Explain why this movie is good

I don't think Ruth is the kind of person to deny reality in that way, though. I mean, "The love they shared was too great for death to intervene." just seems like words to me. Had Ruth done something like this she would have denied Bob any sort of resolution and last moments with her and the chance to see his daughter (other than in the arms of another man) so, if you imagine that since Bob got so close, had he just stayed well away he probably could have lived somewhere anonymously and had his freedom for the rest of his life... then essentially Bob though not intentionally in the end of the ilm sacrifices his life for Ruth (as she and Sylvie will be better off without him) yet she'd just ignore him? Also, if she ignores his death she certainly won't move on in the future. She'll be stuck in some way that though tragic and awful now, at least she has chance to move on from in the end.

In my view, the only way to have the ending you would like (I do see why you think it would be powerful) would be for Patrick not to have driven Ruth back to the house: to have instead insisted that he would go there first to make sure it was safe and to have Bob die while Ruth is still far away. I'm not sure why I am still spoiler tagging this because if anyone is still reading I am sure they have seen the film! Anyway...!!! I think you'd need to physically keep them apart to have your ending.

For me, I find the ending perfect because you both get that resolution you have been craving for the whole film, and yet also you don't get it. Bob glimpses his daughter; Ruth holds him; but that's it. It's both satisfying and unsatisfying and most importantly, in story-terms it is the way it has to be which, for me lends the ending a Shakespearian quality: you know, tragic endings but also the right ending for the story in question. I find the ending utterly beautiful: not just in what happens at the end, but in how it's woven in with those memories of Bob's vision of his family's future: a vision that even here Bob is still clinging to.

In terms of Ruth: of course she is conflicted in her feelings. She knows Bob puts her daughter in danger, and she has grown up where he has not, but at the same time I think the film is clear how much Ruth still loves him. It doesn't show Ruth as for example not loving Bob any more, but starting to love Patrick passionately and feeling only that she owes Bob. Bob knows a part of Ruth that despite that she ha changed is still a part of her; the love they had for one another was in a sense the way Bob describes it in that mirror speech - it is Romantic notions in a way, yet in another way the film seems to show Ruth sensing when Bob is close; Ruth tells Sylvie stories about her Father - keeps him alive in her mind and Sylvie herself must wonder about the man; Ruth even has a draw full of all the items that are Bob's: his shirt, the letters, the new letter he writes and so on.

I don't think the film is totally clear on whether, say, had Bob arrived at the house that first time and Patrick had not been there, might Ruth and Sylvie have actually gone with him? Ruth was certainly conflicted in what she wanted to do. She told Bob to stay away in the letter he never got and at the same time that she wanted nothing more than for him to come. All this created more yearning for me as around that time when Bob comes to the house, he's just given the speech about all their connection and love and you've also just seen they have new identity papers - it's really the single place in the film that you feel maybe there's a tiny chance they could all get out of this together and start anew.

Also, on top of all the love that I think is genuinely there on both sides, despite the fact that Ruth sees the world in a more realistic way whereas Bob does not... Ruth does feel she owes Bob. Alright, returning to Ruth now is not the best thing for her, but he did go to prison for her. He did protect Ruth and Sylvie then. She does owe him too in a way.

I am sure I read somewhere that there was at one stage a different ending in which everyone (as in Ruth, Bob and Sylvie) died. Perhaps it went the way I imagined above? So, though I longed for Ruth and Sylvie to have had a chance to go with Bob (I know it was wrong for them really, but I couldn't help long for it anyway) if they had done this, well after that Bob headed to his farm - so if they'd either gone there with him to pick up his money or met there like in his letter, they'd have all happened on those bounty hunters rather than just Bob. And, I guess it's likely enough that all of them could end up dead. So really, the way I desperately wanted it would likely have resulted in the most tragic ending imaginable.

Aaanyway. Yes, that ending: what has to be, a tiny amount of resolution, Bob's final sacrifice, the possibility for a future for Ruth and Sylvie and most of all the juxtaposition of this tragic-est of realities and Bob's vision not just for their immediate future, but this dream he had even of their life together when old was the perfect ending.