MovieChat Forums > Le petit lieutenant (2005) Discussion > The ending of the movie *spoiler alert*

The ending of the movie *spoiler alert*


What do you think of the ending? Especially the fate of the little liuetenant?

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[deleted]

Cheers, pkelly-3. I thought there'd be more movie experts here. ;)

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Just in case you do look again, Jerry, I liked the ending. I thought since their theme was loss the filmmakers had little choice but to lose the lieutenant. I thought the whole thing was very well done, including the walk on the beach at the very end. I have one tiny complaint, as a sober alcoholic, they translated the serenity prayer (said at all A.A. meetings) wrong, if only slightly. Cheers.

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Thanks for that, buff-29. I was taken aback on how the movie ended. As I saw the movie, there were just 3 French and me in the cinema. We all thought they'd just catch the crook and that would be the end of the movie. The death of the main character came as a shock to me. But I guess you're might be right. How did you know loss was the theme? All in all a good movie though. It achieved a dramatic end without too much action, shooting, car case scenes etc. It was very human.

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Just saw it at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Unfortunately I disliked the ending.. well, actually more than ending, the last third at least. The first part is terrific, very engaging and keeps you guessing what is going to happen. After they kill off what we thought was the main character, I found myself not caring. It was so obvious what was going to happen when he went up to the room alone, I felt let down by the filmmaker and really didn't care. From then on, it was just a matter of things running their course. You know as soon as she sits down at the bar that she's going to fall off the wagon. If it had been a Hollywood movie, probably the lieutenant would recover, but it all ends the same in any case. The bad guy gets chased down and shot.

On another note, I really like the actor playing the Inspector. I read that it was originally written as a male character. I wonder how that would have changed the film?

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Did you dislike it because it was a bad ending, i.e. the main character died, amazing?

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the one thing that did bother me about the end was that they tipped off his death by making her quasi-mystical in the Russian church scene. i thought that was a bit over the top. otherwise, i quite liked it.

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Sorry, remind me again what happened at the church, please?

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making her quasi-mystical in the Russian church scene
She was reacting to the very real screams of babies, which to my mind reminded her of her own screams after her son's death. It wasn't mystical at all.
I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl

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I found most of the film lacking in interest until the end, when I realized that it could be considered an allegory for France today: an older generation, having suffered a terrible loss, deals with it badly, and makes the young pay for their mistakes. The end is about guilt. Foreigners in France aren't the problem. Collaboration, Algeria, Indochina, Le Pen, and an inability to change are.

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Wow, that is a deep comment on dealing with terrible loss.

But for France the original terrible loss starts far longer ago than anything you mention - namely losing the war in 1871, the Commune and the resulting destruction of Paris and the political aftermath of secular politics vs confessional politics. But the greatest loss of all was the horrendous bloodletting of the Great War in 1914-1918 and then moving on to defeat again in a third Franco-German war.

But none of this has much to do with the movie I'd say. What I saw was a sort of everyday life going on in Paris in a typical French manner. No constant drama regarding crime and police work, but the ordinary drudgery of day-to-day work carried on as competently as possible without having a posse of heroes and loners running all over the place.

I've seen the movie many times and each time I'm struck with how true and correct the actors portray their characters. For instance whenever anyone singularly or in group meets with someone else or another group, everyone shakes hands or kisses. Maybe time consuming if you're an action hero, but still real life stuff in France. That is how things are done.

And the portrayal of Paris as a city itself is nicely done. No silly romanticism though upon first arrival the lieutenant seems very fulfilled to be there as he gazes out over the city. Then it's a portrayal of everyday life, as in almost any large French city, each with their own neighborhoods and distinguished characteristics.

The characters in the judicial system are also realistically shown. There is no crusading prosecutor, no functionaries with political ambitions looking for the mayor's slot. Just competent people doing their and enjoying perks whenever they present themselves - a trip to the Macon for instance.

Interesting was also the extended usage of English words and terms throughout the movie, just as in real life nowadays in France: je suis underage, c'est un serial killer, faut pas avoir du stress, no comment, arreter des blacks ... etc. That was a very good touch I found.

And while there was no particular emphasis on violence and action, the end scene with the raid on the hotel by the Nice BRI shows a professionalism and measured, but correct application of force to apprehend the murderer.

I also wondered to what degree the shooting of the street scenes were directed and put together. It seems like many scenes were simply shot in public without passers-by really being all that aware a movie was being shot. Or at the least, none of the crowd scenes were carefully staged. So they all appeared very true to life.

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