MovieChat Forums > Lemming (2005) Discussion > Explain the ending, please!

Explain the ending, please!

posted 19 years ago by An_American_in_Paris
31 replies | jump to latest

I'm hoping that someone out there has made total sense out of the ending and that the few critics I've read are missing something, something that I seem to have missed as well. So, how could Benedicte know exactly what Alice said to her husband? And how could he see her after she committed suicide? And the scene with the lemmings? Are we supposed to presume that he's crazy? If it's all supposed to be supernatural somehow, it needs to be set up better. If it's not, it just doesn't work. I can imagine that his wife has had a strong reaction to finding out that her husband has been tempted by an affair and then not told her about it, but the rest doesn't make sense. Does she not realize at the end that her husband killed his boss? Any ideas, anyone?

[–] atouplain 19 years ago

Bénédicte is possessed by Alice. The possession probably started when she decided to sleep in the guest room where Alice had committed suicide. ALice uses Bénédicte and her husband to kill her husband.

[–] andrew-zwadlo 17 years ago

I have just seen the film and read the coments about the film and ending - your thoughts seem to make the most sense. but a also think you can see the film from at least two levels: 1, Alice spirit (as you said) and 2, the lemming side. If not you might well have called it 'Mouse.'

[–] nielsaw 19 years ago

The storyteller of this movie is the Alain-character, so basically we get to see what he thinks happened.

For me that explains why Benedicte knew the things Alice had said. The scene with the lemmings again is something that happened in Alain's head. If you have a 300km drive and you are worried i can imagine that there is almost no end to what to worry about.

[–] jurjendewaal 19 years ago

I know that it may sound very unsatisfying. But I think that is up to you what to believe. You may believe that all was caused because of some spirit of alice wich caused all the trouble, but you can just as well argue that it is all Alain is imagination. Because everything seems to have a simple and logical explanation, save for the coincidences with the lemming. I personnaly believe the director left the plot open on purpose, so that the viewer could think of it however he/she liked.

knowing that it might be very frustrating for some people, I hope that this answers your question.

Jurjen

[–] tomandjessica 18 years ago

I cannot work out the significanc of the Lemming. On one hand it could be like Hitchcock and be a total red herring. On the other hand you could draw parallels between the Lemming committing or not committing suicide and Alice committing suicide but still being around in another form. There are significant scenes with Benedicte swimming across the river when they were up at the mountain chalet and Lemmings swimming across the rivers in their migration. Immediately after this scene, Benedicte appears to change into the character of Alice. Anyone have any ideas?

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] beaumonts_lament 18 years ago

Throughout the film, the story of the lemming seems to reflect that of Alice Pollock. The initial link is obviously the suicide of Alice and the association of lemmings with suicide. Later, Benedicte finds the Lemming alive after believing it was dead. This seems to mirror the return of Alice's spirit after her suicide. The Lemming biting Alain also seems to reflect the malicious nature of Alice's spirit. Finally, when Alice has achieved her goal of seeing Richard "croak", the Lemming is found dead, marking an end to the ordeal. There are probably other parallels I have missed, but these seem the most obvious. In short, the lemming seems to be a reflection of Alice Pollok's character, adding another dimension to the narrative.

[–] cathaljburke 18 years ago

i dont think at the end-benedicte realised alain killed alices husband-i think the suicide had a huge impact on her,and she like alice before her was falling apart.

[–] Krustallos 18 years ago

I think you can view the story two ways - either as a story of ghosts/possession with the lemming acting as a symbol of the whole messy business or as a big guilt/jealousy trip on the part of Alain and all the "supernatural" stuff as a hallucination.

It's up to the viewer.

Personally I like films that leave things open in this way. Others prefer the cut & dried...

The music was great though. Makes a change from the endless pop tunes which so often pass for movie soundtracks these days.

"I don’t like the term torture. I prefer to call it nastiness."

Donald Rumsfeld

[–] alison-67 18 years ago

Just my inital thoughts on leaving the cinema, especially given the closing song ('dream a little dream of me') and her final comments to alain about having just dreamt that he'd been making love to alice thinging she was her. Basically i kind of thought that benedicte dreampt everything we saw after her visit to alain in the hospital (when he had dreamt the whole lemming kitchen invasion part). She may have been influenced by the photo of alice by the house in the lakes & the supposed resembelnce the young alice bore to her as she may have seen the photo at the Pollock houes when she went attended the funeral... Bit difficult to explain here but it kind of makes at least sense to me ;-)

[–] whimi07 18 years ago

The Lemmings "drown from exhaustion", just as Alice did, her relationahip caused that - see how tired she looked. The lemming is symbolic of Alice, as such it dies when her spirit does.

It was also a case of possession, Bénédicte spoke the exact words that Alice had, and we know that there is no way she could have known them, because that detail was never told to anyone.

Finally, the whole temptation of Alain, if he hadn't have resited would have ended in the same was as the Pollocks. Alain is a young prototype of Richard, and the similartiy of Alice and Bénédicte underlines this. He needs to kill Richard to kill that part of himself - the idea that men - even good ones would cheat if they could be assured that no one would find out (something I don't agree with).

[–] GoldenGooner04 17 years ago

Crap Ending
The Police would have known Pollock was living with Benedicte and suddenly one night he blows himself up, and Benedicte moves back in with her husband, who happens to be a Techo Wizard!
For people to even mention this film in the same ballpark as Hitchcock is crazy

[–] qpw3141 12 years ago

Rubbish.

The French police do not monitor who is living with whom. It would not seem improbable that someone whose wife has just died kills themselves.

Thank God that French films do not feel the need to adhere to some stupid code that says the hero must get found out.

There is, admittedly, a problem with people comparing this film with Hitchcock, but that is because they are not comparing like with like.

[–] LeVertueux 18 years ago

Saw the movie today
Yes, it started late here in Zürich...
It reminded me of a French saying "Après la pluie, le beau temps"; after the rain fair weather.
IMHO Moll tries to leave us as puzzled as Alain. Watering the garden on a nice, not knowing wether all of this was real or fiction. Two clues tend make it real he's convinced he came back home from Biarritz and Bénédicte tells him his boss death by suicide.
The last sentence of the narrator, Alain, is even more puzzling than the obvious death of the lemming "Bénédicte expects a baby" Whos baby is it? Richard's or Alain's?
I love that kind of film. They leave several ways of seeing the "facts" and thus reflect the weirdness of life.
I guess Moll draws a parallel between the fairy tale around the lemmings drowning and gives the spectator constant clues about a collective mind.

[–] LibE1 18 years ago

I don't know if anyone else made the link, and it doesn't really explain the ending, but the lemming commits suicide at the end. it doesnt just die. it jumps off the stairs. the small mammal man said it was a silly romantic notion, but clearly it wasn't.

[–] billy2000 18 years ago

There are a lot of good observations in this thread, let me add a few thoughts of my own.

I do agree that the film suggests that Benedicte was supernaturally possessed by Alice's ghost. This would make the most sense, but it is left ambiguous to a certain extent...since we know Alain was hallucinating after his car accident, it's possible that some of what happened later was only in his mind.

A couple more points to support the possession thesis:

-Alice said she wanted to see her husband croak. When Alain murders him later, Bendicte is lying in bed with him during the whole struggle, and after Alain removes the pillow, the camera shows Bendictes eye, wide open and "seeing" the murder... except her face is concealed. Is it really Benedicte lying there, or did Alice take her place again?

-When Richard's house explodes, we see once more the photograph of Alice.

Some people are upset at the ambiguity of the ending. I think Moll is anticipating this desire to have all the loose ends tied neatly up, and making an ironic comentary when, at the end of the movie, Alain in voiceover explains the mystery of the lemming (the boy next door brought it back from Finland, etc.). Meanwhile, of course, the audience is thinking "who cares about the lemming, what just happened! Did Alain really kill Richard, did Benedicte really witness this, etc." It's quite funny.

[–] buff-29 18 years ago

I thought it was interesting that Moll goes to the trouble of offering little bits of explanation when they actually explain nothing. The voiceover at the end about the little boy bringing a lemming home from Finland does not tell us how the rodent wound up in the Getty's sink drain. It could not have gotten there as a result of being flushed down a toilet across the street. I am willing to believe that French plumbing is primitive, but not that primitive. So why does he offer us a dippy explanation? Because he is a dippy guy who has made a dippy film? Could be, could be. I think if he had gone through the movie and ruthlessly excised every reference to the Scandinavian rat he would have had a better movie. He could have called it The Boss's Wife. It would have been at least 30 minutes shorter, already a big improvement.

[–] hengcs 18 years ago

just some thoughts ...
http://p219.ezboard.com/fforeignfilmsfrm18.showMessage?topicID=400.topic

-- i guess most audience will leave the theater with much discussion/debate ... such as the significance of Lemmings (in this film) ... afterall, it is named the title ... how it parallels the character(s)/plot ...

(i) e.g., are we just as suicidal in the way we think, behave, react, etc? (i.e., do people over react to situations? do we "think" too much of what has actually happened? do we aggravate the situation than necessary? etc) ... in other words, could life have been better if we are less susceptible ...

(ii) e.g., can we re-live after death (either as supernatural beings or by possessing others) ... and how abt something down to earth, can we sprung back from a "suicidal" (catastrophic) event ... etc

(iii) e.g., are they just some "unwelcome guests", who go ahead and destroy life/peace ... just like the boss and his wife ...

as usual, some people will be delighted by the "open" interpretation (so that one can convince family and friends of their point of views); while some people will hate it (wondering if the film is all reality, some imagination, or includes the supernatural) ...

[–] marloesdenhoed 17 years ago

Yes, about that photograph: didn't you all think that it almost showed a portrait of Bénédicte <i>and</i> Alice? I loved this film, there's so much in it.

[–] fishadder 18 years ago

the maguffin or in this case the lemming isn't all that extraordinary! it's just a rodent that as the voiceover at the end explains the boy acroos the street brought back from Scandinavia and got a slap off his dad for. it ends up in the plumbing and up until the young guy finds it everything is pretty straightforward. The young guys wife sees the Lemming as some kind of sign especially when the boss's wife shoots herself and then the film veers off into a ghost story when the young girl stares at the dying woman and she posseses her to exact her revenge and make sure her Husband the bossman dies. basically the possesed girl gets her husband to kill the bossman.
the mass of Lemmings was a dream. There was only one lemming.

it was an ok film which people seem to enjoy reading lots more into especially as the lemming has this fake legend for mass suicide which i guess is a clever thing for the director to choose and it'd French so therefore automatically regarded as intelectual.
anyway even though i found it quite slow and felt it didn't need the spooky audio when there really was no obvious horror element to a semi/dead rodent it was intriguing.

[–] robertllr 18 years ago

Just a quick note to those that see the weird stuff as a dream. Recall that Alain calls home and doesn't get Benedict on the phone--he gets (who we later learn is) Alice.

Thus, if Alain is merely dreaming Benedict's possession, the "dream" can't start with the car wreck.

[–] jerry4444 18 years ago

So everything got out of hand after Alice's death; The story can be intepreted in 2 ways, imho.

1. Alice possessed Benedicte as the rest have mentioned, that's why Benedicte did not remember anything as Alain returned to his bed after the murder of his boss.

2. Alain actually hallucinated the whole possesion and affair that Benedicte had, that's why Benedicte who was always faithful and loving, asked him what did he do after the murder.

[–] constanceb2005 18 years ago

Let me explain you the story!!!!
Everything is like a methaphor.
Charlotte R. is L. Lucas' mother,& A.Dussolier is his father.
In order to live happily with your wife, as an achieved man, you have to end the Oedipe complex...That means kill your father to end the competition with him, the competition that leads you to desire his wife, your mother.
So as soon as he kills A.Dussolier, the gosht of her mother disappears, and his wife is back...

[–] zizu33 17 years ago

i dont really buy the "alain imagined everything after the car crash" explanation. the only dream was the mass-lemmings-in-the-kitchen scene. the story is about "spirit possession". i mean, how can benedicte know that alice and alain had sex on the lake? and this knowledge is intimate: she said she dreamt it. there is no psychological angle; the plot is supernatural thru and thru.

also, kudos to constanceb2005, who just reduced all of literature to one play written thousands of years ago in a small island. i'm sure he's caught up on his 19th century literature by now and we're looking forward to the next "explanation" using the words "proletariat" and "bourgeoisie".

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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