Ryan McNeil
A few nights ago, I watched a wonderful film that left the crux of its story to be determined. It was delightfully ambivalent, with multiple interpretations that depended on the viewer’s outlook on life. Moments after the film ended, that ambivalence was eliminated thanks to a conversation with the film’s director. The film is still marvellous, even knowing what I know, but now that I do know…I find myself wishing I didn’t.
It’s the strangest paradox – the unanswered question. On the one hand, you’d love to get something concrete.
…Did the top fall?
…What was in the briefcase?
…Where did he get the scar?
…How did the plague begin?
These details seem deliberately left open, almost as if the writer or director wanted us to argue about them for weeks afterward, and puzzle over them for years to come. They give just enough information not to let the detail derail the whole story, and sometimes leave sufficient breadcrumbs to sway the answer either way.
I like these moments of mystery far more than I like knowing the answers. Sometimes though, I feel like I’m in the minority.
It seems like a lot of people nowadays need to know the truth. They want to know precisely what the author was going for, and anything less than a complete answer will not do. I wonder why that is? Why the need to have it all spelled out. I prefer to let my imagination fill in the blanks, and mull over the meaning of all the various details, in a small way that makes the story my own; like those Choose Your Adventure books I used to read when I was a kid. But I feel like I’m deeply in the minority on that.
Take LOST for instance. People were grumpy when that TV show ended and there were still questions left unanswered – or worse yet, that the answers given seemed lame. This of course was slyly acknowledged in the show’s penultimate episode, one which would take us back as far back as the show would go. In that episode, as a character began asking some of the key questions we’d all been wondering, another character said matter-of-factly “Every answer will only lead to more questions”.
Perhaps in cases like these, the truth is like a magician revealing the secret to their illusion. And what fun is that?
Think about GROUNDHOG DAY. Never once in that movie is it explained why Phil is doomed to keep repeating that day over and over, or why it is that what finally lets him get to the nest day is the key to letting him move on. Yet we’ve adored the film for almost twenty years, taking joy in the high concept and watching Bill Murray take mulligans for 100 minutes. Would knowing the answer to his mysterious situation bring us more joy? I, for one, say “nay”…but if you do a bit of Googling, the answer is out there. If you find discover answer, and find yourself underwhelmed – don’t say I didn’t warn you.
That truth I learned about this weekend’s film might have taken a little of the sting out of its punch, but it wasn’t enough to ruin its effect completely. And while the director was happy to provide the answer, part of me wishes I’d chosen that moment to cover my ears and hum.
I’m with you here. Sometimes you just have to do as the character in A Serious Man says: “Accept the mystery.”
Knowing the answers to everything isn’t always fun. Another movie quote applies here, too. From Chris Nolan’s The Prestige “The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything.” Nolan implicitly understands this idea. It’s why the ending of The Prestige is so brilliant. He finishes the film by ostensibly revealing everything, but it still takes a lot of reflection to figure out how he put it all together, and in the end the biggest takeaway is how far the characters had to sink to achieve their goals. “The trick you use it for is everything.”
And when it comes to the ending of Inception, Nolan is smart to leave it ambiguous, partly because it’s fun to debate over it, but also because the ambiguity actually reveals the important themes of the film and what really matters to the main character. Nolan also wisely has never given an answer to clear up that ambiguity. He didn’t put the answer in the film, why should he ruin that effect by giving the answer in real life?
Couldn’t have put it any better myself – and actually, I don’t think I really did!
I’m not running to look for answers, but I thought Nolan said that he didn’t even know if the top dropped. And I’m surprised that there’s even an answer for GROUNDHOG DAY. I never thought to question it.
It goes back to something I commented on in one of your posts recently – the majority of people have an insatiable need to know everything, or in this case, have everything laid out and explained for them. No stone unturned, no question left unanswered. There are those that have written to J.K. Rowling, demanding she fill in the missing years between the death of Voldemort and the epilogue, and what happened after that.
I think it’s a result how society has evolved. We can get the answers to how all the CGI effects were done, or how WETA made all the props, yada yada yada… and in the end, I think it reduces the magic of films to a “if you had the money, you could do it too” equation. Which I think cheapens the experience, and the same can be said for knowing all the answers in the end, wen not knowing leaves you breathless time and again.
With the answers so easily accessible, it takes so much of the joy out of it all. Not just in experiencing the art, but also in the discussion after. Disagreeing over an artist’s intent? Just whip out a smartphone and settle it before the next round.
I’d say more, but will stop now before I start a sentence with “In my day…”
David Mitchell does a good rant on why it’s best that we leave some mysteries alone. Though in his rant he was referring to Harry Potter, I think part of what he said held quite true to films that are open for interpretation. That mystery allows us to fill in the gap with our own personal perception and belief of the world. It puts us in the film even if we don’t want to be.
At the same time, however, I notice a contradictory effect. It tends to agonize people – especially those who hold strong feelings of need for belonging. Because that open-endedness is there, it lacks the social cohesion of many other films. Where everyone can discuss the film having seen it through the same scope and with the same filled in explanations. So you see people hoping from one “X film explained” post to another looking for people who saw and interpreted the film the same way they did.
I think it’s a case-by-case basis. Although I’m usually a fan of the ambiguous ending, I’ve seen a few cases of it that led me to believe the filmmaker was just being lazy; he couldn’t figure out how to end his movie.
And oh yeah, I definitely gotta agree about Groundhog Day. That’s one of those movies I’ve seen more times than I can remember, and never once did I wonder why he had to relive the same day. It needed to happen for the plot, so it happened. Then I randomly discovered their original idea to show why he went through that ordeal. I highly doubt the movie would still be so revered if it engaged in a trope so corny. I’m glad they left it mysterious.
In full agreement. I’m more interested in the films that keep me thinking after the credits roll, the ones that make me wonder at the mystery, than the films that tie off everything into a nice bow. The delight is not in the answers, but in the journey for the answers.
I’ve had people ask me to explain certain movies before and while I used to give my understanding, I’m now much more interested in letting them struggle with the material themselves and come back with their own answer.
Interesting concept. I very much enjoyed the ending of Inception. Actually, I thought the ending was brilliant and wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Like you, too, I was in the minority with this opinion, at least among those I spoke to who saw the film.
At times, I do like the spaces filled in. Walking around with a completely LACK of understanding on a film (or book, or story for that matter) can be frustrating. But an open end is a great thing, in my opinion. I enjoy film that makes you think, and doesn’t give you a cop out kind of ending just to make everyone “happy” in the end.
I thought of the movie Source Code that came out earlier last year. That ending was so bizarre, and I’m not quite sure if it really fit with the rest of the film, but then again, it left questions open while still trying to have a happy ending. I’m not sure what to make of it.
And as for The Prestige – I LOVED how Nolan got to the ending in that film. It had everything to do with the trick. Great, thought-provoking post.
Welcome to The Matinee Kristin!
Few moments in moviegoing have given me the grin that the final shot in INCEPTION did, and I too remember a lot of friends I hang with and websites I frequent trying to find all the clues to get a definitive answer. For me that wasn’t the point – it was everything else leading up to that moment that caught my imagination.
I’ve said this many times before; For me, a film that doesn’t completely add up is like a song whose lyrics don’t make sense. I haven’t the first clue what rockinghorse people or marshmallow pies are, but I think John Lennon sings about them in a wonderful way. Though to be fair – sometimes I want some blanks filled in (MULLHOLLAND DRIVE comes to mind).
Glad you liked this post – sounds like you’re of a similar mindset and one who – as The Coen Brothers put it – “embraces the mystery”. As for SOURCE CODE, I had some thoughts on that one too, take a look if you’re interested.
I totally agree that mystery with unanswered questions can be a really interesting way to end a movie or TV series. Like George Lucas showed with quantifying the Force in the Phantom Menace, it’s better to just leave it open. For Lost, I’m not saying that I enjoyed every part of the finale, but I never watched it to get all the questions answered, so it worked for me.
A really good example for me is John Sayles’ great film Limbo. The end could be maddening for some, but I thought it was perfect and better than either alternative if we’d seen it go further. The characters’ emotional arcs are closed, even if the full plot isn’t finished.
Cool post!
Never seen Limbo – I should probably track that down.
It’s not for everyone and really depends on what you think of Sayles. I’ve seen most of his movies, and it’s one of my favorites. The great David Strathairn stars and gives on his best performances.
I was in the minority of people who really liked Lost. Sure season 2 & 3 kind of got bogged down when they started creating more questions then they were answering not unlike in Twin Peaks where David Lynch and Mark Frost admitted they lost their way when the resolved Laura Palmer’s murder and were never got back on track. I think the writers got “lost” on Lost but were able to bounce back in the end because they always had a definite ending. I think when they set an end date they had to start resolving some of the questions to get to the finale. Although in Lost’s detractors defense the creators just completely abandoned the polar bear in the jungle thing and the whole Walt plot line was dropped due to the fact that the actor aged so much inbetween filming. At least it was the most compelling pilot I’d ever seen and was worthy of its Emmy in its first season.
Speaking of David Lynch, he’s probably the master of leaving questions unanswered. You just kind of have to go with the surrealness of it all to enjoy it.
Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is probably the king of unanswered question movies what with the strange monolith and starchild sequence. Well at least until Inception came along anyway. In reality Arthur C. Clarke’s book better explained the monolith and the starchild event not leaving it up to our own minds so much.
[POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!!!] In The Usual Suspects Bryan Singer and writer Christopher McQuarrie say at the end of their commentary track that they’re going to reveal if Verbal Kint is really Keyser Soze or just a guy using the legend of Keyser Soze. But when they start to reaveal the truth their voices just run together in a cacophony of noise that you can’t understand thus jerking you around and leaving you to figure it out for yourself. Ha ha Bryan.
http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133606 Here’s a good link with 100 unanswered questions although some are what Hitchcock referred to as “MacGuffins” and not unanswered questions. ie. The Maltese Falcon, the briefcase in Pulp Fiction or the Rabbit’s Foot in MI:3… see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin
I want to say “Welcome to The Matinee” Dave…if you’ve commented here before, my apologies for not remembering.
I’m with you on LOST, and count myself a fan of what they decided to reveal and what they had the audience fill in. When the show ended, I immediately went back and started it all over to see how the pieces all fit together, and they did so rather nicely. I wasn’t flawless (and you couldn’t be more right about that stretch where the writers didn’t know how much treading water they had to do)…but for me, it was good storytelling.
I’m not the most well versed where Lynch is concerned, but as I mentioned earlier to Kristin, MULLHOLLAND DRIVE was one that left me the most cinematically confused at the time (I now understand a lot more).
2001 is a film that I didn’t much care for at first, but has grown on me so very much with subsequent viewings. That felt like a puzzlebox that I wanted to solve, to the point where I actually did reading on it and watched every feature on the blu-ray. It’s amazing how much of the narrative is actually right. there. to be seen if you just pay attention.
Thanks for the comment sir – and for stopping by.
Nope you didn’t forget me Ryan I new here… first time caller.
Yeah my favorite artist is Dali so I’ve always been into the more surreal films like those of Lynch and others.
Nice blog BTW.
Good to know my memory isn’t totally gone yet. Glad you like the site! I’ll check out yours in short order.
One of these days I’ll have to dig deeper into Lynch. Perhaps I can convince Simon to cover him with me for series two of The Film Locker…whenever we get around to it.
I have to admit i am one of those people who generally likes to know the truth…or at least have some hint as to what the ending is. This is probably why i haven’t been able to get into the more highly regarded artier films like 2001.
Understandable. The good news is that with older artier films, much of the finer points have been dissected and explained over the years. So if you ever felt like picking up a book, or reading an essay, you might find that it plays a bit better.
Course if you didn’t want to treat movie-watching like homework, nobody could blame you.