MovieChat Forums > Félix et Meira (2015) Discussion > The Ending of This Movie was Flat!

The Ending of This Movie was Flat!

posted 8 years ago by BarNord
1 reply | jump to latest

Although I enjoyed this movie I found the ending flat and disappointing. I didn't expect a Hollywood ending but I expected more than this. Was this the director's intention to have this confusion at the end? I tended to guess that Felix wasn't prepared or accepting of the baby, and that reality set in. But what a terrible outcome for this story. But it could just have well as gone a more positive way. Perhaps the director wanted us to make up our own minds. But what a let down to the whole story. Frankly I don't see this film getting the best foreign film award at the Oscars due to the strange ending. Also couldn't understand the very final
scene of the edge of the gondola and
singing at the end. Where are Felix and Meira at this point? Think I am almost irritated about it but am reminding myself
it's only a movie!

[–] howdoesitfeelIMDb 8 years ago

Sure, it might have been a disappointment for most of us, and I must admit I was quite taken aback by this surprising ending, to say the least. But the more I read about it and the more I ponder on it, the more I come to agree with it and to appreciate its justified upsetting of our expectations. Because no one expects such an ambivalent conclusion to the tale: a new beginning between two virtual strangers just off their own version of cloud nine. Venice might be the perfect romantic canopy for their budding "official" relationship, the fact remains that they both have a lot of emotional baggage and that, most probably, Félix hadn't expected their honeymoon and subsequent regular daily life to include a baby...

Mind you, I find the awkwardness on-screen to reflect perfectly the one I felt watching Meira sincerely apologize to Elisheva, and I've begun to deduce that it's precisely what we're supposed to feel. No, not that sappy, firework-laden finale of overflowing emotion--you know, that stuff you've been fed countless times? Nope, just the stilted response of two rather lost and immature adults suddenly realizing what they've truly just "embarked" on (pun intended). Indeed reality's a different ball game once conquest has been achieved.

As for the final apology, I think that it dawns on Meira what are the actual costs of her decision for her precious daughter. I believe she's saying sorry for the past (breaking off with the Jewish community and her child's father, wiping the slate clean, as it were) as well as for the future (taking a potentially disastrous leap with an irresolute drifter). But there is hope, for the gondola is still going forward through the dark, narrow canal and emerges quietly and steadily (despite some light rocking) on a lovely main route, which I like to see as an embracing of a coming wider experience for the new couple.

So yeah, it might be a "flat" ending in a way, but it's one that makes sense and is consistent with the temperaments of Félix and Meira. Their story comes full circle: from pure strangers to strangers in an actual relationship; the courtship is done, the choice has been made; they meet exactly where both dreamed they could escape to, and now there only remains for them to start getting to know each other for real... All in all I'm personally glad that I wasn't treated to the happy ending I've been sadly taught to expect.