Fire (spolier)
Was the fire at the party an accident?
shareWas the fire even real, or just something produced in Laure's head by all the drugs?
Could Laure have died trying to escape from a hallucination by jumping out a window?
(The fire was on the _opposite_ side of the house from the haystack bonfires. We were shown that the haystack bonfires clearly had not spread. And we weren't shown anybody else seeing or reacting to the house fire.)
As Laure went up the stairs, there was a guy walking down the stairs carrying an open-fire torch... I remember thinking how crazy dangerous the whole setting was with fire and kids who were high, and wondered if there was about to be a fire. I took the fire to be real. My question is, did she die? There were kids below who could have broken her fall, and it was only the second floor. The film he watches at the end of the movie with her in it could have been shot before that incident, or after she got to NY with her druggie boyfriend. I didn't hear any reference to Laure after the party incident.
shareYeah , I think Laure did die, French country houses are often 3, 4 or 5 stories tall, it's a long way down from that sort of height. After arguing with his Father we see Gilles go to the spot where Laure "had something important to tell him" early in the film. He carves another notch in the tree and burns a page out of the poetry book she gave him when they parted ( ' I've drawn a circle round the ones I like"). I think it's a ritual that he has come up with to help him grieve over her death, he saw her just before she died and she was probably dead by the time he arrived in Paris.
shareWow, thanks for that, I too had wondered about Laure's fate. I watched this wonderful film streaming, and took a few too many breaks to pick up on the meaning of that scene of ritual by the tree. This was a magical movie, devoid of cinematic or expository excess, and recalled a time of cultural awakening (for me) when anything and/or everything could happen at any moment... thanks for the memories, Monsieur Assayas.
Right. Well, I have to-- I have to go now, Duane, because I, I'm due back on the planet Earth.