MovieChat Forums > The Dead Girl (2007) Discussion > Krista's last few moments on screen

Krista's last few moments on screen

posted 16 years ago by EmpireRecrDs1020
41 replies | jump to latest

I just watched the film for the second time and I was wondering if anyone else picked up on this...

At the end of the film, Krista is talking about how she was worried her daughter would come out looking like her father, she says, "but she didn't. She looked just like me. Only prettier."

The sound drops out, but she continues speaking. She looks out the window and the camera speed slows down. She suddenly gets this look on her face like she knows something's not right. She keeps talking and smiling, but it looks *strained* to me. Like she's doing it because it's the only thing she *can* do. And then she looks over at her killer.

I've rewound that scene and watched it about 4 times now, and I keep coming back to the same conclusion: that Krista had some sort of realization in those last few moments of the film. Maybe not that she was going to be dead soon, but that something was very wrong.

I wonder if Brittany Murphy intentionally played it like that. The director made no mention of it, though. But I guess that's a questions for James Lipton and "Inside the Actor's Studio."

Just wondered if anyone else had thought the same thing.

[–] sincbabe 16 years ago

Yes, I saw it exactly as you did.

[–] izzys_bleu_image 16 years ago

I just watched it (first time seeing the film, and I caught it halfway through on the Sundance channel), and at the time I didn't notice, but now that you mention it I do beleive that I did see it. If it was indeed done on purpose I think it was beautifuly done, unlike so much of the hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-sand-pipe action you see so much of today. Kudos to all involved in making the scene.

[–] LaraCroftLegacy 16 years ago

I also watch deadgirl halfway through and Krista last monment on earth it does look like knew she gotten in the wrong car

DarkAlessa now the end of day and Iam the Reaper:silent hill

[–] Hezzer_Wezzer 16 years ago

I watched it yesterday and thought the same thing.

She had this look like she knew that something was wrong but was trying to hide it . . . like by hoping everything would be okay would make it okay.

[–] Dashkatt 16 years ago

No doubt about it. Krista knew this was the end. I wondered if anyone else made that same interpretation. I tried lip reading, but could never quite make out exactly what she was saying. But it was the visual that told the story.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this film, (enjoyed as in appreciated), I felt I had just been through a one hour and thirty four minute train wreck.

[–] rettop21 16 years ago

i noticed that too.

[–] ali__ 16 years ago

she also turned her head very strange to the driver in the last seconds

[–] slk052581 16 years ago

ys know I just saw it for the 2nd time tonight and I did not really pay it mind the first time it was on for backround noise but I did catch the last 10 min then I was hooked and wanted to see the whole thing. Awsome moving, acting, everything!

Life without me would be even more unbearable.

[–] puff1079 16 years ago

She had the same smile she was talking about when she pretended to be happy with the gifts her mother gave her even though they were not the presents she asked for. This is a great movie.

[–] dgar1948 16 years ago

I've watched this movie twice cause I missed the ending the first time. I believe she sensed that she may have just hitched her last ride right from the start when she got into the car and looked at the guy. She saw something she didn't like no doubt. She sensed danger and I believe that's why she asked the killer if there was a FED-X open and he told her that there probably was but it would probably be closed. She wouldn't part with the stuffed toy before. She was hoping for a chance to get away. Then he tells her he'll take her to where she wants to go and she gets excited but she holds back from kissing him on the cheek like she did the other guy. I think she wanted to but by then I think she knew the game was up. That last shot of her face pretty much tells it all. She was a goner and I think she knew it. A sad movie really.

[–] lolawants 16 years ago

I think you're reading a LITTLE too much into some things... I don't think she felt in danger up until the very end of the scene- she's too caught up in talking about her daugher. She kisses the other guy because he's almost like her boyfriend- she KNOWS him. At no point do I see her thinking about kissing this guy for saying he'll take her to Norwalk. Plus, she's lived a hard life, and personally I don't think she would hesitate to make a commotion to get out of the car the SECOND she felt funny... meaning, I don't think she would make up something about fed-ex only because she was scared.

I do think she started to question her safety there in that final shot of her though.

[–] Xeokym 14 years ago

I think you're reading a LITTLE too much into some things... I don't think she felt in danger up until the very end of the scene- she's too caught up in talking about her daugher. She kisses the other guy because he's almost like her boyfriend- she KNOWS him. At no point do I see her thinking about kissing this guy for saying he'll take her to Norwalk. Plus, she's lived a hard life, and personally I don't think she would hesitate to make a commotion to get out of the car the SECOND she felt funny... meaning, I don't think she would make up something about fed-ex only because she was scared.

I do think she started to question her safety there in that final shot of her though.

I absolutely agree, I think people are reading way too much into this whole "last moments" thing. She likely DID feel something might not be right, but I don't think down to the millisecond she (the actor) was planning that "last look," particularly because Murphy didn't know exactly where they were going to cut the scene at, or how they'd finally edit the film. So how could she have possibly known to the fraction of a second where to make a perfect look of partial realization or "semi fear?" That'd be literally impossible. Plus, like lolawants said, she kisses Josh Brolin's character because they're almost like boyfriend and girlfriend, at least as far as the behavior between johns & prostitutes are concerned. Yes, he WAS still paying, but she considered him more than just a john, and by the necklace he gave her ("Taken"), so did he. And like lolawants pointed out, I agree that she was used to a hard life and getting punched & kicked around, manhandled - look at how she beat the crap out of the guy who beat up her roommate - she knew how to take care of herself and if she had thought for a second that she was in trouble, she would have grabbed the wheel, flung open the car door, start beating on the guy to make a commotion and slow the car down so she could get away, etc. But she was so wrapped-up in talking about her daughter she didn't even see it coming. Maybe if he had been a regular john picking her up for a "date," she would not have been so chatty and off-guard, but THIS time, she was just hitch-hiking, not expecting to "service" the guy, so she felt a little more at ease, let down her guard, and prattled on about her daughter. It was to this end that came about her own ending. That's not to say that once she was attacked she didn't fight for her life; she obviously scratched the guy. But that still doesn't mean that she saw it coming. She could be taken completely off-guard yet still put up a hell of a fight before succumbing.

"Questions are a danger to you, and a burden to others." -Mr. Krabs

[–] kered4892 16 years ago

ya i notice that too.
so many people are saying that it has an "unfinished" ending, when there really is an ending, krista realizing something was very wrong

[–] mamaspank 16 years ago

Unfinished ending? All this movie is about is the ending. Those people sound like they were watching a different film or just wanted to see something gruesome. I think it would have ruined the eerie tone that this film had going for it. It was a wonderfully acted film. I loved the fact that all the stars were women. I thought Josh Brolin was great too.

[–] Mirabella29 16 years ago

I saw that, too. I thought that was the saddest moment.

[–] Big_Bad_Wolf3456 16 years ago

Yeah, actually.

[–] slayingsavagegiants 16 years ago

I thought the ending was perfect, and Brittany Murphy really acted it wonderfully. That's what I noticed too, at the last second, she realized something was wrong.

*Your body is the most amazing tool.. Use it. Amuse it. Because one day, You're gonna lose it.*

[–] DivaJ75 16 years ago

I only saw the last twenty minutes, is her killer caught earlier in the film?

"Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another."

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Mystery_Machine 15 years ago

Harmony-

Krista DID fight.

In The Wife chapter, the murderer comes home the night after murdering Krista.

He returns home with scratches on his neck. Scratches that his wife calls him on.

The Wife then eyes him carrying a black trash bag to the storage unit.The Wife then finds the pink quilted jacket Krista was wearing laying out on the floor over the black trash bag.

[–] JerichaG 15 years ago

i didnt catch the whole movie but i saw the wife part and the mother part and some of the one with james franco. But it all came together in the end. great movie I want to see the beginning.

3.6.09 :]
psn id = pmg526