For those that have seen the ending, lets vote... Did they die in cement or live to be old people in that nursing home? No votes for him dying in the parking lot, that's dumb.
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The form is like this:
My vote: They died.
I am: Female
OR...
My vote: They lived.
I am: Male
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Ok?
Here is my vote...
My vote: They died.
I am: Male
VOTE!
"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus
My vote: They lived
I am: Male
Surely they lived. Why would they have a scene at the end with the characters as 80 years old if they died at 35, unless the writer/director views heaven as an old people's home, which would be very strange to say the least.
There's no need to look at the last few scenes too deeply I think. It's really odd but I didn't even consider that they might have died. I just assumed the concrete scene was a dare to see who who last the longest, and that they must have climbed out of the liquid concrete and carried on as normal.
It's interesting to see others people interpretations of the film though, this thread is excellent.
I am female.
My humble opinion is that, upon finally admitting their love for each other at the same time, they want to be made immortal by the cement (an act which can be taken a metaphor for freezing their lives and holding their love together for an eternity so that they don't ever have to face any reality that isn't theirs alone. Let's face it, at no time in the film do they lead a 'normal' life, have regular dreams or act like anyone else). This decision is made the moment their love becomes utterly serious and the game is therefore over.
All very Greek tragedy, with a smattering of Shakespeare and Chekhov.
Notice how Sophie never says "I love you" to him directly in the film? Is it because he is a tyrant and she doesn't want to massage his ego? Is it because she loves the game more than him (or feels that he loves the game more than her)? Is it because he hurt her so much with the introduction of his fiance, sleeping with the college girl etc etc that she vows not to return his words? Hmmmm, I will probably lose sleep wondering why...
Anyway, I digress:
(Sadly, but fittingly) They died.
So, basically what you are saying is... hell hath no fury like a woman scorned... right? ;-)
"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus
They died
I am female
You’re so far past the line, you can’t even see the line. The line is a dot to you!
They died, of course
I am female
I'm female
They died. Why do I say that?
This film is a film largely based on the feelings of two characters - Julien et Sophie, and its most powerful tool is the "game"/love me if you dare"
The beginning of the film is trully symbolic - we see a block of cement and young Julien's voice speaking as he embarks on telling us about his life and his soulmate - Sophie - notice also that the box (the game) is shown clearly floating above the cement, visible to us the viewing audience. It has finally escaped the destructive trauma that plagued Julien and Sophie in all the various stages of their lives, that this story will unfold to us - ie. when they are at primary school, secondary school, when they are young adults, through to their eventual marriages to different people.
This is a very powerful film which clearly spells out the message, in life, grab at the chances that you want in life - life is a risk trully, and if you can get a chance of happiness with someone whom you can establish a relationship with, don't play around with silly petty games, because eventually you will regret the lost chances that you could have had, period!
The game dominated both Julien and Sophie's life - it trully made them unhappy, yes, we see them delight in making each other carry out dares, they are competitive against each other, they both enjoy these dares, they are simply waiting for one of them to spill the beans about how they trully feel about it other, but they can't - they are both afraid of what this will do to their friendship - as children they are just friends, but as teenagers, they develop stronger sexual, phyiscal feelings - just look at the scene when they are in the library; and remember when Julien is chasing after the bus and Sophie turns to see him shout "Je t'aime" she acknowledeges his feelings, yet she is too proud to get of the bus and return his affection. They are still thinking that they are playing the game, the game has taken over their life that even when they admit their feelings to each other, they both mutually think that they are still playing the game.
That's why in their torment and trauma towards the end of the film, they try to escape the life that has been so painful to both of them, yes, they are both married to other people, but they are bored, okay, so they embark on one last journey with the game - "the dare of dares". Now that it is too late for them to have any real happiness in life with each other, they have decided mutually, for the last time that yes, they do indeed love each other, they acknowledge this finally, but also they despair of the thought of not being with each other so they decide to end their lives together, to be together perpectually for ever. Why not die together, encased in a tomb, away from the destructive, dark, unfulfilled life urges that they now both cannot endure.
The symbolic presence of the box floating above the entombed lovers illustrates that they have been released from its potent evil power, it can longer affect them, not now in death. They are finally free, and more importantly together, forever, not in life, but death is a better alternative.
Nuff said.
They lived
Male
They died (to be together eternally - it was the only way)
I am male.
They died.
I am female.
"Stupidity is a talent for misconception." ~Edgar Allan Poe
-Ice Creamer -Shebam -TO#433
They lived
I am female.
I've gone back and forth on this for ages, ever since I first saw it about 3 years ago. I've finally come to the decision that if one must choose (and I don't think that you really have to pick one or the other to enjoy and 'understand' the movie). I think that they lived and it was the cement, rather than the 'nursing home', that was a metaphor. If you recall earlier in the movie they are talking (and I'm very loosely paraphrasing since I'm not watching the movie as I type this), and they say that everything is all fun and games until somebody gets buried in cement...or something along those lines. Therefore, them consenting to get buried alive in a pit of cement was a metaphorical way of saying that they had both agreed to put their love ahead of their game, that they have finally realized that they can't keep on acting like children and being afraid of how they feel about each other (something they should have realized years before when they were at university).
I being man probably assume that they lived because this film is based on surrealism it's sometimes was hard to tell which is real, especially with that puddle... However the last thing what I saw in the end was that litle box which they used whole life daring. However now I started to think that they died after all 'cause they were possessed with game that way how they died was the only to meant to be
shareI'm with BuffyRiley on this one (if I'm interpreting her post accurately). I think they both realized that they'd wasted enough of their lives already playing the game, and wanted to finally consummate what they'd always known -- that their love for each other was the only truly satisfying thing in the world; it was more important than the game or their so-called "successful" lives apart. For those thinking that "concrete" somehow equates with eternity -- I disagree. Death is the metaphor implied by the concrete, which is final, but not eternal. And so it was the game that was buried, and not their physical selves, which finally freed them and allowed them to live out their lives, and their love, together. It came at a cost (i.e. they had to leave their marriages in order to be together), but they finally decided it was worth the cost that they'd been unwilling to pay up until that point. (Of course, I'm a romantic -- albeit a cynical one -- so that definitely affects my interpretation.)
They lived.
I am male.
(Oh, and for those saying this is the most confusing film they've ever seen...try watching Ana Chaotica, or Zardoz, and get back to me.)
(Also...was it just me, or did anyone else see a parallel between the "floating around" of the box and a classic French film, The Red Balloon?)
The whole world is a very narrow bridge. The key is to be fearless. R' Nachman of Breslov
I am male: they lived.
Analysis on metaphors: the fact the tin is on the top of the cement flow means in the end they decided to quit the game and accept their love for each other. That was their last challenge, but once and for all they went for it together, not one against the other.
My fiancée (she is female): they died.
Analysis on metaphors: during the nursing home scene, they are showed taking off candies from the tin, symbolizing the happiness they could have lived, and they instead decided to keep into the tin by dying, since they felt overwhelmed by the unhappy existences each chose for her/himself. Plus, little Julien in the beginning says "there's a game you should never ever try...", meaning they stretched it too much, going beyond their chances to survive.
DEATH METAL FOREVER!!! I_I I_I I_I
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Thanks for all the voting. Keep it going. So far, it has moved to be about even, with as many men and women voting that they died.
I'm surprised, I thought more women would vote they lived (based on the women in my house and women who are friends who saw the movie). I'm pleased to have my preconceived notions proven wrong.
Keep voting!
"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus
Hey how come some reply to trolls but not to me
Has somebody checked review of director himself, he should know what he intened with ending like this. Other movie like this ir Revolver,which actually is ganster, however whole film plot was about that what really happened was only in his mind and same is with this movie all ended in that time when Julie car exploded so bassically this is the real ending... we can not tell that the ending what we've seen ever hapened in reality so Julien or Sophie with him died in either way. This film is so confusing
Here you go... I'm replying to you!
That I know of, there is no commentary where he reveals his true ending. As far as I know, he has been purposely ambiguous on the ending. If someone else knows something I don't, by all means speak up.
"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus
Here you go... I'm replying to you!
That I know of, there is no commentary where he reveals his true ending. As far as I know, he has been purposely ambiguous on the ending. If someone else knows something I don't, by all means speak up.
It doesn't matter what the director thinks. He can try to express a particular sentiment or concept in the film, but once he releases his creation to the public the interpretation isn't up to him anymore.
shareIt doesn't matter what the director thinks. He can try to express a particular sentiment or concept in the film, but once he releases his creation to the public the interpretation isn't up to him anymore.
See Reconstruction - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366943/ - for another confusing impressionistic romantic film. That is, if you don't mind torturing yourself some mroe :p
shareAs much as I would have wanted a different ending, (why not them standing in the rain finally saying they love each other) I feel it wasn't open to interpretation... sad, but true.
They: died
I am: female
I carry your heart. I carry it in my heart.
I think that the entire ending sequence - from the point where Julien is punched - is allegorical and can't be taken literally. Any way I try to interpret it, I find myself understanding the events on a solely metaphorical and symbolic level.
Its possible that Julien died from the punch itself (maybe in combination with unnoticed trauma from the accident) and the entire rest of the film was comprised by the final thoughts of his dying mind. Maybe the two killed themselves in concrete, or maybe they just tossed in the box, with the final dare being to give up the game that defined their existence for so long, laying the foundation for a new life together. There are loads of possible interpretations.
After changing my mind several times, at one point finding it easiest to just view the entire story as an allegorical representation of the multifarious manifestations of love not to be taken as literal or real in any way (even in a fictional sense), I decided that if I must choose between one reality or the other I would say that they both lived.
I am male.
my vote: they lived
I am: male
"I cockslap morals"
Hey didn't somebody just listen what Julian said in begining and at the end, I've heard that if you'll understand that all would be clear it starts with something like this
Begining :"But there's one game you must never play. And I mean never ! Even if your best friend wants to. And that's burying yourself in a block of cement."
So now the ending scene kind a ironic:"Sophie is my best friend"
Well it,surely, won't explain a crap, however if you'd try to undertand this that you'll realize that if Sophie is his best friend that means that he'd never listen a haywire dare like this 'cause he told in his memours. So which proves that they both alive and and whole ending scneses were just symbolic way to end the game - it was not them who should be buried but the dull which made their lifes so miserable. So if we're looking from this view they lived but that's only of the dozen theories.
One thing what I didn't get was if he was dead how he could tell:"And that's how we won the game. Together... happy. And deep in concentrate we finnaly shared our childhood dream the dream of endless love..."
So what could this mean that his chilhood verdict was - "But there's one game you must never play. And I mean never ! Even if your best friend wants to. And that's burying yourself in a block of cement." .. so how then it could be their childhood dream.
Or maybe it's one of thoes films where people can be narating already being dead I just hate this like this ambiguous ending