The ending


Did you guys understand the ending? What is that look between Louna and Vincent Cassel supposed to mean? Are they together or not? I liked the movie but I just wanted to hear from you.. your interpretation, since I don't really have one :)

reply

I think they are.

Since her dad has accepted the inevitable. That allows Vincent to go ahead.

It'd be funny if nothing changes after this. Maybe Vincent still doesn't want to do it because his own daughter gets pissed off.

But Lola must have gotten more aggressive since her did doesn't mind it anymore!

reply

This is not a romantic comedy so there is no happy couple ending. Her smile of love for him is her realisation that he has told her father and this is an admission of his love for her - that I reckon is how she sees it. But this in no way paves the way for them to be together. Laurent at no point shows that he feels anything for Louna. While drunk, when inhibitions were gone and he was presented with this eager young beauty he made a massive mistake - he should know better. And at no point does he show anything but regret for his weakness. But she is young and her idea of love is very simple. Seeing that they have fought she interprets it as Laurent having fought for her. In that sense it's not really a resolution. She has come out of this potentially destructive event unscathed and it seems her father has released his anger and somehow reconciled that his daughter has fallen in love with someone he loves too. That at least the 'older man' he wanted to kill was a good man that he trusts. He seems resigned to what has happened and it is unclear whether the friendship is over or not. A lot is unclear, really. It seems they wanted to end the film in an upbeat way without the likely consequences of misery for everyone. That's how this kind of situation should end really. Laurent doesn't really get as punished as he should. It seems the filmmakers want the end the film with her optimistic outlook on life and love without barriers. Which is perhaps a weakness of the story. Just finished it so still trying to figure it out.

reply

I don't know what to think about the ending.

Kinda like the interpretation of Sundance-A-Kid: father and daughter love (in different ways) the same person.

I would love that Louna and Laurent could end together... :)

reply

Really? You want a 16-year-old girl to end up with a 50-year-old man? This seems like some kind of fantasy about Vincent Cassell and not a morally justifiable idea at all. The filmmakers clearly tried to indulge a fantasy that happens in both directions but then - very clearly - shows that the older man understands that he had a moment of sexual weakness that is in no way rooted in any kind of love for her. It would be a doomed relationship. The film states that without any doubt... and so it would be in reality too...

reply

I'm gonna guess that you're American which is why you seem to be so stressed out about this whole situation. Guess what, people are sexual beings and sometimes they want more than just to watch porn online (an extremely popular pastime among so called moral Americans, especially religious ones). You're also exaggerating ages. He was 45, not 50 & she's gonna be 18 in a few months. It's not as terrible as it sounds. Do you ever think for a moment that she could actually be a lot happier with him, a mature guy who would treat her with a lot of respect, than with a stupid boy her own age who would treat her simply as a sex object? Lastly, if you think, for a moment, that there is any man in the world who would reject a girl who looks like this when she's throwing herself at him you are simply living in la-la land & are totally detached from reality. Men of his age would pay a $1000 to have sex with an incredibly beautiful young woman like that. If one would throw herself at them for free they'd think god has smiled upon their soul.

reply

Ha ha. American. Funny. So either you are an eighteen year old girl with fantasies about men twice your age - or you're an older man who thinks its perfectly fine to take advantage of girls who have only just reached sexual maturity. This has absolutely nothing to do with prudishness or sexual restraint and definitely not religious guilt or any such nonsense. Sure, girls mature earlier but they are not suddenly, at 18, on par with a man at 40 plus. A man at that age will of course treat her with more respect than an 18 year old boy - perhaps. But she will be no more than his sex toy because mentally there is nothing interesting there for a middle-aged man. She has no life experience, nothing they can truly share. He is in control of everything except sexuality - where she can pander to his weakness for her nubile body. This will always be the case with this age difference when she is that young. You even make the point yourself: "Men of his age would pay a $1000 to have sex with an incredibly beautiful young woman like that." A man of that age desires the body of a young woman but only a very weak man, insecure in the face of a woman with his own life experience, would actually want to enter into a relationship.

Which is exactly what this film shows. Laurent fell in lust with her for a moment but from then on he resisted everything - and at no point does he show any inclination towards maybe wanting her again because he knows she has fallen for him and he cares not for her - he knows it was just sex. The point is not that there is anything evil about this sexual union - just that relationship-wise the idealistic idea that was presented on this board is just not feasible. 40 plus men with 17 year-old girls is not something you see very often. Sexually - sure - lots of rock stars and actors will have sex with these young beauties - but go out with them, properly? Never. What you're essentially saying is that it would be cool for a father to pursue his daughter's hot friends. Lester Burnham's approaches on his daughter's hot friend in American Beauty is perfectly fine and will have no repercussions. But it's not fine. There is no hope there. It is a doomed situation. So if something like this happens then see it for what it is - a moment of sexual bliss - but not the beginning of something more substantial.

reply

Why should Laurent be punished? At 17¾ she was over the age of consent everywhere in Europe, and as this is a French movie, sans problème.

reply

Now that it's all out in the open, the fathers and daughters have to come to terms with the situation. My feeling is that they become resigned to it and believing, quite rightly, that friendship is more important than a quick fumble of infatuation.

And Louna was, according to her friend, soon to become street legal, so to speak, so maybe the father-lover would have the good sense to wait a few months, then seek her out. Probably, by then though, she would have already fallen in and out of love twice with other men and would no longer find any attraction to him.

Alternatively, they may all have had a furious argument in the car on the way home and gone over the cliff.

reply

I think they stayed together.
After I watched this I started to analyze what this movie is about. And is not that they "fell in love" becacuse they didn't. I understood that this was just romance, they all had their own issues and this is basically like a way out of it. And it´s not a bad thing, it was like the freedom to do what is right for them at the moment in their lives. The acceptance of her father that she is no longer "a baby", like he called her so many times. The acceptance that she is becoming a young adult and respect her desicions. The acceptance of Marie that her father is a free man that can date whoever he wants. That his life didn't stop with his divorce.

Would this relationship work? Probably not, maybe?.. The whole situation here is not "how real is their love", I think is to accept the decisions of our loved ones and that things always change. To me, Louna is mostly going through that phase when girls are way mature than men of their same age and start looking for a "more mature" relationship, the way she provoques him sort of "black mailed" him is a proof that even when she is becoming a young adult she still is childish, a whim. Of course she liked him, of course she cared, and of course she desired him, but love? No. Same with him. A divorced guy feeling flattered with the attention of a beautiful young girl who makes him laugh, feel desired and feel younger. He has feelings for her yes, but again, not real love. And it´doesn´t mean that it won´t happen. It´s just the start of a passionate relationship with an unceratin ending and it works for me, because it feels more real than just assume that they fell in love and lived happily ever after.

The film kind of gives the feeling that he was totally tricked by her, but I think Laurent was really really attracted to her more than is shown but managed to deny it because he didn´t want to hurt his best friend and ruined their friendship forever, that was his big fear. Because when he confesses to Marie he really didn't struggle that much compared to when he confessed to Antoine. He just basically told Marie to suck it up, he never said to Marie he regreted being with Louna.

Another big statement of this was when Laurent took Louna for dinner, and she started to give him reasons why it wasn't wrong to be together. They cut the scene and then we see they arrived peacefully and find Antoine. Then Antoine said, you took her for three hours and that's all you got? You realize they were not having dinner for 3 hours, right? The way Laurent sees Louna when she walks into the house makes you feel like this time he is really convinced to be with her, and next he confesses to Antoine.

reply

I like your interpretation & just wrote one myself. We agree on the basics. I also think they're officially an item.

reply

I interpreted it in this way. Louna's dad got all his anger out & has come to terms with the fact that it happened. He also know his friend is a good man & realizes that he felt very bad about it. He also realizes that he would have done the same thing had the situation been reversed. After all we see him try to go for a much younger woman earlier in the movie even though he's obsessed about his wife being in Ibiza. He even says it himself that he's never been able to be on a straight & narrow. Pretty much admitting that he has cheated on his wife which could very well be the reason for their marriage difficulties & her going off to Ibiza to get back at him. Louna realizes that everything is now in the open & they no longer have to hide. Even Laurent's daughter seems to finally accept it because she's no longer angry & brushes her father's hand tenderly as she walks into the house. Is there a possibility it will continue. I think absolutely yes. Laurent only felt bad & kept rejecting Louna after because he thought what happened was very inappropriate. He clearly had a thing for her from the start & now that everyone is aware there's not much stopping him. In a weird way, perhaps Louna's dad is actually relieved that she will be with a man he knows & loves himself instead of some random bozo her own age. A couple of people also mentioned that this relationship is doomed. Maybe so, but so what? Every relationship that starts is quite possibly doomed regardless of age. People get together & break up all the time. Louna clearly is very passionate about Laurent & he cares a great deal for her too. That's a lot better start to a relationship than most, wouldn't you say?

reply

Wow. I can't believe so many people really believe that they became a couple.

To me the ending is one of two things.

1. She smiles because she believes they can now be together that it's out in the open. She may believe he confessed her love for her, maybe even stood up for her and all those he is my hero type of thoughts go through her head. The infatuation continues.

I think this is possible but unlikely. I'll explain at the end.

2. She smiles because she knows it's over. She is happy that he told her father. She somewhat still likes her fathers friend but knows they can never be together. She has come to terms with it. While probably sad and a little heartbroken she knows it is something she will remember on her deathbed and she moves on and has a happy life.

The reason I don't believe number 1. Is likely is because I think deep down she knew what she did was wrong and she knew she just had a silly crush. She knew she lost a best friend because of it and she knew she stuffed up another relationship because of it (the two fathers). This can be seen by the fact she apologises to her friend and states it wasn't the fathers fault, taking some ownership in the fact she caused this mess. The friends go out together. She knows that she can't be friends if she has a relationship with her father.

The whole ending not once did we see either of the fathers smile. Deep down her father is probably thinking about his example of love he showed his daughter and why this happened. We know that her parents might be breaking up and I do also believe this is a teenager following a silly crush to rebel abit. When divorce and things like that are going on teenagers tend to follow instincts they may not of.

The reasons that I don't believe they became a couple are all pretty obvious. The father never once thinks it is possible. He dreams and thinks maybe in another life this good be the best thing ever. (She is amazingly beautiful) but he isn't going to risk losing his daughter over this. Even if the daughter forgives him there relationship will never be the same if he stays together with her best friend. The father knows that his relationship with his best friend (the other father) will never be the same if he stays together with his daughter. The other father will in time probably forgive him for the one of mistake he has made but would never be able to keep him as a friend knowing he is sleeping with his daughter.

To me the ending is about forgiveness, maturity, growing up and moving on. There are relationships that need to heal, both relationships between the fathers and daughters, the fathers, and the two daughters. There is forgiveness needed and maturity needed.

There is no way I can see the two of them, either of them pursueing a relationship together. The only possible way in which the girl still believes she is going to be together with her fathers friend is if she really is as naive and selfish as she came across for some of the movie and it is much nicer believing she has showed some maturity through the apology she made that this is not the case and she is truly growing up.



reply

The ending was about forgiveness. Antoine earlier admitted he had not been a good person. Sitting for hours outside the house, thinking, at some point he realized it may just have been him who got into that situation.

Louna's smile however was that of the "devil", after her apologies she just got her friend back but as soon as she realized she got away with the whole thing she started to tease him again. She's too young to appreciate the situation, how lucky she was, so eventually she will burn herself again and again, till she grows up.

reply