MovieChat Forums > California Dreamin' (Nesfarsit) (2009) Discussion > The Final Scene (Can someone explain?) (...

The Final Scene (Can someone explain?) (Spoilers)

posted 17 years ago by maxtaxer
21 replies | jump to latest

Can someone explain the final scene to me??

Is it just some tacked on ambiguous scene where we can believe this is the start of Monica & Andrei's relationship, or that having escaped the confines of their village life, they've been introduced to a new world and therefore no longer have much in common but their awkwardness?

also, what does Nesfarsit mean in Romanian? and what was that comment about her peaches? I don't remember them being mentioned in the film.

[–] androushca 17 years ago

that's just it, 'nesfarsit' means unfinished. it's reffering to the fact that the director died before he could finish it. yet on the official site of the movie 'nesfarsit' is translated into english as 'endless'. endless has a different meaning. i'm thinking it's just a bad translation, although not acceptable

[–] upsidown 17 years ago

"nesfarsit" doesn't mean unfinished, it literally means without end.
I don't think the final scene shows the beginning of their relationship (five years later?), on the contrary, it shows that they don't have a relationship, but they're just friends.

[–] Skon 17 years ago

I actually spoke to the writer of the film on this one regarding the ending. He mentioned that although the film is rather complex and has multiple storylines - Monica is the main character in his and the director's eyes when they approached the film. The ending is therefore an ending that most properly fits in with finishing Monica's story as the previous scene seems to sum up Doiaru's and the American's story leaving Monica's unfinished.

Hope that sums that up. It's a brilliant film.

[–] dromasca 17 years ago

Interesting. The way I read the final scene was that it belobgs to a very different period, although it happens only a few years after the rest of the movie. Romania seems to have become a normal country, the two young folks meet casually in a coffee shop, they discuss about studies, they do not mention at all the traumatic events they went through. Is it possible? Can really the heroes, can really Romania forget so fast what happened only a few years ago. Is normality based on forgetting? This was the question that this open final seemed to me to be asking.

[–] snow_blind77 17 years ago

dude.. it's happening in a different town. The final scene takes place in Romania's capital, Bucharest, a sort of "promised-land" for country-side dwellers who want to have a life worth living. The landscape changed, not the country overnight. If you have to analyze it, it's the contrast between the god-forsaken countryside and an modern urban center.

But you're missing the point.

I for one saw the ending a little bit unsatisfying, and now I come to think that it was left unfinished, but I understood the fact that it was a real life ending, in which two people that don't really have anything in common anymore, after a couple of years in witch they matured, can have an awkward discussion upon reuniting, when there could definitely be so much more. That's how it happens in real life.

[–] demens-1 17 years ago

My take on the ending is that it was the end of thier relationship, not the start. Kind of like she broke up with her boyfriend at the start of the movie cause she realized thats not what she wanted, she does at the end. maybe after the tragic events at the end she took comfort in that shy guy, but again realized thats not what she wants a few years later.

you can take this unfinished approach as far as you want, its just my idea. but i defenately dont see the movie ending with the 2 of them falling in love, or being in love.

[–] horacio 16 years ago

Someting I noticed (or at least I think I remember now, since I saw this wonderful movie many months ago) is the fact that Monica orders tea and Andrei is drinking a coke. Could've been just by chance but I like to believe there's a message in this: like Andrei going along with the changes and Monica trying to get more in touch with her roots.

[–] mladenilic 16 years ago

Someting I noticed (or at least I think I remember now, since I saw this wonderful movie many months ago) is the fact that Monica orders tea and Andrei is drinking a coke. Could've been just by chance but I like to believe there's a message in this: like Andrei going along with the changes and Monica trying to get more in touch with her roots.

I cannot believe my eyes?!?
Have you been using drugs lately?

[–] horacio 16 years ago

Well... I decided to ignore your remark. No point in entering in that type of discussion.

Instead I decided to watch the last scene again.

And if you have the chance you'll see that the last frame is a view of the table with a cup of tea and a coke, both Andrei and Monica gone, camera slowly zooming out. The same Monica that before used to dance american songs, people, culture, "why are they teaching us useless spanish instead of english?",etc. And what more "american" than a coke?. I like to think that the experiences she went through, changed her in a way that makes now reject those icons.
Anyway it's just my opinion and what I felt.

Horacio: argentinian in Canada. For me an espresso, waiter...

[–] mirceade 16 years ago

Seriously dude, any drugs lately? You are over analysing.

[–] chibilute 16 years ago

Such a silly remark.

I agree with the tea and coke thing being important. It's not just a throwaway action with throwaway dialogue. I take it more as Monica finally accepting her Dad, and her rejection of the American way just like he did.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] bottomfeeder-1 16 years ago

The way I saw it, Monica exits the scene still waiting for the Americans, just like her father and his generation. 'California Dreamin' so to speak. America and Americans represent some mythical promise that will set things right, cure all ills, etc. Even though they continue to diappoint, disappearing at the very moment they promised to be there and leaving chaos in their wake, the waiting itself is like a drug addiction that can't be put down. That's why the Mamas and the Papas single is such a brilliant finale.

[–] mac_alain 14 years ago

The way I saw it, Monica exits the scene still waiting for the Americans, just like her father and his generation.

Can't say that that is how I saw it. She is just getting on with her life in Romania, which is not to say that she may not be "travelling" in years to come.

[–] mac_alain 14 years ago

Thanks for that helpful information, Skon

A VERY good film, this

[–] d-dmytro 16 years ago

Excuse me, what is the name of the band and the song after the scene? Urgently needed.

[–] LudwA 16 years ago

d-dmytro: that's California Dreamin' (!) by The Mamas & The Papas

(remember he teached her the lyrics)

i thought this epilogue was there because it sets the mood for the song. If this song would play after the soldiers left, it would sound weird. Now we see the 2 "dreamin'" characters and it seems they've done well. They left their sloppy hometown and entered a new life. Or something.

[–] mirceade 16 years ago

As for the peaches... it's just an expression meaning "how do you do" or something along the lines...
- How are my peaches doing today?
- Well, you know, peaching around...

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] lawhit-1 13 years ago

Terrific movie, I agree, it was let down totally by this last scene.

[–] 13 years ago

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