I got the impression that maybe Dexter fell asleep in 1988 and had a dream about the next 20+ years being full of waste and sadness -- then he woke up the next day and was inspired to put his relationship with Emma on a more romantic basis from the very start. But then the editing toward the end was kind of murky, wasn't it?
sharein the book no it isn't haven't seen the film yet, not sure I can sit through chesireway's mouth for 2 hours
shareNo, the 20 years were supposed to have happened, they just flashed back to that first day together.
I could be wrong now....but i don't think so!
They make it seem like it was all just a dream and that he's going to step it up to avoid what happens but no, that was actually just a flashback. An awkward, horrible-way-to-end-a-movie flashback. The future was unchanged.
shareI too felt that same way. And maybe it was not a dream but by pretending it was makes me like the movie. Thinking that their future was changed and They got a "Happily Ever After" makes it worth sitting there for 107 min. Otherwise I hated it. I wanted it to be good because Anne has been bashed by the critics but after seeing it am so glad I choose not to read the book.
shareI love the ending actually.
I'm superstitious. Before I start a new movie, I kill a hobo with a hammer-Gwyneth Paltrow
The ending isn't all that bad. It's supposed to show that even though you only saw one day each year in their lives together, they lived so many more... There is more to the story than you saw.
*__*
me too! the ending made it complete. and i think people should read the book too. i read the book then watched the film, i thought "i won't be shocked when she's hit, i'm expecting it" but i gasped and... it was so sudden! i wonder if it works like that for those who've watched the film THEN read the book...
*I wish i could change my username. I was 14 (in 2002) when that email address was made.*
I agree with you, bogie. I think if they had just left it in present day, the movie would have been a bit too maudlin for most. But by flashing back to when they first met, it was like what you said, giving the two characters their "Happily ever after" as if they SHOULD be remembered in that very moment, which makes sense since the movie revolves around the date July 15. I guess as a viewer you can interpret it as a dream, but either way it's met to leave a movie that could be rather depressing on a hopeful note.
shareI didn't think the movie was trying to make us think it was all a dream and that Dex was gonna step it up, to prevent it from really happening at all, nor do I think anyone in the theater I saw it in interpreted it that way. I do think the purpose of flashing back to their first day together was to end the film on a hopeful note, but I believe it was only that- a flash back.
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before! Let your soul take you where you long to be!~POTO
Yea henotto, I think it was a flashblack as well. I just meant that if some people, like the poster, wants to believe Dex dreamt it all that's cool too for them to leave the theater if that's their ideal ending.
shareI do think the purpose of flashing back to their first day together was to end the film on a hopeful note, but I believe it was only that- a flash back.
i like it now more, after reading your post! i'm gonna go with the dream thing. thanks!
shareI just don't think it was, it was a plain old flashback. Nothing points to it being a dream.
sharei like it now more, after reading your post! i'm gonna go with the dream thing. thanks!
In the book at least, no.
The book was about things, even the smallest ones, we done that end up shaping our entire lives. The point of the flashback was to show Dex and Emma almost losing contact but then agreeing to change phone numbers at the last minute. If they hadn't done that, both of their lives would have been completely different (likely they would not have ever met again).
It can't have been a dream.
***spoilers***
At the end he went to the same hill with his daughter who asks if he went there with Emma and does he still miss Emma. He says of course, she was my best friend. That leaves no wiggle room in my mind.
I think it shows that even though we first see them offically just being friends after the hookup didn't work out, in reality they always had the sexual tension and they got interrupted. Plus I loved her speech saying "and I don't want to marry you" etc etc with "no matter what happens tomorrow, we'll have had today". I think that was the point of the flashback.