MovieChat Forums > The Words (2012) Discussion > The ending?? (spoiler)

The ending?? (spoiler)

posted 12 years ago by jmc4769
25 replies | jump to latest

Here's what I could come up with. Clay's novel is semi-autobiographical. Like the character in the book, earlier in his career, he stole his first novel. He never admitted the truth to anyone except his wife, his publisher and the old man who actually wrote the book. Even though he has fame and fortune, his mistake has ruined his marriage and left him tormented with guilt. Now he has written a new novel to sort of atone for the mistake. Daniella may be the daughter of the old man, or she may be just trying to get the truth from him so she can spill the beans in a magazine or newspaper article. What are your thoughts?

[–] jmc4769 12 years ago

For some reason the replies aren't showing in this thread.

[–] Tigerfox-165-853221 12 years ago

That makes sense.

[–] moonstruck4 12 years ago

Daniella not old man's daughter, old man's daughter died. Writers didn't know how to end it. Just the wages of sin, an inauthentic life.

"I don’t know that I’d want to visit my brain
except with a gun and a flashlight.” Don Winslow

[–] napierslogs 12 years ago

You have it right. Except Daniella is not the old man's daughter, she has most likely figured out what Clay did and is planning on exposing him.

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[–] gcarras 12 years ago

(I saw the flick. was a tad confused by the ending, to tell the truth.

[–] debbiebuster2001 12 years ago

Ok, liked all these thoughts. I mostly thought Clay was Rory, and then had a few questions,but I don't like Not knowiing. lol Maybe Clay didn't show guilt because Clay was jaded,possible reason estrangement from wife, and just didn't want to get emotional about it cause he'd been forgiven and he and his wife had decided to move on. p.s. thanks for putting notice that there were "spoilers", some don't and its irratating.

[–] bsharporflat 12 years ago

I think we all agree the ending was meant to be ambiguous. Still I think there are some things you can conclude.

One is that that Clay's book was semi-autobiographical. Some of it is is real and some of it isn't. As Clay doesn't want the girl to know which parts are real, so we the audience are not told either.

But I think we can conclude that Rory's complete devotion to his marriage was fictional. Clay is separated from his wife. But rather than being heartbroken, he is instantly willing to take on this aggressive grad student when she hits on him. Brings her right back to his swanky apartment. He acts like he has done the same thing many times before. Not so good for a marriage.

[–] sydnee_man 11 years ago

I was a little confused by the ending as well but after thinking about it (and rewinding and watching the ending again) I believe I figured it out.

Daniella is a very intelligent, avid fan. She likes the story but she is very curious about the ending but like most avid fans, she wants to know the ending as soon as possible or before the general public. But when she hears the ending, she doesn't buy it and is maybe even a little suspicious. Suspicious that it could be real.

She begins to question him and she hits a nerve. So he talks about is it real or fiction and that the two are very close. Then she asks him something like did you (Clay) choose real or fiction. That's when he has the flashback to Rory and Dora.

Reality was that Dora couldn't accept the lie (or his lack of true talent) and this ended the marriage. Fiction was that Dora told him how she fell in love with him. It was like a jolt when she first saw him on campus and she could see their future life together at that moment. That was what he had wished Dora would have said when he first asked her why she loved him. And fiction was what he chose.

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[–] movie_fan59 12 years ago

I think the ending and the film itself are intentionally unclear. That "The Words" written by "Clay Hammond" is or isn't based on his own life can't be proven or disproven by what the film shows us.

You can certainly interpret the fact that he's alone, estranged from his wife, left to solitude among the trappings of success to mean that he is tortured with guilt over having done what he attributed to "Rory Jansen".

You can also interpret it to mean he's a guy who wrote a great novel, who was unlucky in love and hasn't done anything wrong. Not all great novels are auto-biographical, or even semi-autobiographical.

What is clear is that once you learn that Rory, the Old Man and their wives are just fictional characters in a novel written by Hammond, it's very easy to lose all sympathy over their struggles with life.

Jules Winnfield: "I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?"

[–] muzak_man 12 years ago

I thought the same thing after the movie: that we are meant to think Clay's book is autobiographical. However, if that's the case, I wonder why we never saw any guilt or torment on Clays face, or any moment when he seemed troubled by his past. All we really see is a guy separated from his wife who decides not to sleep with some fan. That wasn't enough to make it clear that his book is autobiographical, however that's probably what we are meant to think.

[–] nametaken798 12 years ago

What I took from it is the book was an "idealized" version of what happened in Clay's life.

Basically, I do think Clay plagiarized, but I don't think he ever was confronted about it and then given "permission." So he wrote the book about the confrontation where Rory continues on because it was "the only thing he could do" so Clay could get rid of some of his guilt.

But yeah, nothing in the story says either way, that's just my interpretation. I thought the underlying idea of the movie was good, but the execution was very flawed.

[–] monstermayhem32 12 years ago

The ending was left to interpretation if Clay was the real character and Rory was.

[–] ryanseifer 12 years ago

I just saw the film today, and I'll share my thoughts.
I definitely think the ending was intentionally ambiguous. Earlier in the film when a reporter asks Clay how much of his work is drawn from his life, he responds by declining to answer, only commenting that art/artists invite the viewer to answer those questions for themselves. I think this functions as a means of inviting the films audience to do the same.
Secondly the ending uses a phrase on the lines of "fiction or reality?" several times. I think a bit of the message is that we create our own fictional versions of the way events happened in our own lives to help cope with our own mistakes or shortcomings, so much so that we may actually begin to believe them. Clay's novel may be just that. So then we are left to beg the question, is his novel really autobiographical, or just the story he tells himself in order to cope with the loss of his love, or some other traumatic event? Daniella indirectly confronts him with that realization in the last moments of the film.

[–] sydnee_man 11 years ago

I'm so glad that there were some serious answers to this post! Here is my interpretation.

I was a little confused by the ending as well but after thinking about it (and rewinding and watching the ending again) I believe I figured it out.

Daniella is a very intelligent, avid fan. She likes the story but she is very curious about the ending but like most avid fans, she wants to know the ending as soon as possible or before the general public. But when she hears the ending, she doesn't buy it and is maybe even a little suspicious. Suspicious that it could be real.

She begins to question him and she hits a nerve. So he talks about is it real or fiction and that the two are very close. Then she asks him something like did you (Clay) choose real or fiction. That's when he has the flashback to Rory and Dora.

Reality was that Dora couldn't accept the lie (or his lack of true talent) and this ended the marriage. Fiction was that Dora told him how she fell in love with him. It was like a jolt when she first saw him on campus and she could see their future life together at that moment. That was what he had wished Dora would have said when he first asked her why she loved him. And fiction was what he chose.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ohtolieforeverhere 12 years ago

the old mans daughter died.

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[–] Robanjo78 11 years ago

I agree with the auto-biographical theory. The lady fan was just that. A fan, but an intelligent one and she thinks the ending was *beep* and that there must be more to it. The ending of "The Words" in its self was a big indication that it was Clays auto-biography. The reaction in the end from Rorys wife when he hugs her by the sink shows that it's not good.

[–] pinkISH 11 years ago

Clay is definitely Rory, the answer is in the book. Literally. When the student goes to Clay's apartment, she finds a picture of Clay's wife inside his book ("The Words"), and it's a black woman - just like Rory's wife.

Here's a capture from the Blu-ray disc:

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9324/wordse.jpg

And he also says that the old man is fictional, so what some people said above is also true: Clay is Rory, he was never confronted but had to live with his mistake and his new book, "The Words", is closure.

[–] GladyRuth 11 years ago

Ha, you nailed it pinkISH. The picture in the book was the key!!
Thanks so much; I can go to bed now ;o)

[–] alfie210684 11 years ago

Nice catch pinkISH, but wakey wakey GladyRuth.. :) Rory and Clay can't be the same since their both living in the 2010's. Look at the car Rory drives, his clothes and the surroundings. But I agree that Clay's love is an african-american and that he's still wearing her ring and that it seems he's tortured by this deep dark secret. The ending is killing me!