MovieChat Forums > Tsumetai nettaigyo (2011) Discussion > The daughter at the end (Spoilers)

The daughter at the end (Spoilers)

posted 13 years ago by movie_music_fiend90
16 replies | jump to latest

What was up with her kicking her father and telling him to "get up"? I loved the film, but this kind of messed with my brain. She says she wants to live when her father asks her, she tells him to get up after he kills himself while laughing. Has she known all along her father wasnt happy and wants him to suffer forever? She seemed like a strong individual during the film and Murata proves this with his speech to Shamoto, i just need some other interpretations on why she acts the way she does at the end of the film. Thanks.

[–] lewisherschell 13 years ago

I've just finished watching the film, and I have to say that I thought Shamoto's daughter was little more than a selfish, spoilt brat who was resentful of both her stepmother *and* her father. Her treatment of her dying father in the final scene confirmed this for me. Like Shamoto was positioned as a child in his relationship with Murata, normalised into a life of violence, Shamoto's daughter seems to see anti-social/cruel behaviour as 'normal'.

'What does it matter what you say about people?'
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958).

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TheLoveBandit 9 years ago

I'd agree the daughter is a self absorbed brat with a slanted view on 'normal'. Perhaps it was acting out to get his attention, but it may be more of a statement on Japanese culture and the mindset of a generation that I, as an American, cannot fully grasp.

I watched the daughter in the final scene as someone who does not view reality with a clear lense, and while I'll agree with other replies below that the father transitioning from timid to rapist/killer was somewhat influential on the daughter, I'll take the daughter as her own person and not a reflection of the father. She was simply self absorbed, IMO, and still waiting for her father to give her the life she wanted and expected from him - one without the step-mom (Check) but where he could give her the life she wanted (Um, no...you're on your own for that one, but here's a final lesson from dad - life is pain). Not exactly what she was wanting from him. 'Get Up' and do it right.

[–] biblio_la 13 years ago

I thought she kept saying "get up" to make sure he was actually dead.

[–] zukkini7 12 years ago

nuance is a bit different compared to English. It was just bad translation.

[–] movie_music_fiend90 12 years ago

I hear the third window films company has a great translation of this film and i was definitely thinking of getting it because i have the Bloody Selects edition and can tell something was missing in the translation or it just didnt make sense at all. I still loved the film (it has become one of my faves) so i will probably get that version to understand it just a little better than before.

[–] bmennen 12 years ago

Yes...good question.

For me, it seemed that her anger at dad for marrying so soon after her mom's death was the unforgivable act. She felt that he did not mourn properly for his wife/her mother, and her stepmother did not have the necessities to step into this position, compounding the problem.

Also, punching the crap out of her and raping the wife in front of her just added to her gut-felt anger toward dear old dad.

[–] nighthawkiller-1 12 years ago

Well, i gues the daughter's reaction if not to be "rationalize", due to the events. As the director said somewhere, he wanted to show "complete hoplessness". With this evil and crazy laugh of the daughter, we actually touch the bottom pf things.

Really liked that movie. Low budget but great cinematography and directing by the way.

[–] Kawada_Kira 10 years ago

It's interesting how this movie started out so well as such a great psychological thriller but it just totally fell apart near the end, starting when Shamoto snapped. It just wasn't handled very well. Then the last scene with Taeko and finally Mitsuko at the shack, that's when the movie just crashed. The end was downright ridiculous and cartoonish, really did a disservice to the rest of the film, which had the potential to be great.

"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."
- Voltaire

[–] jcarpenter-1 10 years ago

Interesting about the translation. In the version I saw Murata kept saying he was making people invisible and I was wondering if the actual translation was disappear?

[–] TheLoveBandit 9 years ago

There was a link provided in another thread that was for the wiki of the real life event. In there they also translated it to invisible. I believe that is correct, not disappear.

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 9 years ago

She was consistently shown as hating her father. In the final scene she was, in my interpretation, mocking his corpse rather than actually wanting him to get up/check if he was still alive.

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[–] chilone 9 years ago

I took it as, when she saw that he was actually dead, reality was sinking in and she realized that her FATHER was dead and she was on her own. I took it as a plea for him to not really be dead and to "get up". I think she actually did love him, down deep.

I don't love her.. She kicked me in the face!!

[–] FlorianLaur 7 years ago

@chilone:

It really doesn't look that way. She's laughing and seems to be mocking him. Throughout the entire movie, she talks bad about her dad and doesn't show him the least bit of respect(even in death). I don't quite get the message of that however.

I wouldn't say that it has to do with a lack of respect for her parents. I have quite a few Asian friends(I used to live there) and I can't think of anyone who downright hates their parents. Even if they treat you like garbage or a leper, they still feel love or respect or sadness why their beloved parents won't give them a proper treatment. I'd say Western kids are far more careless with their families(think of Belgium where many kids started SUING their own parents).

[–] Der_Schnibbler 9 years ago

She's just a selfish, useless waste of life. This is common in Asian societies, where children are spoiled beyond belief and grow up with absolutely zero consequences for their actions and limits on their behaviour are non-existent. Too bad she didn't get what was coming to her too.

As far as the "get up," I know it sounds non-sensical. But so it being beaten while you just lie around passively like a weakling, which seems to happen in every Japanese movie I've ever seen.

Asian behaviour does not seem normal to us, quite often. No use analyzing it.

--
"Den Gleichen Gleiches, den Ungleichen Ungleiches."

[–] Clayman82 8 years ago

I think Mitsuko, in the end, was incarnating Murata's way of life and behaviour, by kicking his own father's corpse and laughing hysterically while doing it.
It's like Murata's ways passed from himself to Shimoto, then to the Shimoto-Aiko combo, then, once and for all, to Mitsuko. The "replacement on Earth" through behaviour and mindset is a very common theme in Far East Asian essai movies (as well as in J-Horror, K-Horror, Thai Horror and so on).

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