MovieChat Forums > 45 Years (2015) Discussion > Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Spoiler!)

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Spoiler!)

posted 8 years ago by michelle-920-722440
17 replies | jump to latest

My friend Lori and I saw this fabulous film tonight, what wonderful acting by BOTH of them. Like a few other posts here, we were wondering about the end... and Lori said she has to look up the lyrics of their "first song" to see if that's what set Kate over the edge at the end of the movie...

Mind you this is the song they played 45 years ago at Geoff & Kate's wedding:

Lyrics to Smoke Gets In Your Eyes:
They asked me how I knew
My true love was true
I of course replied
Something here inside
Can not be denied
They, said some day you'll find
All who love are blind
When you heart's on fire
You must realize
Smoke gets in your eyes
So I chaffed them, and I gaily laughed
To think they would doubt our love
And yet today, my love has gone away
I am without my love
Now laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide
So I smile and say
When a lovely flame dies
Smoke gets in your eyes
Smoke gets in your eyes

Now - knowing about Geoff's past love, it all makes sense to Kate, don't you think, as she gradually cracks by the end of their first dance at their anniversary party?!?

To chime in on other threads - Yes we saw the baby bump, as 2 moms, we know well the "hand resting on the top of the belly" pose. She was pregnant, and assuming we take it at face value, the fetus is also frozen at the bottom of the crevasse inside Katya.

Thought this was a great movie... will keep thinking about it and look forward to everyone's comments here!
☺

[–] ematerso 8 years ago

I was very struck with this as a choice for a first dance at a wedding reception. this is one of may all time favorite songs and it is about the grief of rejection. . . not an unchosen parting of the ways as your post seems to imply.

My friend and I were discussing this and she did not understand the lyrics as I do.. . even though she plays this piece often on the piano. I doubt GEoff would have chosen the piece, it would seem a needlessly cruel thing to do if it was his choice and anyway had he wanted to, Kate would know the lyrics and not allowed the choice.

IF you are correct. . . that would mean GEoff chose Kate, because of the likeness to Katya's name, her somber expression, and maybe even her athleticism (climbing, walking) but then why not continue with a pregnancy?

Your take is interesting though although I think if the film makers wrote that in it is rather heavy handed in supposedly extremely subtle movie.

[–] mcmingus 8 years ago

In the first scene, the song Kate is humming as she returns from her walk is "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes".

It is the last of the songs she selects when she gets the phone call from the party coordinator.

If there was a reference to Geoff choosing it 45 years prior, I missed it.

For whatever reason, it's "their song" and it clearly strikes a chord of altogether new meaning for Kate in the final moment of the final scene.

*Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance*

[–] thepooles-1 8 years ago

I don't remember if it was explained who chose the song for their first dance at there wedding. It does seem a conceit of the director to want to use it for compelling affect at the end without having thought that most couples would have had something else for their first dance. I doubt many couples would also select Secret Love.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 8 years ago

I didn't even notice the "hand on the belly pose" until I read the posts here and went back to have a look. I thought Kate was looking at a wedding ring at first.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] spank-my-17 8 years ago

Yeah, me too. I even tried to see what shocked Kate from the pictures, but just took it that she probably saw a ring or something like that. Need to rewatch that scene at some point.

[–] chuffnobbler 8 years ago

The final scene is so crushing because the lyrics of the song make sense to Kate for the first time. "They asked me how I knew my true love was true" ... "Laughing friends deride tears I cannot hide" ... Kate can never again hear this song without thinking about Geoff and Katya, so she can nom longer think of their happiness of their first dance at their wedding without it being overshadowed.

We've all heard this song before, but I for one had never considered the meaning behind it til I saw the final scene of 45 Years, then it took my breath away.

[–] Flickfan-3 8 years ago

I also had to look up the lyrics after leaving the theater--
Some points--
1--Jeff was much older than Kate when they married--likely her first serious boyfriend (one wonders if the age difference was one reason her father was opposed to him as her choice) and also likely the dominant party in the early relationship--despite her as more his caretaker when the film opens...
2--The Platters are more from Jeff's era than Kate's --- she is almost 10 yrs younger than he is--first performed in 1933 in Broadway show "Roberta", it became the Platters' hit in 1958--and very likely was something Jeff and Katya would have been more familiar with than Kate-- In fact the name of the album this song was featured in was "Remember When"... A little too close for comfort...
So while she might have THOUGHT it was her choice--I am thinking it was Jeff's connection to Katya that motivated that song as Kate and Jeff's wedding dance...
Compare it with the other music Kate chose--those are much more in sync with HER era (Moody Blues being one that comes to mind)

3--Consider the lyrics--which surely you would do when choosing a first-dance song--
Everything points to plaintive, former, dead love...how does that connect with happy wedding--
Frankly it doesn't---

4--I think the point for Kate was that she went into that event knowing that SHE knew Jeff was still harbor int feeling for Katya--that maybe she had never really replaced her in his ranking of loves but as long as OTHER people didn't know about his failed allegiance then she could get through the night...
He made that speech--said almost an apology to her of his failure--and cried (which her friend warned her he would do because he would FINALLY realize how special the event was) and maybe she was a little convinced that he had reformed, realized that what they had shared for 45 years WAS worth more than what he had with Katya, and then they dance to THAT SONG---
And she realized as if for the first time exactly how duplicitous Jeff really was--
That even THEIR song at their wedding was really tied to his worshipping a dead woman--

The questions we had were
1--would she continue to stay with him and live in this delusional relationship???
2--how could she NOT confront him about the information he just refused to admit--the fact that Katya was pregnant being the most important
3--was she starting to think that maybe there was more to Katya's death than Jeff disclosed--since he had been lying about all of it
4--HOW LONG had Jeff been going to the shrine in the "loft" and worshipping with those photos---ever since their marriage???
Maybe only since his heart surgery forced him to leave his job and be home while Kate was teaching????
5--How could she NOT realize there was something missing during those 45 years???
Was she just so passive??? Was she just so in love???

"That's the beauty of argument, Joey...if you argue correctly, you are never wrong..."

[–] nyjack 8 years ago

I think people may be making too much about the song's lyrics. Do you (pl.) know all the lyrics by heart and what they may mean to every song you have liked over the years? "Smoke" is a great slow-dance tune and it sounds romantic when sung by the Platters.
I don't think Geoff had been "cheating" on his wife all these years. What happened to him here over the few days of the movie was that he was grieving. People can do that when they get news of an "ex-" dying. Granted, it did not seem that he had given his wife the full story of his relationship with Katya, especially the pregnancy, but as far as he knew she had literally disappeared out of his life close to fifty years earlier. I'm sure there was an investigation at the time, the guide interrogated by the local police, and Katya's family held some kind of service, but still, it is not the same without the body, as any family still grieving about still-lost and presumed dead soldiers from wars.
Geoff got hit by the news out of the blue and over the course of the week was overcome by a grief he wasn't prepared for and one that soon transferred to his wife.
I know it was very movie-like to end the way it did, but I think Geoff had truly gotten over his grief and was sincere in his anniversary speech, and perhaps with a little help from a therapist singly or in group, so will Kate.

[–] balthazar_bee 8 years ago

I think people may be making too much about the song's lyrics. Do you (pl.) know all the lyrics by heart and what they may mean to every song you have liked over the years? "Smoke" is a great slow-dance tune and it sounds romantic when sung by the Platters.

I don't think Geoff was seeing anyone else during his marriage either, but it's hard to dismiss the implications of the lyrics of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", particularly the drawn out way we (and Kate) suddenly hear the line "I am without my love". So whether or not we already knew the lyrics, or understood what they mean, the context of the previous week has given them new resonance.

[–] jdahlen-1 8 years ago

I also believe that the lyrics of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" was the epiphony for Kate. It suddenly hit her that this song referred to Geoff's love for Katya. Thus, the hand being suddenly pulled away from him at the end.

That being said, I'm having difficulty understanding why Kate felt so threatened by Geoff's sudden grief and passion for Katya's memory. It seems clear to me that Geoff only mentioned Katya to Kate once, early on in their relationship. Yes, he left out many details(like Katya being pregnant), but that is understandable from his point-of-view as not wanting to bring painful memories to the fore.

As to his behavior after being informed of Katya's body being discovered. Who here has forgotten their first love? Nobody, that's who. Geoff is no different than you or I. Given the circumstances of how his first love died, it is completely understandable why he reacted the way he did.

I believe that Geoff's speech to Kate at the party was genuine and from the heart. That said, he will never forget Katya. He loves both women. That is what Kate will have to come to grips with, if she chooses to stay with him.

[–] FearlessOneDay 7 years ago

Nice post.

That being said, I'm having difficulty understanding why Kate felt so threatened by Geoff's sudden grief and passion for Katya's memory.

Me too. Also, the impression from the film was of a very unhappy Kate, but when I saw the movie a second time, I was surprised at how contented and happy Kate appears in the early part of the film until the ghost of Katya intrudes. Do you think that Kate had repressed her desire to have children and became bitter when she found out about Katya's pregnancy? I can't remember: do we learn why Geoff and Kate didn't have children?

[–] timkens 8 years ago

It's also the only song of the ones that are mentioned in the phone conversation with the DJ and/or played at the anniversary party that is NOT from 1966 or 1967.

And think of it -- Geoff's true love has literally "flown away"!

[–] mariesmith1234 8 years ago

One critic pointed out the significance of the song that the audience hears AFTER 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' - once the screen has gone black. I, too, think it's important.

The song was by the Moody Blues, thus later than the The Platters and more likely to be from Kate's heyday.
It was "Go Now":

We've already said......
‘Goodbye’.
Since you've got to go
Oh you'd better go now.
Go now.
Go now.
Go now.
Before you see me cry.
I don't want you to tell me
Just what you intend to do now.
'Cause how many times do I have to tell you
Darling, darling,
I'm still in love
With you now?
........
And so on.....

[–] kittwarn 8 years ago

Yes, I agree that "Go Now" is extremely important. Well done, and heartbreaking.

[–] kenny-164 8 years ago

Ftr Go Now is NOT a brush off song, but is ambivalent, as in the reference to still in love with you now.

Anyway...

I find it hard to believe that Geoff would have consciously picked Smoke as a paean to Katia for his wedding song with Kate. Why would he do that? He already in effect admitted that he did not speak to her much about Katia because he was concerned how she would react (a very understandable and cautious approach). So why would he risk that and her reaction by picking such a song?

More likely (assuming he picked it on his own, another huge assumption - what couples do not choose a song they both like and want and think says something positive about them???) it might have been unconscious. But then it is not clear what the connection is to the ending.

I am concerned this is something of a flaw in the ending. Charlotte Rampling's hand and arm dropping were clearly I think meant to show Kate's character pulling away from Geoff, but the songs themselves do not necessarily add up to support that that is what is going on.

[–] DeepCinema 8 years ago

The choice of this song made me think that young Kate was probably so in love and so full of hope and promise @ their wedding that she would have felt immune to its tragic final elements.

An example from my own life would be the beautiful song I love, "The Water is Wide," which is two thirds optimistic and loving and yet includes that miserable verse about love growing old and waxing cold and drifting away.

Another thought I had about "Smoke gets in Your Eyes" being played at their wedding 45 years ago was perhaps that then it was played only as an instrumental.

[–] colmanspig-42497 7 years ago

Pretty sure that its the wrong song she talks about there first dance song with her husband the song title is not smoke gets in your eyes, i think it wass called something like , 'yes i do love you'

anway later in the film she is in a muddle and gives the event palnner a list of song but smoke gets in you eyes is the one she gives. when they are dancing she notices , he dose not.