The end?
Could somebody please explain the end to me? It kinda didn't make sense to me.
shareI didn't get it either. But little in the film seemed like a coherent plot, so...
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MovieChat Forums > The Cry of the Owl (2009) Discussion > The end?
He started to pick up the knife and an owl startled him and he jerked his arm back. Because of that, his fingerprints are not on the murder weapon. In the movie it says owls are a sign of death. Maybe he was going to kill himself and the owl jolted him back to reality.
Native Americans believe owls are messengers. I don't know who came up with the death symbol theory.
In my opinion, the movie ended prematurely, I like closure and wanted to know how the police were going to look at all of this. It's almost as though they had a couple of endings in mind and then said, 'Screw it. Let's not have an ending and call it art.
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this movie really sucks
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you wonder why moviemakers choose such dreary,dismal locales .... meaning Ontario or anyplace in Canada for that matter.Certainly,the tax breaks.I had a very forgettable mini role in a Toronto film...it lasted for 38 days in spring summer and eveyday was totally cloudy.....geesh.
How can he be screwed if he never touched the knife? If anything, the owl saved his life by not getting convicted of murder and setenced to death row. Having his wife's blood on his hand didn't mean he killed her. It meant he tried to save her life. I thought the acting was really good in this movie.
shareI figure the cops might not believe him, no matter how he tried to explain his ex-wife's stab wound. And the other dude (I thought) was just knocked out, not dead? Still, how could he explain it to the cops, except for the fact that they followed him there seemingly to kill him?
It is an odd movie. I wondered why Julia Stiles killer herself also? Hmmm...
"Now, I know I'm pretty, but I ain't as pretty as a coupla titties!"
I always thought owls were supposed to be peaceful - when they cooed... Maybe screech owls are a symbol of death?
I would have really liked the movie to continue with a few more clues for an ending.
Did his wife cut her neck on the cupboard door that Jenny did not want fixed?
Did his wife cut her neck on the cupboard door that Jenny did not want fixed?
No, it was actually Greg -- Jenny's ex-boyfriend -- who fell on that broken cupboard door, broke it off, and then fell to the floor. The ex-wife's wound on her neck clearly looked like a stab wound from the knife.
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"I... don't... see... any... method... at... all... sir." share
He reached for the knife, was startled by the owl, and then he saw his reflection in the kitchen window. He stares at himself because he "doesn't recognize himself" in the reflection, the way he described to Jenny earlier in the movie. (Either it was his worst fear, or a recurring nightmare, or something to that effect.)
I guess it was supposed to be a dramatic moment, but it didn't quite have the desired effect, I think.
Yea, he stated earlier that he would look at himself and not recognize his own reflection, but I also thought that the Owl was Jenny in the spiritual world warning him to not pick up the knife.(Just a guess) That would give her death some meaning after all the selfish bastards in the movie. Her death sucked....really really sucked..... Loved the movie.
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Wow the original post was a whole year ago!
Anyways, you all guys seem to be missing the point. What fingerprints are you talking about?! When he heard the owl he just made a realization that he IS cursed/ or he brings death, etc. And everyone around him will eventually die. That is why Julia Stiles was attracted to him. She knew this (because of her past experience) and wanted him to kill her/ or cause her dead. When this didn't happen she killed herself.
He was a pretty interesting character though, the movie had some potential but the many unnecessary twists kinda ruined it.
Well, we may or may not be missing the point. But the idea that a guy is inevitably going to kill all that is around him is a stretch considering he's made it into his 30's without this happening.
The movie was good. But the ending just plain sucked. It did, and there's no arguing that. And since the ending is always a culmination of the events of any movie; this also means that because of the *beep* ending the entire movie now sucked.
I agree with the person who said that the director may have had one or two ideas on how to end it, but apparently just said *beep* it..and called it "art". Extremely annoying to the viewer.
I kind of feel like the main character and I have something in common. Maybe it is because I am a depressed office worker myself. But I liked the ending. He felt that all those people were dead because of him, and for a moment he wanted to follow them across. But he was saved by the owl, which was like a sign from someone who loved him still, from beyond the grave. It's quite romantic in my opinion, and quite artistic as well.
shareI think you're all missing the point.
First and foremost you need to recognize the intentional use of symbolism at the ending, and tragic irony throughout. He's come full circle, from the depressed man looking in the window at happiness in the beginning, to now being the one looking out the window and realizing happiness is subjective (he'd probably give anything to go back to when he was watching her, because from his current viewpoint he was much happier then). And perhaps it's intended to also reveal that Jenny wasn't the happy person he believed her to be. The owl, the knife, the dead wife, the assumed guilt, the subsequent vindication, the chance of assumed guilt again, even the crossroads sequences and the matter of choices --all of these things were used like mobius strips, turned in on themselves and ultimately coming full circle to form the parable.
Now, was this necessarily a good, positive parable that teaches us anything constructive? Mmmmmm, maybe. A little bit. But, I'm rather of the opinion that the author was more intent on simply telling a tragically ironic suspense story, and used those techniques as an afterthought to make the story appear clever.
I also don't think he was picking up the knife at the end to off himself. It really doesn't fit the character, who, despite his obvious flaws, was ultimately seen to be a pretty decent, moral guy, and who believed himself to be a coward. He'd rather suffer so that someone else could be happy, which is one of the things that allowed me to enjoy this film (I loathe movies where the protagonist is someone you can't like or respect). Anyway, I really can't see any reason for him wanting to consciously pick up the knife other than it being used as an out-of-character plot device for the sake of injecting the Owl symbolism at that moment (proving the Owl was now signifying Life by "saving" him --yep, there's that circle again).
So now, once the aftermath is complete, he'll ultimately be free to start over, make a new life, and appreciate the things and people in his life that he'll eventually have again. Jenny's death, however misguided, ultimately set in motion events that freed him to live, and be happy. Not my particular cup of tea, but I can see how the author was trying to be poetic.
I agree with you to an extent but I believe the owl is waking up , through out the film everyone makes references to him sleeping with his eyes open as if he is going through life just going through the motions and not living. I believe he makes a reference to to this but I cant remember, it's been a while since i watched it.
Anyway when the owl cries it wakes him up and when he looks through the window he then realizes he has destroyed this life and he represents death just like the owl. It really is an ending that is very subjective but thats my views.
In the end, the owl catches his attention. Now he sees what the owl, who is always there, watching and motionless, saw. Jenny was never happy--she was functional, cooking and going thru the motions, but hardly alive. Now Robert stands in the window displaying the truth about her life, which was a life awaiting death. He sees what he destroyed his own life for.
shareI thought that the way the protagonist sleeps with his eyes half open was supposed to associate him with owls throug thier nocturnal way of life. It seemed that he reached for the knife then stopped himself. The flapping sound may represent this moment and be an internal thing, rather that it actually happening and distracting him. I don't know yet.
"This sounds like a dialogue from our script!"
Jenny in spirit warning Robert not to pick up the knife -- now she is watching over him? he's in the house now, and she's outside, role reversal?
and i do agree with some of the statement above. Especially the full circle remark.
Edit:
Westby, i missed your remarks. I am of the same mind.
Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...share
Tapestries, total bummer analysis, but it at least makes sense. (She talked about everything leading to death.) Hardly a basis for a film, though.
Like & agree with Kurgon's take completely (nicely done mon) , thru all the developements that lead us in circle back to him standing right where she stood in the window at movies opening scenes, his watching her "happiness" from the wood . The cry of the owl that catches/ startles him at the end (awaken) could be taken as her spirit watching over him as her tender caring he "find his way back" to wholeness & realness someday . What we don't know then is her tragic state of mind and he almost gets the chance to save her but the evil forces at play conspire against both of them .
We're drawn at first to look upon him as a lost , weird, unstable & perhaps even dangerous fellow , we slowly find that he was a just decent fellow struggling @ work and past toxic relationship then plot finds him even more inextricably caught up in this vicious web of malevolence by his ex-wife & Jenny's ex-boyfriend's plot & dual mission to destroy him. How his ex-wife gets together with Jenny's Ex-boyfriend elludes me and missed how they originally connect to plot together & their plan to have him hide out is just so weak as he would be found or turn up eventually. No matter , its art imitating life , people are that stupid often in crimes of hate & passion bent on revenge .
How convenient just after the fight on the bridge this corpse is discovered , thought to be Jenny's ex-boyfriend which casts our protagonist in a tremolous position of murder , yet the police couldn't identify this corpse for lack of dental records is a bit weak since didn't he live in town as well as his father we see later ? A comb or hairbrush with hair strands or at least a parental DNA sample could have been taken & compaired but no matter , moving on. Its the country & these were not very sophisticated local cops . ( usual for cops )
Think they did run out of money for the film & left us with that "image" of their reversed positions of him & with Jenny now gone, but hauntingly still aids him . The ending so tragic s he stands there in the midst of realization as he is saved from destruction of more murder charges had he picked up the knife (perhaps) , it is our sad realization that Jenny does save him from his own dispair & disconnect but h couldn't overcome these forces to save her .
There are people that will conspire to undo you & there are people we take to be happy & whole who are only projecting this & together it makes for a world where we all are tenuosly ballanced between such combinations of forces that can undo us . Also it is our own tendency to live mislead & inauthentic lives always lost in the romantic interpretations & misperceptions that undo us too. Nature herself is no less cruel on a day by day basis , ask any mouse that runs across the Owl's gaze in a forest ...or in a coprporate office setting which is no different
He's left with his present freedom to possibly go on from there but so sad & so tragic that Jenny could not be saved (as life is ) ...as Jenny's focus was near death/suicide her question lingers .... will come a time (whether in prison or no) we all will hear our last song , read our last book ....be given/take our last meal . The question remains do we come to terms with all this in our journeys and will we be free to choose which & which ...when that time comes . But just look at these cross currents of jealousy ,hate , rivalry, loneliness , obsession & revenge which is just humans mirroring cruel nature from which they come which violence & death & tragedy is always present in the world. No wonder the Greeks were so taken & loved to see the performances of "the Tragedies" , for we are all "locked up" in endless struggle with the Fate & Forces of the world that conspire to crush us.
( & almost always succede )
(Thinking now of that marvelous song by Louis Armstrong "We Have All the Time in the World " ...there should be more movies with his music attached in the fabric , he was such a great one !)
Wow, you're a griever.
There is no fate or forces conspiring to crush you. Your fate is in your own hands. I hope this helps.
The-kurgan. all is wrong .YOU are absolutely right my friend. thx for the break down! He ironically turned out to be the most moral,decent character in this movie..but the whole time he was looked at as the crazy,dark man. SMH life is like that
shareKurgan, you're analysis is initially intriguing, but you go from saying he's less happy than when he began, to saying he's now free to be happy again. Doesn't really add up.
I don't see ANY possible constructive parable from this.
The two reasons for picking up the knife -- he wants to incriminate himself, b/c he sees himself as a jinx, or he wants to kill himself. No other reason that I can see, and it would pretty much have to be one or the other.
If this is a poem, it appears to be a meaningless one, as the author and/or director didn't include enough info to provide a point.
Agreed in large part. I frankly liked the ending because it showed a maturity that lacks in most Hollywood movies, which almost always need to explain and tie up everything at the end. I think there is some spillover from Spanish and Korean horror directors, of all people, and their willingness to let the inexplicable remain just that.
shareIt's possible that others died around him previously. But the movie fails to address this, just as it fails to address many other points. And thus it fails miserably, as noted.
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Just because death happened to be around him does not necessarily mean that he brought it with him - it seemed to be just a matter of circumstances (jeolous boyfriend, psycho-but-very-very-pretty ex-wife, etc).
Then somehow Julia Stiles posessed the owl to keep him from getting his prints on the knife so he doesn't have to go to prison (something she could not have done for Heath Ledger b/c she was alive at the time he embarked on his equestrian misadventure and could therefore posess no owls).
Heath Ledger?
shareit didnt make sense because this movie sucks.
shareOP, either they ran out of money/time to make a decent ending, or the director blows. Very dissapointing ending to a pretty good start.
shareI don't see how it's a terrible ending.
His ex-wife mentioned earlier that he was essentially poisoning everyone around him and that you need to cut people like that out of your life.
-Opinion-
He is staring into his own reflection and he obviously doesn't recognize himself anymore. The final shot shows the same view which he enjoyed while spying on the "happy couple" which now contains the exact opposite. Lastly, the owl (death) and the song (the last one he'd listen to before dying) signifies him killing himself.
When Jenny asked him if he was on death row,what would be his last meal...he said Chinese. Earlier that night, before he went to her house and his ex was killed, he ate Chinese.
shareEverything was symbolic. it was not meant for him to die in flesh..but death symmbolizes new beginnings. thats what he needed. to start over..tobecome a new man. the old man he was has died. symbolically of course. get it people.
this movie was awesome! didn't run out of money.you people must have run out of brain cells. bravo!!
With all due respect, the ending was hardly reflective of someone experiencing a rebirth. It was all about death, real and symbolic.
If that was their intention, they did a terrible job conveying it.
Good point about the Chinese. Maybe this will all add up to something.
sharefuccon -- his ex-wife actually only said that he was poison for her. Different thing.
And that's not his last song, it's Julia Stiles.
Maybe, death followed this guy. The owl can repersent death in some cultures. Just like the girl said, he reminded her of a man who made her think of death. She killed herself. Also, anyone close to the guy died except for him. Did he realize this in the end and was going to kill himself and the wise old owl stoppped him?
Thanks,
The director certainly didn't 'run out of money' the ending is completely faithful to Patricia Highsmith's (Talented Mr Ripley et al) book. The ending is left deliberately ambiguous to compliment the moral character of the protagonist.
Note, the camera slowly zooms out from the kitchen window as though you the viewer had become the voyer or the 'onlooker', very much in the same way he looked upon the girl at the start of the film. Instead of the perceived bliss, he witnessed, we the viewer are left to make our minds up as to the fate based upon the actions and the decisions we had witnessed during the movie.
Judging by the debate on these boards, the rouse obviously worked. There is some really good interpretations (sprinkled with casual trolling). Personally, I loved the film.
It was a breath of fresh compared to the usual A to Z 'Thrillers' that are normally served-up.
In other words, Patricia Highsmith ran out of energy/motivation when writing her book, and failed to include an ending. Not much better.
(I'm tired of creative laziness masquerading as an artistic rouse.)
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I believe they all had to die for him to live. He was surrounded by evil and sometimes death symbolizes new beginnings. pehaps he was not cursed just a target for those who prey on the weak.
shareNobody has posted it yet, but I kind thought the end went for the philosophical subtext in the movie for things happen for a reason.
Although the lead character Robert did not believe it and called it 'Bullshi$', This question IS a major philosophical one in a persons life, are things that happen just random, or is their some hidden meaning in events of a persons life that humans cannot see?
Obviously the more religious you are you tend to belive the latter, and those who think we are just random particles bumping into each other tend not to be as religious.
The fact that the bird at the end startled Robert just seconds from making a horrible mistake makes the viewer think that things do happen for a reason.
While quite on the level of the movie 'Signs' I gave this movie a 8