widow for One Year", is a hint that the story does not end there and that the door is a metaphor. Here is the full synopsis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Widow_for_One_Year.

the summary of part three gives a really good hint that some of the ideas being discussed here are not how things happened.

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[–] IoandTitan 13 years ago

you're all wrong!
he opens the door because the pages of the Necronomicon are there. He forgot his chainsaw so he's dead i think

http://www.youtube.com/IoandTitan

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[–] 13 years ago

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