Poll

Does Georges die in the end?

Yes
16 (76.2%)
No
3 (14.3%)
Unclear, could be either way
2 (9.5%)

Total Members Voted: 21

Author Topic: Amour - interpretations of the ending  (Read 18418 times)

Lobby

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Amour - interpretations of the ending
« on: February 18, 2013, 01:53:52 PM »
There are various ideas about the ending of Amour in the spoiler thread. So let's find out what we made of it.
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2013, 01:56:53 PM »
In the end no one can escape death. I'm not sure how I'm voting here yet though, need to read more. Technically it can be either though, so I guess I'll vote for that one.

ArmenianScientist

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2013, 03:38:31 PM »
What happened to the pigeon, tho?

Lobby

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2013, 03:39:53 PM »
I don't know. Put up a poll and find out. :)
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Osprey

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2013, 11:42:29 PM »
The definitive way to tell:

Someone needs to go back and watch the beginning of the movie.  If the entrance doors are taped when the firemen break them down, you know he never left. 

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2013, 08:52:30 AM »
Don't think they're taped, just locked.

shuabert

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2013, 06:39:35 PM »
Someone needs to go back and watch the beginning of the movie.  If the entrance doors are taped when the firemen break them down, you know he never left.

I watched it last night, and went back to watch parts of it today. It is a film that requires you to be attentive, especially to the layout of their apartment. In the opening scene, the firemen break in and find both doors to the master bedroom taped shut from the outside (which we later see George doing). Presumably, he did this to keep the smell from getting out into the rest of the arpartment, because he also has the windows open in this room (one of the firemen opens a window in a different room when they enter the apartment. The smell is obviously strong enough that it permeates the whole apartment at this point, which would suggest the body has been there a while.

The last scene in which we see George, he has moved to a spare, second bedroom off the kitchen, at the opposite end of the apartment. It is here that he gets up from the bed and sees Anne, renewed to health, and the two walk out of the apartment together. Read this scene as you will, to be a dream, or a suggestion that George has laid down and died (which is my reading), but I don't see how it is consistent with an interpretation that he "runs away" in the end (the look of surprise on his face when he sees Anne suggests that he does not understand how it is possible).

The final scene is indeed set after all the other events of the film. The shot is framed so as to show both bedroom doors with the tape removed, and the place looks cleaned up (the bed is stripped and all signs of being "lived in" are gone. It looks basically like a show home. She is an orphan, and the ghost of her parents' legacy lingers in the empty rooms.

oldkid

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2013, 08:27:27 PM »
Although I am the sole "no" vote, I do not think that George "ran away".  Rather, he was just following his imagined wife out of the house and didn't come back.  Rather than think the whole scene was in his mind, I think it was just her in his mind. 

Haneke always requires careful observation.  That's why I looked at the bedroom door for tape.  However, shuabert, I trust your eyes better than mine.
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Totoro

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2013, 01:57:14 AM »
He died, folks. It is not even open for interpretation lol. Did everyone here see the last shot?

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Amour - interpretations of the ending
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2013, 08:16:28 AM »
In the end, everyone dies. So is the life of man.