THE ENDING - MAJOR SPOILERS
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huweyjenkins — 17 years ago(February 21, 2009 06:04 AM)
Hmmm interesting interpretation. I must admit I didn't think that he killed her - she just didn't want to be left alone on the night her lover was off with someone else but the more I think about it..A lovely film, Vivien Leigh is rather understated and it's an effective interpretation.
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mark_g_1 — 16 years ago(August 23, 2009 05:22 PM)
dead giveawayexcuse the pun.of course people are to make up their own mindsother wise why leave it as a cliffhangeri thought in a previous post it was good of them to point out he put the keys in his pocketa part of me wants him to just be in love with her and all through the film he wanted to get close to her but my better judgement considering what others have said about the whole feel of the last couple of minutesits so darkhe must have killed her but i feel like he had other intentions.like when leigh ran from one of her friends trying to tell her the truth about paolo, he was trying to say something to heri dont think a killer would want to speak to hermaybe to befriend her to get into her apartment to kill her but i just dont think that
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gregorynipper — 16 years ago(October 22, 2009 10:44 AM)
If he wanted to kill her, why would he constantly hang around in front of her apartment where he's sure to be seen? One might argue in response that he's crazy and couldn't think about avoiding getting caught, but then why didn't he kill her earlier, such as in the alley, if that's really what he was after?
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CheeryToes — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 01:39 AM)
I don't know why he would hang out all the time and have opportunity to hurt her several times in the film and then go "woo hoo, I got what I wanted, NOW I'll kill her." But yet, that's where the film leads you. Listening to all the dialogue going on in her head and the comment about throat slitting - she was commiting suicide by drifterthe drifting did end up killing her.
That being said, when they left it that the kid was going to kill her I thought that's the dopiest thing I ever saw - I stayed up till 4AM for that!! Love TW - but ehthis film was not for me. Though Beatty was beautiful and so was Vivien Leigh. (and the street guy)
"I jumped off a roof for you" -
badnomad — 15 years ago(May 15, 2010 12:37 PM)
Knowing Tennessee Williams work, the stranger is a benevolent Angel of Death. He saw in her from the very beginning that she would want to die, and he waited and waited until he had her consent to do her in. That's why he comes to her like a lover and with a smile. It's a benevolent act (mercy killing) in a warped "Tennesee Williams" way.
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SuzieWrong — 15 years ago(July 19, 2010 11:59 PM)
Eh, Jill St. John is wrong. Well, maybe not 100% wrong. This is a death scene.
Watch the final scene when Karen is alone. She breaks down and cries knowing that she has lost Paolo. She rings Meg, but discovers Meg has just left for New York. Meg was her last bridge to society and life, and now that bridge has been burned. The audience hears the 'voices' in Karen's head about all she has lost in her life. The final straw is when Karen sees Paolo arrive at Miss Bingham's hotel (Karen refuses to call her Barbara. Heh). Back at her apartment the last words we hear is Karen's 'voice' when she told Paolo, "all I need is four years. After that a cut throat would be convenient." Then she wraps the key and tosses it to Mystery Guy. She sits in a chair, lights a cigarette, and waits passively. We see Mystery Guy walk towards the camera (Karen's POV) and his form obliterates everything from view until the screen is completely black.
This is Karen's act of passive suicide. It is a descent into utter degradation and deprivation by submitting to this dark angel of death. Perhaps Mystery Guy does not kill her that night, but we know that there are only days or hours left in Karen Stone's life. -
socorso — 14 years ago(November 06, 2011 10:54 AM)
great take, SuzieWrong.
It was just on TCM and I had to watch the end again. It's one of THE saddest (and most depressing) scenes ever committed to film, IMHO.
Cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating. -
CheeryToes — 15 years ago(August 02, 2010 03:53 PM)
badnomad, I hadn't looked at it like thatbut then he's more of a metaphor than a real person, and perhaps she took her own life?
Perhaps if I hadn't stayed up till 4 am to watch it, I wouldn't have been so indignant!
"I jumped off a roof for you" -
celbopgirl — 15 years ago(August 09, 2010 03:41 PM)
In the first scenes of the Roman Steps, it was pointed out that its where the men hang about, looking for lonely ladies. One was shown, handing his card to an elderly woman.
The lady pimp had threatened Paolo, in her apartment. "Do you want to be on the streets with one shirt and no socks?" He became compliant.
I felt that the young man, following Mrs. Stone, was a victim of the lady pimp and her threats. There has to be a connection, because there needs to be a common thread. He might have not played by lady pimp's rules and was cut off from her favors and connections. He might have also been degraded, by what was insinuated with the Baron who was waiting in lady pimp's hallway for a date. His watching, and waiting, was his way of finding a way to survive. Mrs. Stone was fresh meat and she had something for street boy, too.
I felt that Paolo, mentioning the dead lady in France, was a way to try to scare Mrs. Stone away, let her cut things off, so he could get past the boredom and onto something new. -
info-3508 — 15 years ago(October 21, 2010 12:30 AM)
I agree. Watching the last five minutes again, each voice over is significant. It seems to me the voice over repeating this phrase at this point in the film makes it clear buh-bye Mrs. Stone. In her vanity, she'd rather die than watch her own youth, beauty and fame fade. In her loneliness, she cannot bear to live.
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richardgroen60 — 15 years ago(November 15, 2010 01:31 AM)
it is open for interpretation, however, in the end scene we are remembered by the scene where Paolo tells her about the danger, that you could ben killed by letting anyone into your life and house in this matter. So the director is pulling into the direction i would say.
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ELashes — 14 years ago(June 03, 2011 10:09 PM)
It seemed obvious to me that he killed her, but I didn't like the ending so I'm glad to know other people interpreted it differently. In fact, I'd forgotten all about this movie until I watched Identikit with Liz Taylor and found people comparing the two. Maybe I will watch it again.
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Echo_in_big_sky — 14 years ago(December 09, 2011 01:13 PM)
The last time I viewed this film I strongly felt that her stalker killed her. It so strongly made that impression on me to the point that when I viewed it just now I was shocked that he hadn't killed her. So much for memories and impressions.
Either way, it was a pretty depressing ending. Even if he were just a stalker who was hoping for his opportunity, she is just being passed down to avoid her loneliness.
I would have just gone shopping or did something creative. It's sad that such a beautiful woman of only 50 would see herself as not worth loving, or that she had nothing fun left in life except for pursuing tacky young men.
Always the officiant, never the bride.
http://www.withthiskissitheewed.com -
npaxton-3 — 13 years ago(January 17, 2013 04:09 PM)
Paolo, even though a gigolo, has the "niceties" that he learned from the contessa in contrast to the young man in rags waiting for his opportunity to move in. It appears that he knows it will just be a matter of time before Paolo will go and Mrs. Stone will be desperate enough to accept him. She is resigned to her fate but I believe it is more of a metaphorical death as the street boy will not have the finesse and connections of Paolo but will be more crude, more cruel, and more demeaning to Mrs. Stone. She will not be able to pretend that he loves her.
I took his putting the keys in his pocket as meaning that he will now move in to the life that he has dreamed about as she slowly withers away. So, in a sense, he can be called "the Angel of Death" who by taking the keys has moved in with Mrs. Stone. He may end up killing her (or a subsequent derelict might) but if that was his original intention he would have dropped the keys, taken what he wanted, killed her, and left. -
Mikel3 — 13 years ago(February 06, 2013 08:20 AM)
I believe the ending meant she didn't care anymore one way or the other, whether inviting a new lover in or death. When the stranger was entering her room we heard in flash backs Paolo's prediction that she would end up with her throat cut like so many others like her. Perhaps this was the very man who had been committing those other murders. The man she threw her keys to. We also heard a flashback of her saying she didn't care if she died in a few years. In her mind she believed she might be able to hold on to Paolo that long before she was too old or the money ran out and he left her. Since he left her years ahead of her schedule she decided the time to die was now instead of later. I do wonder what would have happened if she had reached her friend on the phone who had just left minutes earlier for NY. Would she have left with her? If so the implication is that she was not ready to die.
Either way, taking a new lover or inviting death, the ending showed Mrs. Stone no longer cared what happened to her. I usually don't care for endings that leave it up to the viewer, in the case it was fitting.