Okay, overall I think it was a very solid film.
But maybe I'm an idiot, but I didn't get the point of the last scene...
this is when he asks, "When did I last see my father?" and it ends with him and his father putting up the chandalier. What was the significance of ending it with this scene? Was it a purely symbolic ending?
Good question, and you’re not an idiot!
I think that when a father dies (and mine did about 5 years ago), one is left with heaps of memories and, in most cases, some regrets about lost opportunities of connection on a deeper emotional level. So the line “when did you last see your father” resonates for me with the word “see” as on "seeing the real person behind all the petty hassles and power struggles a man has with his father” and also in the sense of actually spending time with one’s dad (when I got into my 30’s 40’s and 50’s I didn’t go home much and years went by with only a phone call or a letter or two between us).
In a sense, yes, the ending was symbolic of the over-all feeling of that particular father-son relationship. The way the dad says something like “well that’s done, what’s next,” and snaps off the light, is characteristic of his way of dealing with issues (among other things, the dad was a control freak), and was a source of great pain to the son who wanted to have HIS feelings acknowledged and never quite got that from his dad.
I thought it was a very English kind of an ending (and I mean that in the best way.) English culture tends to be less emotive, more "that's that" than American culture, where the father might have launched into a discussion with his son about why he didn't want to hang the lamp just now, or else put it back in the box and just gone off to do something else.
The last time he "saw" his father was in the task of putting up the chandelier. It was an instance in which his father showed his take charge, let's get it done kind of attitude, and Colin Firth's character both loved and hated that. His father's comment, "Well, that's done, what's next?" was absolutely in character.
If you can remember the begining of the movie, it shows Colins dad getting ready to hang up a chandelier as Colin watches on. His Dad gets a bit dizzy an falls back against the wall and tells Colin he will be ok in a minute, Then the next scene you see Colin being told his dadhas cancer. So the Chandelier scene at the end is showing the Last time Colin saw his father before he became sick.
Fighting online is like fighting with a retard, Even if you win you lose....
That is a brilliant explanation of this movie. I'm glad there is at least someone else who
had some of the same thoughts I had when I saw this movie.
This movie really blew me away with its nakedness and honesty. It is one of the best
movies of its kind I have ever seen, masterfully written, directed and acted.
The subject is incredibly complicated and convoluted and for this movie to be
able to get at all the thing that it did was very impressive.
The last scene put the whole movie into perspective ... when did he last encounter
his father? When he had the moment with his Dad hanging the chandelier was his
last real moment. Though they were together at his deathbed, nothing really happened.
This movie blew me away, it was incredible powerful and complex.
I just watched this movie and was quite impressed by all the actors performances.
I thought the ending made two points, firstly, it was the last thing they did together before his father fell ill and secondly, that the father never said,'Well done' or anything congratulatory of a job well done, which was typical of his father. He just said, 'right, what's next?' and then switches off the light.
I think movies are typically written, produced and directed by fathers, so think these kind of movies end up being at least a little bit "fathering apology" movies, or excusing how awful the typical fathers are in the world. I'd like to see a more deep look at fathers than this typical all fathers are terrible, live with it, or appreciate them they are misunderstood or that is just the way they are type of thing.
share...then maybe you should stick to watching disney films that you can "get".
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