I'm not clear on what happened... - Forever's End (2014) Discussion

[–] juliatbwa1 9 years ago

Spoilers ahead:

Lily was dying the entire movie. Her father and her were in town for the 4th of July, her stalker killed her dad, and then stabbed her. While she was dying, she dreamed the dream of living in a farm house for 6 years. Her sister was really herself, there to tell her what was happening. The dude was the stalker that stabbed her. The man she shot was her stalker. Her sister kept telling her it wasn't over yet because Lily wasn't dead yet and had a chance to shot the man who shot her. She does.

The end is up for interpretation, either she died and finally released herself and that's what the city was. Or she managed to be found and was waking up and that's what the city was.

Any other questions?

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[–] bpoz 9 years ago

I agree with most of what you said but I don't think that she was dying. I think that Lily and her father were in town for the 4th of July. They were mugged (and I think it was a random mugging as I see nothing to suggest this person knew who she was or had any other prior interest in her). He stabbed her. She wandered into the street and collapsed. But I think that someone must have found her, she recovered and returned home. I think this because of the times during the movie when she looked at her side and it was a healed wound and not a fresh one that she was looking at. She was isolated and alone because it had just been her and her father living there before, since she never had a sister. During the time that she was recovering at home, she processed through her various memories and feelings about what had happened and once having resolved it all in her mind decided to pack up and leave her isolated house to rejoin the world, which is why we see her at the city's edge at the end. The mugger never found her at her house; he was just part of the fantasy that played out in her mind as she reconciled herself to what had happened to her. She might well have had a gun and shot him during the commission of his crime after he stabbed her; that part is a little less clear to me. But I think that once she had worked through it all in her mind, she decided to get back to the land of the living and move on with her life. Six years passing was just from her sense of isolation and was part of the original fantasy where we first meet her. Odds are she was only out there for a number of months while she healed. That's my take anyway.

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[–] htturk 8 years ago

bpoz I think you nailed it. I see the sister as her alter ego or conscience. She was prettier, better dancer and smarter. How we hope there is a better person living inside ourselves. The farmhouse and the city may have been symbolic or metaphors. That doesn't matter. The part that confuses me is the stranger that she killed and her father both wore the same shoes. I hope someone can explain that. I really enjoyed the movie and the actors.

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[–] antisocialdevotion 8 years ago

The stranger she killed was her father. Her shooting him represents her feelings of guilt for not having saved him.

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[–] bpoz 9 years ago

I was surprised not to find more discussion here too. Maybe after it's been out on Prime for a while more people will weigh in. I hope my interpretation below is a helpful piece to the puzzle.

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[–] chrisjdel 8 years ago

Sarah White and her father were in town for the 4th of July fireworks. Whether the masked assailant was a mugger or had actually been stalking her, we can't be sure. Her father was killed, then the guy stabbed Sarah, who shot him. It's anyone's guess why he told her not to look away - maybe he figured the kid wouldn't have the guts to pull the trigger if she was staring him straight in the eye. Anyhow, Sarah wandered off injured and holding the gun. Presumably someone found her and she went to the hospital.

When the movie starts she's been living at home for a while. Several months most likely, nowhere near six years. At least it appears to be her home. I think it's more likely a vacation house, possibly the one her father grew up in, out in the country where well-meaning adults (like a foster parent or legal guardian) would never know to look for her. A place with good memories and no people. Oh there are people around. Just not on the property, which is big enough for her to imagine she's alone in the world. So that's exactly what she does. It's not only her dad's death. It's also the fact that she killed a man. And given the location and depth of those stab wounds, she may never be able to have children. Sarah can't deal with what's happened so she blots it out with this vaguely-defined apocalypse and lives each day as the last person on earth.

Nothing actually happens during the timeframe of the film except Sarah is reaching a point where she's ready to face reality. The action is literally all in her head. Her sister Lily was never real - Lily White, get it? Little miss perfect. Basically the embodiment of everything Sarah likes about herself without the weakness she sees when she looks in the mirror. What I find interesting is the way Lily wants her to stay curled up in her little ball. Stay at the farmhouse. Send the stranger away and let things go back to "normal". Meanwhile Ryan, the vision of her father's murderer, is the one saying pick your ass up and start living again. Reminding her that the world is still there. Telling her she's won. She beat him. Time to go back now.

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