I loved the movies from start . The only part I didn't understand was Ending .
Please Can anyone explain me ending:-
01. Did Riggan Died On Stage & all later scene were imagination but of whom .
02. Did he died in Hospital .
03. Did he jumped out of window & died
04. How the hell did Sam saw Riggan flying & smiled .
Can anyone tell me is it play adaptation or Adaptation from Book
He shot himself in the head and died on stage. He didn't shoot his nose because the angle of the gun was aimed too high. The rest was imagination or a dream.
shareThe rest was imagination or a dream.
You can't dream or imagine when you're dead. *Derp*
Yes, you can. Brain activity can continue after death.
Since death is defined as a cessation of brain activity it's difficult to imagine how that is correct.
shareGood point. But, there's also evidence that brain activity can continue after death. For example..http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98447
shareNot if a bullet to the head is what caused your death
All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain...
A bullet to the head still doesn't mean the brain stops immediately. It depends on which part of the brain is damaged by the bullet doesn't it?
shareIt's more than likely he'd die, and someone said before that death is defined as the cessation of brain activity, it really can't. I think the idea that this is his afterlife would suit your theory better than imagination or dreams to explain it.
All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain...
You might want to check out a French short film called "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce, which was rebranded in the 1960s as a Twilight Zone episode.
(spoilers abound)
In this story, set in the Civil War, a southern civilian is standing on a bridge and is about to be hanged by Union soldiers for sabotaging railroads. He's pushed, but the rope breaks and he falls into the water. He manages to swim away and make his way through a forest. Battered, bruised, tired and hungry, he is reunited with his wife and children. Then suddenly... there's a white light and we learn that he's dead. The entire sequence about his escape, flight from the soldiers, and seeing his family again all happened in his imagination in the few short seconds as he was falling from the bridge but before the noose snapped his neck.
I could see Birdman following this course. Think back to the underwear sequence when he re-enters the theater and shoots himself onstage - during the time, the camera is shooting down a long corridor and we see him from behind with a ring of blood around the back of his neck. Later on, we see him shooting himself again but this time we get the "nose" explanation. If they are riffing off this short story, he could have been dead well before the movie was over - and everything that happened thereafter is just a fantasy in his imagination in the moments as he's dying.
From this explanation, I can see how he died on stage and the scene we saw was his final moments because everything he wanted to happen in real life, happened. 1. he got a great review from the NY Times 2. He got the front page review from the NY Times Art section vs. Michael/Edward Norton 3. People are lighting vigils all around the world, so he's popular/has attention 4. He attorney literately said, this play will run forever vs. that critic saying it will close 5. His daughter got him the lilacs he wanted vs. the beginning of the film getting him random flowers 6. His daughter showing love and affection towards him. 7. His daughter seeing him "fly" is apart of her thinking he's cool and relevant (plus the 80,000 followers in one day on Twitter is included in being relevant).
Completely agree. In another post I noted that throughout the film he is depicted as a depressive who cannot appreciate anything and no matter what happens he feels like a failure. And his delusions of flying and having powers seem to be the arrogant thoughts of someone suicidal ("I'll show them all, they'll be sorry", etc.). The very end is so fantastical it can only be another manifestation of his delusion. Whether or not this type of hallucination is technically a possibility I still found it poetic and beautiful, and the only ending that really makes sense in this particular film.
"A sword is useless in the hands of a coward" - Nichiren Daishonin
From this explanation, I can see how he died on stage and the scene we saw was his final moments because everything he wanted to happen in real life, happened. 1. he got a great review from the NY Times 2. He got the front page review from the NY Times Art section vs. Michael/Edward Norton 3. People are lighting vigils all around the world, so he's popular/has attention 4. He attorney literately said, this play will run forever vs. that critic saying it will close 5. His daughter got him the lilacs he wanted vs. the beginning of the film getting him random flowers 6. His daughter showing love and affection towards him. 7. His daughter seeing him "fly" is apart of her thinking he's cool and relevant (plus the 80,000 followers in one day on Twitter is included in being relevant).
Hi, just read something you posted years ago, mentioned An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I thought I'd seen all the Twilight Zone stuff, but this was new to me. Thanks for referring to it as I enjoyed watching the abridged version just now.
shareExplain where he died on stage. Where is the illustration that the rest is a dream.
shareExplain where he died on stage
Where is the illustration that the rest is a dream.
So the fact he shot his nose, you forgot that?
And the metaphors of flying related to escaping and realising yourself as a major plot device? You kind of missed all of that in the film?
Give it a rest man. Go and watch a Tarantino film if you want to see tonnes of dead people.
He shot himself in the head and died on stage. He didn't shoot his nose because the angle of the gun was aimed too high. The rest was imagination or a dream.
shareLOL
The angle of the gun
Give me a better example of that. Give me a clear and obvious visible reason that everything was a dream.
PMSL
Angle of the gun was too high :D You don't even see the shot.
Why are you so desperate for him to die man. You don't even have any evidence at all.
That's the most clear and obvious example. At that distance, if you think the bullet went downward to hit his nose, instead of straight and slightly upward, I'm not sure what else to tell you.
So, you think the entire scene at the hospital was real. He really flew away after jumping out of the window?
There was nothing there, nothing at all, you didn't see it, I didn't see where his gun was pointing. One inch in front from whichever point you say, and his nose goes.
So, rest easy.
Yes, he flew out of the window you £&(^$*£. The whole film is about his super powers and him being great and ignoring, denying his greatness. That's the whole plot. That is what the film is about?
What the hell do you think it is about? Tragedy and death and suffering?
You see, there are so many, so many plot devices, so tiny that lead to this but you know what? I want you to suffer. I really do. So I won't tell you all the symbolism, a crash course in story telling and film making.
No - you suffer because you are that half of the public who live in that dark, dinghy, smell, theatre of a mess - where he escaped from, and flew.
:oD
He doesn't really have superpowers, unless his great imagination is considered a superpower. The director makes that clear when Riggan supposedly flew back to theatre after jumping from the roof of the building. He actually took a cab to the theatre, and didn't pay the cab driver.
share[deleted]
You missed all the undertones about ego, Buddhism, 'mental formations', meditation.
share[deleted]
There is no answer. There are at least 5 plausible explanations for the ending/film as a whole and probably many more that are less solid.
The thing is, we see levitation and telekinesis. Whether you believe it was real/hallucinated/whatever, that kind of stuff opens the door for any kind of interpretation.
Hospital scene could be heaven/purgatory. Hospital scene could be real but his daughter looking out the window is one of Riggan's flights of fancy and he's just standing in front of the mirror daydreaming. He could have jumped out the window at the hospital. He could have died on stage. He could have jumped off of the roof of the building. He could have died on the beach. He could be dreaming on the beach.
thewritingwriters.wordpress.com
I've read some smart & articulate views here on what the ending was.....which actually have to take into account the whole movie to answer....which makes sense.
The view I don't agree with is the one where Joey gives his explanation. But movies are so subjective.
I like what u had to say veil, because I'm not sure anybody gets it exactly right and maybe that's what the director had in mind.
This movie reminds me a bit of Mulholland Drive by David Lynch although I thought that one was even harder to come up with exactly what was going on there.
I liked Roger Ebert's review of Mulholland Drive where he said it was like the fragments of someone waking from a dream. And he said he watched that movie frame by frame and liked it.....but didn't understand it. I liked it too although I certainly couldn't say for sure what was going on......but it was still interesting to watch & to try to figure out what Lynch meant it to be.
I think Birdman to me wasn't as confusing as Mulholland Drive.....but it was that type of thing. I liked what the person said about how it was a sad commentary on how things are these days. Even if that wasn't the point.
I can think of a lot of things in this movie that I didn't know for sure what something meant. Just for example....if he really has these powers (which I don't think he did), why didn't he just use his telekinesis to open the door when his robe got caught in it.
After watching this twice...I have my take on what I think the movie was meant to say....but I'm not sure I'm right.....the subjective thing especially in these types of movies.
Too bad the director doesn't come here and explain exactly what he was doing. But I'm pretty sure he prefers people here doing this. I wonder if any of them ever come here & read some of the stuff people are saying....I certainly doubt it.
Actually, the whole movie could have just been a dream Riggan had that we got to watch. Although I don't think it was. Yea, I think you had an interesting take on it veil-182.
He died on stage. But every things on stage is a play!
shareOr maybe he died after jumping off the roof of the building earlier that day. The minute he starts flying, that's when everything starts to become a complete fantasy inside his own head, right before passing away.
Just a thought.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V9VNnIfdF0
I doubt he would have fantasized about a taxi driver demanding his money for driving him, if he had died and imagined himself flying.
shareThat's true. But if you are dead you don't fantasize/imagine anything, you're just dead.
thewritingwriters.wordpress.com
Do you speak from experience? We don't know what happens to your soul after you die; and while I can appreciate where you'e coming from, the concept of a hereafter has been around for long enough that one may suppose that Inarritu meant this was Riggan's afterlife.
shareDefine "soul"
sharesoul |sōl|
noun
1 the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.
• a person's moral or emotional nature or sense of identity : in the depths of her soul, she knew he would betray her.
• the essence of something : integrity is the soul of intellectual life.
• emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, esp. as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance : their interpretation lacked soul.
there you go jack-ass
I agree. Everything after he jumped from the roof was his dying fantasy and didn't happen. That's how I took it.
Orgies are not too much fun if no one wants to do it with you.
He flew up to the roof, so being on the roof in the first place was a fantasy.
shareI don't agree.
He shot his nose off and jumped out the window to rid himself of the birdman - the personification of his mental illness.
If you recall at the start of the film, they are discussing the character in the play who tries to shoot himself in the head and "couldn't even get that right". The play was a parody of his life, he became the character he was portraying.
Here; I found the script;
"LESLEY
(Sadly.)
It was love, Mel. To Eddie, it was. I don't
care what anybody says. He was ready to die
for it.
RALPH
Ask her what he did after she left him.
LESLEY
He shot himself in the mouth. But he
screwed that up, too. Poor Ed.
RALPH
Poor Ed, my ass. The guy was dangerous."
--
Cinobite
There is no explanation, because giving a movie like that a finite ending would drain it of its value. A lot of movies do this, because the writers either aren't good enough to write a meaningful ending, or because certain movies simply can't have normal endings.
I mean, take any ending that's been suggested, and imagine it being used without a hint of vagueness. It loses its entire impact. With the current ending, you'll have countless bumbling idiots trying to argue over a definite ending that purposely wasn't put into the movie. It creates buzz and indirectly gives the movie more meaning and interpretations.
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He flew.
The problem is nobody wants to believe that because it is too good to be true and that's the trick.
The trick is on the audience who all believe he died.
He didn't. To believe in the movies you believe he flew and that's what the film is all about. The amazingness of cinema - not the tragedy.
So you either follow the tragedy because you think it is death and destruction or you follow the beauty.
This is why this is a great film because the real ending, that he was cursed by criticism and the pomposity of film that made him hide his amazingness is left with the viewer. The viewer is cursed.
That's why they mention Barthes.
He tries to kill himself on stage and fails. The unexpected virtue of ignorance was that he finally realized this whole play was to feed his ego and become relevant again. He saw that he was kind of a *beep* person to the people that really mattered, so he was going to kill himself on stage (kind of a showy jerk thing to do). The irony of it is that his suicide attempt actually reignited his career and that's when he fully broke from reality and jumped out the window because he thought he could fly like Birdman. The ending shot of Emma Stone looking up is how he would prefer her to see him triumphantly soaring even though he really fell to his death. I guess you could also believe that he really was flying but I think it makes less thematic sense that way
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=heuerj88
I think you are right, that makes the most sense to me. Up until the point where you say he fell to his death. I am not sure he fell to his death. Why not just say he died on stage then?
The clue that he is not magical is obviously the cab driver. However I think that is a red herring.
After thinking for a bit and discussing with my wife, she says i don't get it because i am not spanish. The director is simply adhering to the idea of 'magic realism' which is big in novels like 'labyrinths' by jorge luis borges. If that title sounds familiar, it is because edward norton is reading that very book, some consider one of the 'tomes' of magic realism, in one of the scenes.
So it is entirely possible that the director did mean him to turn into a bird at the end and fly away. Literally. Look up 'magic realism' as a concept.
Good explanation. However, it begs the question: Emma Stone character looks up and smiles--whose perception was it? It cannot be the character's since he is already dead (presumably); It cannot be Stone's either since she cannot perceive what she is doing as a third person. The audience? If that is the case we (the audience), not Stone, should be looking up the sky (presumably the Birdman in flight) and be smiling. All is well that ends well, but this movie is crap just for the reason it ends bad.
share[deleted]
That's exactly how I saw the film. Even if she saw him dead on the ground, she knew his spirit was soaring where he always wanted it be, and that's why she smiled, because he was where he always wanted to be, metaphorically speaking.
shareBut she loved him somewhat, and knew that he kind of tried to be a good dad, so I think that she would have a more grounded, solid reaction to seeing her father splayed out on the concrete. She would freak as anyone would. So, I don't think that she saw him dead.
Love me some Waltons
Rigg knew he made the mistake of letting his Birdman movie franchise go, he should have continued to make the movies and pocketed the fame and the money.
but like most actors his ego was so massive, he wanted to be MOrE, to do MORE, they all seem to think if they are not a success on Broadway they are nothing.
So he finally got his chance on Broadway by paying for it himself.
Rigg realizes when he got locked out in his underwear, that fans are different now. They respond to something other than run of the mill acting.
And he knows he can't be a success unless he does something dramatic.
Why he wanted to kill himself when he had so much success in the first act is a mystery. Stupid.
But he takes the real gun and instead of aiming it correctly he shoots off his nose!
A doctor would say he really didn't want to kill himself after all.
After he is in the hospital, he sees his "hero" Birdman, sitting on the toilet. would the real Birdman sit on the toilet? No. that means that Birdman is not needed anymore and Rigg is ok with his new fame.
So he says good bye to his alter ego and looks at the Birds in the sky.
he possibly climbs out on the ledge and drops down one level below. His daughter cannot see him.
he did not drop to the street... (no one screamed, traffic didn't stop btw)
or he was still in the bathroom when she came in.
Since he completely hallucinated flying over the city when he was in the freakin cab he could hallucinate flying out of the window!!
He was still in the bathroom hallucinating flying out the window when she came in.
She didn't see him and looked up to see the birds flying too.
My take is that he would not give up on life after achieving the impossible. But naturally filmmakers today want everything to be up in the air. (oh haha I made a joke)
but like most actors his ego was so massive, he wanted to be MOrE, to do MORE, they all seem to think if they are not a success on Broadway they are nothing.
Why he wanted to kill himself when he had so much success in the first act is a mystery.
They show Riggan doing telekinetic and flying... however, at that point no one witnesses it, or in the case of his imagined flying when he actually got the taxi... people are there but don't react like he is flying (because he didn't).
The difference with the ending is......His daughter looks out the window, looks up and sees him flying. Its the first time another character sees him doing anything, and confirms it. This indicates.... he is actually flying, and he is not just imagining it.
Also, I watched on Blu-Ray with the subtitles on and it mentioned the sounds of both Riggan and Sam laughing right as it went to credits, which suggests a happy ending (though it is totally up to interpretation- the filmmakers have confirmed this).
I took it as he always had those powers within him, but couldn't actualize them until he proved himself as an artist and reunited with his family.
Did you notice though that the subtitles often didn't even get the dialogue right? I don't think they can be relied on for better understanding of the film as they were obviously typed by a third party without the director's oversight. Words were even misspelled at some points.
shareSure, the point is, though, the movie blurs reality, fantasy, dreaming, life, death, etc. This just opens up extra doors when discussing how it ended.
However, Emma Stone looking up confirms nothing. Many believe he has been dead since shooting himself on stage, and there are many indications this is true, therefore the hospital scene never really happened.
Not saying you're interpretation is wrong by any means, but it is in no way confirmed or official.
thewritingwriters.wordpress.com
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His daughter looks out the window, looks up and sees him flying.
They show Riggan doing telekinetic and flying... however, at that point no one witnesses it, or in the case of his imagined flying when he actually got the taxi... people are there but don't react like he is flying (because he didn't).
The difference with the ending is......His daughter looks out the window, looks up and sees him flying. Its the first time another character sees him doing anything, and confirms it. This indicates.... he is actually flying, and he is not just imagining it.
He died on stage, the give away is that is the first time the movie cut since the opening credits. Its the only explanation of the stylized editing the director used to make it look like it was all one take. Why would he cut it then after the suicide attempt? The meaning of it is "life is all one take." Not to mention many things in the hospital room are too perfect/ don't add up, he's critically acclaimed as an artist, he gets a great review (even though the women walked out looking disgusted), his family loves him again, the hospital windows open, he's not attached to medical equipment and he is able to remove a birdman looking mask to reveal a new beak.
shareThis is a very strongly grounded interpretation. The other writers of the film basically said they have no idea what the "true" ending is themselves, and that's the point. Only the director's quote that "life is all one take" hints at where/how the movie ended.
However, after that initial cut, we see the jellyfish again. I think this speaks somewhat to the theory that Riggans is on the beach after his attempt to drown himself. The cut implies that he has woken up from his dream, briefly, before slipping back in. Or perhaps he does in fact die at that point on the beach.
thewritingwriters.wordpress.com
Some other people involved with the film have touched on the ending. John Lesher, one of the producers, has said his interpretation was that Riggan was actually flying at the end, but confirmed it is meant to be left up to the viewer.
In the same interview Emma Stone said she had a feeling of what Sam saw at the end, but didn't want to say to avoid influencing anyone else's opinion.
Unless Innaratu told her what his intention was in writing the screenplay (he might have), it doesn't matter that much what Emma Stone's view of it is.
"Boy that was really exciting. I bet you're a big Lee Marvin fan aren't ya."
we see the jellyfish again. I think this speaks somewhat to the theory that Riggans is on the beach after his attempt to drown himself.
A bit of whimsy to put a smile on your face.
share