I was so ready to sing this movies praises until...
... That horrible, lazy ending. Thank you for the water and that's it? Seriously???!!!
FAIL!
Pretty lame, wasn't it?
Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.
MovieChat Forums > The Lobster (2015) Discussion > I was so ready to sing this movies prais...
Im currently rewatching and sometimes its just more about the journey than the destination. I mean, this is about love at gunpoint. And love can end abruptly, about as quickly as someone can pull a trigger. Is there really no symbolism in the ending that makes it poignant instead of vapid?
It's left open for optimists and pessimists to debate, but I'm afraid the ending is very clear to my apparently pessimistic mind. It cuts to black, then the title of the film comes up for the second time. "The Lobster." That suggests strongly to me that this is the origin story of a lobster. I don't think the rest of the story getting from the end of the film to that point would be that interesting and am happy to have a sudden ending that doesn't tie things up with a pretty bow.
Randin Graves
Composer
http://www.imdb.me/randingraves
Good point randinmusic, it does indeed raise a series of questions pertaining human nature; thing is, people tend to ditch patience in favor of a more expedient resolve. We all seek answers, but without the relevant questions...
share>origin story of a lobster
Sorry, not sure what you mean here.
The ending made sense - stupid is as stupid does, a whole bunch of stupid social beliefs - but I'd like to know what you meant.
I think cutting to "The Lobster" at the end is like a sign that he did leave her there and was turned into a lobster. Also, the narration by Rachel Weisz's character felt like someone reminiscing on a past relationship so I feel like they didn't live happily ever after. But I did miss the first few minutes and I may be totally wrong. That's just how I see it.
shareHow would she have been able to write down her diary if she was blind in future? Unless you mean that it's just her thought processes we are hearing.
Plus we know that the loner discovers her diary and reads through it so we know it's something she's presently writing.
Just to offer a dif side :)
See "Sunset Blvd." (1950). The dead man (William Holden) in the pool at the beginning narrates the whole movie.
shareI didn't dislike the ending. But in my mind, he successfully blinds himself, and stumbles awkwardly back to their booth. They order and eat, then gingerly saunter around the city as a couple. Then it fades into the end!
shareThat is not what happens. The ending is left open for purpose. We're not supposed to know whether he blinds himself or leaves her at the diner to be blind and alone and captured and turned into an animal no one wants to be. You are supposed to question what happens for the rest of your life. Please respect that.
share[deleted]
I'm willing to bet OP said something similar after watching the Sopranos ending.
Two for flinching!
I thought the ending was a parallel to how you kill lobsters (or at least how you're supposed to most humanely)? Stick a sharp knife straight into its brain. Did anyone else make that connection?
Great point! So it looks like in the end they do get to continue their pathetic "love" blindly ever after ;). Seriously, what a grim world!
shareI thought the ending was a parallel to how you kill lobsters (or at least how you're supposed to most humanely)? Stick a sharp knife straight into its brain.
That would mean that David killed himself then.
And all the pieces matter (The Wire)share
Oh that's very good. I hadn't remembered that.
I took the subway to Wayne Station and Batwalked up the road.
[I was so ready to sing this movies praises until... ... That horrible, lazy ending.]
*** SPOILERS ***
Isn't it 'lazy' on the viewer's part to demand a tidy ending? If the director shows David exiting the bathroom then the 'message' of the film is immediately reduced to the status of his eyes. Perhaps the director did not feel that there was a simple answer and so declined to let the audience off the hook from which he himself was hanging.
Art is about truth but it is not necessarily about 'answers'. It's a great, squeamish scene with David pointing the blade at his eye and the viewer wondering what he will do- what they would do in his place. The anticipation of the action is ecstatic, the performance of the action- merely pornographic.
Besides, as the penultimate scene of the film it really doesn't matter. Regardless of the choice some of the audience will disagree with both David's decision and the director's. So laying out the ending in a decisive manner would only appease some of the audience anyway. In other words, you may still have hated the ending- even if the director capitulated to your wish.
People who prefer neat, tidy resolutions to ambiguous endings annoy me quite considerably. Obviously an "open-ended" denouement isn't suitable for every film but as another poster pointed out well, some films are all about the journey, not the final destination. Non pun intended. I really enjoy a good film with an ambivalent ending.
"How perfectly goddamned delightful it all is, to be sure"
Once it was clear that David was prepared to blind himself in order to be "compatible" with his girl, that he was still ridiculously buying in to the mind set of The Hotel, the point had been made. It wouldn't have added anything to show him actually doing it.
shareHmmm, will watch again. But I thought maybe ending was saying that to love another, one has to a certain extent be blind to their faults, as in "Love is Blind".
shareI don't think David was "buying" into any sort of mindset, Hotel or otherwise. Earlier in the movie David goes over how long it would take for Weisz to become fluent in German. In the reality this movie takes place, I can only assume that Germany doesn't have certain laws, while other places do.
So, in the "country" they were, "compatibility" is apparently the law. And to be found in violation of the law would mean you are transmogrified into an animal (killed in no uncertain terms). They need to stay together to survive, and they need to be compatible to be allowed to stay together.