Spoiler Spoiler
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marchingman — 16 years ago(October 20, 2009 03:01 PM)
For the most part, I agree with Jim. This is a very spiritual movie and it utilizes spirituality in many very cool ways. For example:
When Frank first sees her through the scope, she is showing her friend what the statue of Jesus was like in the church. Frank is momentarily enamored by this, then goes about his business. Then when she walks out and stops him, she becomes momentarily his savior (right after she was impersonating in a sense the ultimate savior).
So due to the spiritual nature of the film, I do think that at the end he was almost testing his fate. It was almost like he was saying, "Last time I tried to kill myself, "coincidental" timing saved my life. Let's see if it was fate and I'm really meant to live." Then he goes to try and jump again and again a random stranger stopped him. To me, it was almost confirmation to him that he was meant to live.
And as far as throwing away the hat, I interpreted it as him preparing himself for getting rid of his life. The hat was with him through so much (he even at one point talks about what the hat would say if it could talk) and was almost a part of him. Thus, getting rid of the hat would be getting rid of part of him. That's also why he picks it up, because now that he knows he's saved again, he makes the choice to live and puts the hat back on to "put himself back together."
At least that's my take. -
macktan894 — 16 years ago(October 30, 2009 08:06 PM)
The last scene plays out in character with the rest of the film it's cryptic, ambiguous, open-ended. Frank goes on, the predator, the hired gun, unable to do himself in.
Like the first scene, Frank was interrupted in the midst of willing himself into suicide. Both times Frank removes his hat while preparing to throw himself off a high place, a quaint, "gentlemanly" thing to do, actually. Throughout the film, Frank removes his hat in proper fashion walking into homes, churchesand before suicide.
The scene in the church was definitely ambiguous. "Do you remember the first time you saw me, Frank"? "Found a girl under a tree." "I looked up, and there you were." (Not from underneath the tree, but from the street where he was on the ledge of the building. She's telling him that she knows it was him; therefore, she also knows he killed her husband. With that, he knows their friendship is over. -
hoboboxerjoe — 15 years ago(October 09, 2010 02:56 PM)
I disagree. I don't think Frank would kill anyone. I believe he was a Ronin at heart. A lost warrior without a cause, taking up whichever one pays the best, but he still has a code of honor, so to speak.
I look at Frank as an everyman that has transcended that into something world-class. He doesn't show off fancy martial arts, or huge muscles, or any other ridiculous nonsense. He is quirky, yes, but he seems like the last guy you'd expect to be a hitman. But he is so good, I would pit him against most. His abilities are so implied we only see 2 of the 3-4 hits he pulled, because once Frank Logan locks on to you, you're done.
But behind all that is an extremely complicated and solitary person. Someone with a huge amount of angst hanging around their neck. Before Kate he was ready to end himself, a dissatisfaction with life. Then after he met her he studied the joys of living again, and I think at the end he made peace with who he was, his past, and where he was going. This is a man who under the right circumstances could actually be seen in a sequel that's more drama oriented or more action oriented, either way would work, imo. Or, it would be just as mystifying to leave it a lone here.
Personally I'm thinking of way to expand on Frank Logan's character, with a brief prequel followed by a fanfic sequel. I hate how easy it is to go backward and make thinks fit into a story instead of moving forward. Would he take any hits? Did he try to make it work with Kate? Some theorized he even died, how would I turn that into something that all fans would appreciate? Well, I doubt I can. But I'm going to do my hardest, because Frank Logan is too fascinating a character to me to be left alone. -
sax-maniac — 15 years ago(May 22, 2010 10:54 PM)
My take on the ending is that Frank is indeed saved again by a stranger, but the reason he's walking away is because he knows that the cops are onto him and it's only a matter of time before he's arrested. He's leaving to start a new life for himself, probably as something other than a hit man.
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RomaVictorrrr — 15 years ago(July 01, 2010 09:25 AM)
Hi, Guys. Thought i'd toss my two cents in and say i think EVERYONE is wrong.
Frank wouldn't kill himself at the end. The girl saved him from his suicidal thoughts.
That last "suicide attempt" was a fake.
he waits for a car to show up. He then throws himself into the water. The cops think their killer is dead. Loose ends tied up. he then walks off. he can't return to the girl. that scene in the church where he gives her his coat is a way of saying goodbye. -
noveltylibrary — 15 years ago(October 05, 2010 05:55 PM)
I feel like he almost decided to kill himself, but threw the cap instead ("if the cap could talk"). I don't think the stranger had any contact with him, just alarmed there was a car parked on the bridge. He retrieves the born-again cap, and will no longer kill, nor will he see her or anyone else there again (too risky, since he knows the cop knows). I like all these interpretations, and that's mine
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janar72 — 13 years ago(October 05, 2012 12:49 PM)
Hi all,
thanks for all your suggestions about the ending - I was very uncertain about the meaning myself and I found some good interpretations in this thread!
One thing that I'm wondering about and that wasn't mentioned yet is the earlier speach Kate gave to Frank in the kitchen after her husbands death (by the way: Frank might have killed her husband - but is there crucial evidence in the movie at all?) Frank said "I'm sorry, Kate!" and she answered:
"I'm not. I used to wish that one day he would wake up, look at himself in the mirror and realise that it was himself he couldn't stand. Not me. And he'd hate himself so much that he'd go out and find the highest bridge and jump into the deepest waters and never find the bottom. It's a terrible thing to hope for. God wouldn't answer a prayer like that would he, Frank? That's not what god does."
Is it a coincidence that Frank wants to jump from a bridge at the end? I'm honestly not sure how this could be relevant to the end 'cause I can't wrap my mind around it. I'm just wondering about it - anybody else?
All in all, a good movie with brave Kelly Macdonald.
janar
For relaxing times, you know. -
jshoaf — 11 years ago(November 27, 2014 06:46 PM)
Coming to this very late, but I just saw the movie (I got hold of a DVD after seeing Birdman)
Frank had to leave town. The cop had paid him a visit, so he knew that it was only a matter of timeand they knew where he worked. They would arrest him. In the church scene he learns for sure that Kate knows that he is a hitman. She would be asked to testify against him, most likely.
He could try asking her to come with him, but at that moment, with her husband gone, she is poised for a real new life. Her secret is now in the open and she doesn't have to be so closed up any more. If he took her along, she would again be a woman with a secret. And, of course, their relationship is pretty hard to explain to outsiders.
Sohe has to leave. He remembers what Kate said about the suicide she wished for her husband, jumping off a bridge and never hitting bottom. He considers it, tests the possibility, but as in the past he decides against it. Maybe it's even a matter of the cap getting caught in the rocks instead of sinking. He gets his hat and goes off towards a new place, where he will be a tailor with a secret life, or maybe just a tailor with a secret past.
That's how I read it. But that the man who stopped his car to check on him helped him to make the decision to live, and he needs that help. -
tsromdal — 9 years ago(September 04, 2016 04:20 PM)
Hmmm nobody in this thread has commented on the fact that right after the stranger jumps out of his car with an urgent look on his face, we see a big splash in the river below.
That means to me that either Frank jumped and survived, or that he died and the ending on the path is metaphorical - the path to the Beyond as someone wrote.
"I am like Cryptonite to men. Cryptonite dipped in cellulite!" -
Buddy Cheetah — 3 months ago(January 02, 2026 03:58 PM)
Just saw it, 18 years after its release, and had another thought.
I associate the title, “The Merry Gentleman” for a movie set on Christmas, with the carol, “God rest ye merry, gentlemen”.
God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray:
O tidings of comfort and joy,
comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy.
There were many obvious associations of angels with Kate. And there seemed to be an underlying theme that good and evil exist side by side, for example at the hospital when she said something about ghosts and angels being the same except that ghosts are haunted and angels are blessed.
Kate, the angel, is linked with three men (not counting the jerk at the Christmas party). Her husband, it seems to me, did not comprehend salvation at all. The cop was totally wrapped up in himself, and thus clueless. But Frank, in the title role as the merry gentleman, recognized her instantly as his angel. In that case, the ambiguity at the end throws the experience of the film back on the viewer: what is my experience of good and evil and how can I influence the way that plays out?