MORE SPOILERS
That's my interpretation, too, although it's all mysterious enough that we can wonder about the full story.
I thought The Circle was compelling, and the one-take approach kept me on the edge of my seat. The acting was great all around (except "Dad," who was overplayed). However, the film was flawed by two problems. First of all, the secret is given away long before the "twist" ending. Once Jay gets to the club, it's pretty obvious that the characters are all dead, so the viewer has to assume that she is, too. Secondly, the underlying idea that Jay would be executed for killing her husband is not impossible but is pretty unlikely, especially if the circumstances laid out in the movie are even close to reality.
On the other hand, as I said, the plot is such a blend of reality and nightmare that what actually happened to any of the characters is open to question. Maybe Jay didn't LITERALLY kill her husband. Maybe she killed herself over the loss of her child, and he in turn was driven to suicide with grief or guilt. Maybe she really killed her baby (which might actually get her executed). Or maybe none of the characters knew each other in real life, and didn't actually die in the exact way we're shown; but they were all sinners, and their punishment is to spend eternity in hell, living out a nightmarish distortion of the sins they actually committed, with a crowd of strangers they had no connection to in real life. There are so many weird things: For example, Dad and Stan use the same phrases a couple of times. Dad is over-the-top satanic - he could be the devil. The way Rick and Jay meet is the sort of absurd thing that could only happen in a dream.
Anyway, who knows? Good film, though.
reply
share
am_buglet_82
16 years ago
"Once Jay gets to the club, it's pretty obvious that the characters are all dead, so the viewer has to assume that she is, too."
I didn't think it was obvious...in fact I wasn't aware that everyone was probably dead until I read the above posts.
I would make sense that "Dad"'s daughter was dead, from the bullet hole in her breast.
I don't think "Dad" is Satan, because didn't he say he "wasn't really in charge"?
I rented this movie a few days ago, so it's been a couple days since I watched it, and I was on the computer at the same time, so I might have missed a few things.
-Amanda
"She will remember your heart when men are fairy tales in storybooks written by rabbits"
reply
share
gmsmith-4
15 years ago
I think when he said he wasn't in charge, he meant the man upstairs was in charge...
reply
share