MovieChat Forums > La cara oculta (2014) Discussion > I would have preferred a different endin...

I would have preferred a different ending! Spoiler

posted 12 years ago by mistajericho
12 replies | jump to latest

Hi everyone,

just watched this movie. I think it is not bad, but imho they did not make the best of the great idea. I would have preferred a different ending. When the police officer hands over the pictures to Fabiana showing Adrian haqving an affair with that other woman from the orchester I thought she would seek revenge. I thought that by then Belen had died and Fabiana would make it look like Adrian had her locked up in there all the time, thus, setting up a trap leading to his arrest.

I think the impact of that ending would have been greater.

opinions welcome!

[–] johnny_amok 12 years ago

can you come up with yet another ending?

[–] andersschliemann 12 years ago

He just did though. Please read OPs post again .

[–] johnny_amok 12 years ago

i know, it was my way of sayin' that the writers could've come up with a million endings and there would still be one to say "i rather preffered a different ending".

[–] eagle79-1 12 years ago

SPOILERS BEWARE

If you haven't seen this film yet, stop reading & watch it. It's excellent. It's streaming on Netflix right now.

This film was, in my humble opinion, perfectly written & executed. Why?

This is a movie that starts as a mystery, turns into a drama, then turns into a nearly Hitchcockian suspense piece & then, ends up like what it really is: A drama about the journey of the 3 lead characters. Forget the fact that the poster & the trailer (which I didn't see - did not want spoilers) alsmost sell this film as a horror movie. It does seem at times to use horror conventions (the locked-room premise somehow made me think of Edgar Allan Poe & it even reminded me of THE SILENT SCREAM, a 70s terror tale starring Peter Cushing where a couple ends up hermetically closed in on the house of an ex-Nazi) but I felt these approaches kept me riveted. The leading actor was a bit of a cipher (but it needed to be as part of the mystery was "did he or didn't he?"). The two female leads had their own motivations. The seemingly limbo-esque ending actually makes sense if you see the movie as a drama about deep human feelings (love?). Belen goes through the most intense journey & is left pondering what she should do (sand running through her fingers, seated in front of the sea and the setting or rising sun). Fabiana, only after getting evidence that her lover was cheating on her too, finally understands & identifies with Belen & goes to (maybe free her?) & ends up getting the message the rough way. And the music director, who really has a pronounced sticky fingers issue, ends up more alone & tormented than ever, as he left the violiniste, doesn't know what happenned to Belen & won't know what happened to Fabiana either if he doesn't find the use of the key (or find/understand himself?). Nothing is as cut & dried as I just wrote, it could all go any way. But I thought it all worked beautifully.
It was cool seeing Alexandra Stewart in a spanish-speaking part (she's been in french movies the likes of Truffaut & Charlotte Rampling). And all the main actresses in the film were gorgeous & effective.

;)

[–] loyolite 12 years ago

Exactly ! I thought that as well ... I expected that ending but the director surprised me.

[–] MrBelette 11 years ago

If you prefer that the director gives you the ending you were waiting for instead of surprising you, you must like your movies being predictable and comfortable, don't you ?

[–] Burnsider 11 years ago

I think an even better ending would have been Fabiana showing Adrian the room and then locking him up in there and throwing the key into the lake.

[–] TheSummer2012 11 years ago

I agree that I didn't see that ending coming either. I was also expecting her to frame Adrian and I would have liked that ending better.

Yes, point taken that it would have been the predictable, obvious ending but still ...

Here's why I didn't like the actual ending:

Veronica had already decided to let Belen die in there, which is pretty hardcore if you think about it. Hints at her more devious side were shown before: She admits that she preferred Adrian because of his money and she smiled at the possibility that Belen might be dead when Adrian gets the call. Her sudden change of heart to let Belen out because Adrian is having another girl on the go was just not entirely credible in my opinion.

Some other things in that I didn't like in the character development:

Belen's decision to lock herself in the secret room was a bit silly. She was portrayed as a more serious, rooted personality. Veronica was the one that was a bit wilder: Taking the strange drunk Spaniard to her home, moving in with him after just one night, jumping up and down on the bed ... I don't know. Staging your own disappearance, with video and suitcases and all, even if it's just for a few minutes was something that I could see Veronica doing but not Belen.

And the make-up of Belen in this film ... She spends God-knows how long in a dark hole with only German WW II food in tins and yet looks surprisingly well when she comes out. (Same with Adrian, by the way, who can get absolutely wasted one night and wakes up the next morning with no sign of a hangover!).

Having said all that, I did like how the film moves from a mystery thriller / ghost story (I thought initially this was going the way of something like "What Lies Beneath") to something entirely different. Not a bad film, by any means.

[–] Montserrat23 11 years ago

When you write "Veronica" you mean "Fabiana" right?

[–] bramca 11 years ago

These are all brilliant ending ideas and any one of them would have been great. But the ambiguous ending also works as it lets you draw your own conclusions on their fates. Excellent thriller with edge of your seat suspense.

[–] todmichel 11 years ago

I also prefer, by far, this ambiguous ending. But most people these days are so stupid that ANYTHING must be explained to them in any movie, including why a character goes to the toilet I suppose.

[–] louise_watts80 9 years ago

I agree - I was expecting Belen to somehow make her way out without Fabiana's assistance and then claim to the DA that Adrian had locked her up in there as punishment for carrying on with someone else so quickly and to destroy his relationship with Fabiana. I wasn't keen on the ending - I don't mind films that leave things open to interpretation at all, but it just felt something was lacking.

I don't know what kind of outcome Belen was expecting by "testing" Adrian. At worst, he wouldn't have given two hoots and calls the violinist up, in which case if they'd been having an affair, this would have most likely come out reasonably soon considering Belen was already a bit suspicious. At "best", he breaks down and can't carry on without her.

However, even if you were having an affair and/or were very fond of someone who you'd spent a lot of time with, but didn't love necessary love, your initial reaction could still be one of sadness and shock so I wouldn't take this as a sign of someone's "absolute" dedication - it's how they behaved in the time after that which I believe would be more indicative of their feelings. Although we don't know what timeframe Belen had in mind for this test, I agree that even a day is pushing it (and in my opinion, not a very reliable timeframe for such an experiment) - if someone had put me through the pain and anxiety of losing them just to comfort their own insecurities, I'd be off! It certainly was a very risky plan with a good chance of backfiring in a different way to how it did.

What I was wondering is whether Adrian had indeed been having an affair with Veronica (the violinist) the entire time, or whether this was a natural progression after their initial flirting and Belen's disappearance?

Presumably, the only reason Fabiana had an attack of conscience was when she found out Adrian was doing the dirty on her, or maybe she wasn't so coldhearted that she could actually live with the idea that she'd allowed someone to die. While watching, I speculated as to whether she'd release Belen and then they'd somehow team up against him.

I thought Fabiana's reaction to the call from the DA about identifying the body was a bit odd - surely a normal reaction if you cared for someone would be one of support and to be very concerned for the ordeal they would have to go through, regardless of the outcome!

I would have preferred a different ending! *Spoiler*

I would have preferred a different ending! Spoiler