MovieChat Forums > Feuchtgebiete (2013) Discussion > SPOILER ALERT: Suicide?

SPOILER ALERT: Suicide?

posted 10 years ago by films42
7 replies | jump to latest

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I saw WETLANDS last night at a critics screening. I have only seen it once & I have not read the book. So this is a truly open question:

Did Helen's mother kill herself?

Is that why Helen is not able to get her parents to come visit her at the hospital at the same time? Is that why Helen's mother comes alone when no one else is there? Is that why we see the Pieta image so many times?

We certainly know that Helen's mother attempted to kill herself. Piecing everything together at the end, I think Helen's mother died but that Helen was able to rescue her brother. What do the rest of you think???

Helen is definitely "an unreliable narrator," so there may be no definite yes/no on this question, especially if no yes/no answer is provided in the source novel. Therefore all opinions are warmly solicited.

Thanks much,
Jan

[–] Legendary_Badass 10 years ago

I watched this tonight in a group screening for my film festival. Trouble is we have a tough time streaming HD so it's not easy to identify who came to the hospital at the end. I'm pretty sure it was both of Helen's parents, but many of use wrote off the contrived happy ending as a dream, like you said it's a case of an unreliable narrator. Mom was on hand to argue with the doctor, but there's notelling if that ever happened.

Frankly I hated it. Wetlands is a salacious, debauch take on Amelie, a movie I also despises. Guess I'm weird like that, but as far as Wetlands is concerned it's clear to me the lack of signifier in the frequent dream states tips the hat at a choose-your-own-ending. Not sure about you but I prefer to get a definite conclusion and feel it's lazy to make the audience do the work of the writer.

Many laughed along, but to me the subject matter destroyed the integrity of the film. It was too boisterous with shock value and that's not a point I admire.

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[–] Airman87 9 years ago

Trouble is we have a tough time streaming HD so it's not easy to identify who came to the hospital at the end.

I can't find an English version of the screenplay, but I think it was just her father's mistress/girlfriend, hence why Helen said, "take me outta here" in disgust. If it were her parents, I believe she would've reacted different.

_______
When logic and science aren't on your side, you always lose.

[–] Fuzagi 9 years ago

Yeah, Leg_Badass is wrong.

If Amelie is pop. Helen in Wetland is punk rock. That is the difference.

This movie is like the anti -Amelie if anything.

[–] scarletminded 9 years ago

I got from the scene within a scene when the lead character is going to the hospital, there is a flash of her on a gurney with her dad and her brother has an oxygen mask on. Since her parents are alive at the end, I was going to assume the lead saw the oven with her mom and brother then got her dad who saved them, hence the oxygen mask on the brother.

[–] Airman87 9 years ago

That's an interesting theory. I believe she survived, because we do see earlier in the movie repeated flashbacks of Helen with her younger brother grown up (comments about his teddy bear), and the mother is with them both in those scene(s).

One burning question I have: If Helen's mom tried to commit suicide with her son, she wouldn't have been allowed to keep and raise her kids, as they would've been removed from her custody. Yet the movie seems to imply the kids lived with the mother.

_______
When logic and science aren't on your side, you always lose.

[–] LieBlingRing 8 years ago

I mean, Helen's mom lives in Germany so i guess it's pretty likely that if she tried to kill herself and her kid she was probably institutionalised for some time while she recieved the mental health care she needed... and then probably their dad decided to do joint custody once the kids were older and she was more stable... It's not totally implausible... you think?

And I suppose it could also be possible that Helen's mother didn't try to kill herself but that Helen might have had a nightmare of it because she is quite fixated on her parents being together and I think when you're a kid you fear your parent's deaths....

I don't know.

[–] drij 9 years ago

Oh, no, I don't think she's dead at all. She's the one at the end with the umbrella.

I feel Helen is only disgusted by the situation because her understanding of her family has changed completely with the knowledge of the suicide attempt-- especially given the implication that her parents covered the attempt up.