MovieChat Forums > Jeux d'enfants (2004) Discussion > About the Ending, a logical approach

About the Ending, a logical approach


just finished watching it, love it.

I saw lots of posts about this movie's ending, and now i am coming up with a new theory, by logic

1st, at the b egining of the moive, we heard the narration of young Julien: saying never play a game in which your friend asks you to bury yourself in the cement. So, this is a "game"/"dare"

Then, back to the whole movie, the reason why the two can't fall in love is that they are both burdened by the game. We can see it during their teen year, when Sophine accuses Julient all alone treats her as a lover merely because of the game. And this, is spread out throughout the movie.

So, back to the ending,
Close to the end, they finally recognize that they cannot live without each other and decided that they should let go of the stupid game, which indeed impinged on their love.

SO, if the whole cemment thing is a "game", why would they still do it after they have vowed to love each other? I mean, if the game is the culprit of separating them all these years, why would they still indulge in it at the end when they can finally get togefther after going such a long way?

To me, I think the cement scene is a manifesto that declares their banishment of their old selves and the game. And that's why the tin box seems so new at the end of the movie. It symbolizes the end of the game.

Regarding the old sceNE, I THINK IT IS ALSO MERELY SYMBOLIC. I dont mean that they really died in the cement though. The old scene is just a possibility, like every other era when they meet again after the long parting. When the old Julient kisses Sophine , many past images flesh by, and those are the possiblity if at the moment julient said I love you. And the old julient does. I think the scene wants to suggest that if Sophine did not return that time after the car crash, and they did not have the chance to make up, fate will still bring them together; when they get older and there is no more distracion, e.g. other people, money, etc, they will eventually come to the realisation that they, all along, are in love, and life is too short for them to deny their love.

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Wow! Your post is more profound than the movie itself.
ps:Friends are coming over today, from New York City, just to watch that movie...it's quite unforgettable.

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i believe that definition to be exact. that fake scene respresented them being able to live in love together without the game, thus the scenes of them of them older, and other unshown periods (getting married, etc).

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Does the game ultimately destroy or save its players? the character’s feelings are solidified in a moment of pure bliss -- that lends itself to multiple interpretations, from the romantic to the tragic. “Julien and Sophie’s story ends in a sort of grand finale in which love and death appear to be united. Do they really die? I don’t know! I think of the end as not so much a death as another stage, another test of their love. Their goal is to be together forever, and in some sense they find a happiness without end. But you can see this in different ways: if you want to see it as a tragedy, it is a tragedy, and if you want to see it as a happy ending, it is that, too.

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I hated the ending. Absoutely hated it. I'm not one for the predictable happy ending, but this is one movie I really wanted to see Julien and Sophie live happily ever after. This is one of those movies I found myself shouting at, trying to will the plot to go the way I wanted it to. At the end I was really angry, really angry the director did what he did. Well, I guess that's what makes it a great movie. The unexpected.

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I have to admit that I too wanted a neatly parcelled happy ending after such a turmultuous relationship. But I've come to apreciate the subtlety of the ending becuase it is open for speculation. Do you beleive the literal meaning of the ending that they buried themsleves in concrete, or was the 'utlimate dare' the decision to abandoning their other marriages, their futile game and individual lives for a life togther? There's no right or wrong answer which is why I love this film

"gap ou pas gap?"

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it's cap ou pas cap

not gap ou pas gap.

just fyi

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Logic is overrated.

Poignards... de rien! Je n'aime pas faire du shopping. La fille sur le pont.

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I think that you can apply what ever you want to the ending, whether it be symbolic or real. That, in essence, is what makes a good movie. We get to interpret what really happened. Myself being a film scholar, I am hesitant at describing the ending. But I think that is what makes it a good ending. Some of us can view it as a metaphor and some of us can see it as reality. All in all it's up to the individual viewer.

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The best film EVER.....but can I just say that Sophie and Julian do not die. At the end they realise that they love each other and the game is keeping them apart so they finally lay the game to rest. The cement scene is a symbol of their everlasting love. Its not hard to understand!!!!!!

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I think that, perhaps, this ending is played out in the same way that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is - it's the idea of two people so in love, so right for each other that they are meant to be together. But, just like Romeo and Juliet, there are two many circumstances in their worlds that keep them apart, and because of this - they realise the only way to be together is to die together. It's this idea of ill-fated lovers. But, I'm not sure if this is the case, of course Yann Samuell's intentions were quite likely to be for us to make our own interpretations of the ending, hence leaving it so ambigious.
It seems as though Sophie and Julien spend their whole lives living in a dream world, and so the scenes of them after their cement burying - the old age, the marriage etc, are perhaps just continuations of their dreamworld.

To quote Yann Samuell himself:
"I don't like films with a message at the end telling an audience, this is what you have to think. It's not up to me to have to decide for the audience."

The conclusion here is that none of our interpretations are wrong, it is what we, personally, make out of this film.

I love that a single ending can suggest so many varied ideas! Brilliant film :o]

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Echoing the comments made, I personally believe that it is merely a continuation of Julien and Sophie's dreamworld. Whilst I agree with interpretations that the cement scene is a metaphor for the end of the game I personally believe that Sophie and Julien actually do die.

Before the old scene, Julien's voice over says, "And deep in concrete we finally shared our childhood dream, the dream of and endless love." My interpretation is that the "old scene" after that is merely a visual representation of this dream. This can be seen in the way the scenes are filmed. When our protagonists were young, the scenes are shot with bold colours to contrast the bland backgrounds and settings, similar I think to the art of some children fantasy films. In a way it is how children who are playing such a game which disregards the rules of the society would see the world.

As they get older into their adult lives, this is no longer the case. The art and colour of the film becomes more realistic and sharper as Sophie and Julien are coerced to grow up and live the normal life. The cement scene is the final rejection of conformity; the game, perhaps a metaphor for society and social expectations of love which governed their lives in buried, overcoming all adversities to be together.

The final scene of them old is the continuation of this "childhood dream" that Julien talks about. This particular scene is filmed fuzzily with a hazy mist as if it were a dream sequence. Notice that all the flash backs of Sophie and Julien kissing were during points in their lives at which Julien could have told Sophie that he loved her and gone on a different path then the one which they ultimately took - if Julien had chosen Sophie at his wedding, if Sophie had gotten off the bus to be with Julien, etc. None of that happened however and the way it was filmed made it seem like this scene was a dream so my conclusion was that it was only a vision of everlasting love together, one which Sophie and Julien share and through death, like Romeo and Juliet, they can finally be together without the world/game dictating their love.

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Agree with you about the film over-all but unfortunately, not about the ending. It is what it is. Finis.

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The cement is also there at the beginning so I think that, yes...they do die:( Sadly for the viewer but, at least, together.

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So do they die or don't they?? I still confused by the elderly couple, or is it a dream world of them as an elderly couple.

Angelina

"I'm a Superhero"
"No Day But Today"
"Love Is What I Do!"

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I agree with a lot of what you were saying.

Also, there is a bit of a color symbolism present in the movie as well. When you see lots of greens, then the movie is progressing. But, like where Julien ties that man up and leaves him hanging from the pole and leaves him, there is a very precise yellow tint to it. It's the same when he's driving past his dad's house and the dog jumps in slow motion. Also when his mother flies above him in the cemetary, and at the end when they are old. Which means it's not real.

But the whole movie is a fairy tale. The sediments against the love between them, the game, the childhood, it's not Peter Pan syndrome, but still a childhood running an adult.

~PJ~

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I think something people keep overlooking is that young Julien tells the story from being buried in the cement. The fact that he is young gives me the impression that this is something young Sophie dared him to do, which means he eventually got out of it. This gives me the impression that it IS possible to live after being buried in cement. (But how unlikely is THAT?)

I think the two of them dying in the cement is the last real scene, and everything else was fantasy. They HAD to end it there. I mean, the last dare got Julien in an accident and he didn't mind at all! If they had kept going it would have ended with violent gruesome deaths for one/both of them.



Well, excuse me for liking the way they shape my junk! -T (Tobias)

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I agree. Also remember that Julien sums up that 'le jeux' is so much better than everything else in the world (just before getting into the accident). He lives for the game, he finally feels alive. I think it's safe to say that this is the same for Sophie, since after 10 years she is still playing.
Conclusion: the concrete scene is real. (Also notice the voice-over here.)

Good movie!!

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I think it's just a symbolic end. I've just reflect a bit and I think the cement scene can see in a methaphoric way: the last joke of the two, play to be buried together, but it's just methaphoric they probably bury only the merry-go-round to bury their past and begin to live the future, to bury their youngness and begin to live together. that's all,

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I think the ending with 1. Buried in cement, and 2. Growing old together....are both plausible.
Getting buried in cement is how their life ended when they had let their lives be controlled by the game.
Growing old together is what could have been, if they had not let the majour aspects of their lives be ruled by their game. I say this because when we see them old together, there are a series of momentous occassions that flash on the screen... yet they have been altered, e.g she gets off the bus and they kiss...... this insinuates that this is what their lives would have been like if they hadn't let the game rule the majour parts of their lives.
This is what I think the two alternate depictions in the ending could represent. I really do like the metaphoric burying of their life with the game though..... but they still play the game when they are old, which has me confused.

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i don't tihnk there is a simple answer ie 'they die' or 'no they don't die'
the director himself would probably be unable to give you a definite answer
maybe they just did it to make it unexpected and confusing, to prompt the viewer to ask such questions and to analyse. it is up to us to find the deeper meaning, something perhaps not even established at the time of writing/filming

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