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Re: SPOILERS ending discussion SPOILERS by Mischief Maker 11/28/2006, 7:47am PST
Fussbett wrote:

Here's Ray of Light's interpretation of the ending, which he typed at 21:00:

[21:00] Ray Comma Light: here was my interpretation: the spaceman is his soul's last body. Each ring on the arm is one iteration of the story we just saw play out twice, where the guy sacrifices the company of his love in order to try and save her life (and fail).

I'm not sure why each ring is the doctor/cancer story TWICE, but otherwise I like this interpretation well enough. A problem is that it sure does a lot of extra writing that was not even hinted at on the screen, and it's a little too close to Eternal Sunshine for my liking.

My interpretation is more linear and corporeal, but has flaws:

The spaceman is in the present (the year 2500 or whatever) and is the same man we see back in 2006, working on his monkeys. He's taking the/a Tree of Life to the dying star nebula to be reborn as other stars and galaxies with his wife, so that they may "live forever". Arriving at this conclusion, this acceptance of death as the beginning in your next chapter was not easy for Tom, and took him the full 500 years (I didn't consider the rings on his arms to be only one year each, as they're more complicated than simple rings, but I see where this could be a problem in my logic), the whole time haunted by his memories and choices. His mental conclusion is illustrated with him finally writing the last chapter of the conquistador story, like so much Neverending Story, the very literal metaphor of death becoming new life. Here's the sketchy part: The tree in the bubble is 500 years old, from a seed of the Tree of Life, planted on top of Izzy's grave, and is in a way Izzy's new body much like we hear from the story of the Mayan tourguide's father. Tom is eating the tree of life to stave off aging, which is how he's 500+ years old. I think this part is really COOL. However, I can't explain the significance of Tom SUDDENLY taking the walk in the snow in his MIND. During the walk Izzy gives him a seed from the tree (A chestnut? I'm no botanist!). He plants this on her grave? If the tree in the bubble is the one-and-only tree of life, then it doesn't explain why he talks to it as Izzy. I was assuming the walk in the snow was all just imagination and realizing what he should have done -- but the seed exchange sure seemed important.

I set out the write the explanation, and came up with more questions.


My Interpretation:

The whole thing the movie's revolving around is the man overcoming his fear of death. His fight against his wife's brain cancer was really a fight against his own mortality. Even though his wife had come to terms with death and wasn't afraid, he spent the whole time chasing after cures because he wanted her to "be with him." How long? Forever? If he finished her book for her, if he planted a tree over her grave, he'd be accepting her death and accepting his own inevitable death. Because he wasn't ready to accept this while his wife was, he was losing his connection with her, symbolized by losing her ring.

The conquistador represented his struggle against the inevitable. All throughout the movie he's fighting losing battles in the name of an impossible goal and killing anyone who dares get in his way. The queen points him away from this struggle towards the pyramid, but the only way he could get past the guardian with his flaming sword would be by accepting death. The fact that that final swing still terrifies the spaceman is proof that he hasn't quite let go yet.

You could view the spaceman as either symbolic or the scientist untold years in the future, I think the future interpretation is cooler. He's the man trying to overcome his fear of death. The closer he gets, the closer the bubble gets to the dying star. He's already divorced himself from almost all physical possessions and shaved his head like a monk. However, his wife's death still haunts him. He's projected his struggle to save his wife onto his struggle to save the tree. He still talks of his end goal as "living." At this point, the torment of the memory of his wife is something he's become downright hostile to.

The movie's most important lines are in the ordinary parts. The boss at the funeral talking of people trying unsuccessfully to "complete" themselves before they die, the "I want you here with me!" "I am here!" lines. If the man had accepted his wife's and his own death he would have been there with her in her final moments and achieved the closure she wanted.

In the end, when the spaceman finally accepts his death, then he goes back to the repeated modern day scene when instead of going to surgery, he walks with his wife who gives him the seed she wants planted over her grave. By accepting death, he allows the conquistador to find the tree, but since the conquistador is what caused him to lose their connection and lose his ring in the first place, the conquistador can't put it on, he has to die. By accepting death in the end, the spaceman recovers the ring and puts it on before he dies and gives birth to a new tree.

The last scene is either him finally burying the seed that will make his wife's body disappear and turn into a tree and symbolically accepting his own death and her wishes, or a symbolic equivalent of what the spaceman did by sacrificing himself.

That's my interpretation, anyway.
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    Warn people that it's sad! Plus tell them that Mogwai did lots of the music! by Fussbett 11/26/2006, 8:05pm PST NEW
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        Re: SPOILERS ending discussion SPOILERS by Mischief Maker 11/28/2006, 7:47am PST NEW
            Re: SPOILERS ending discussion SPOILERS by Fussbett 12/03/2006, 10:54pm PST NEW
                Poorly/hastily written, let me clarify by MM 12/04/2006, 8:33am PST NEW
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    Comic Book by Cannibal Dave 12/29/2006, 9:25pm PST NEW
        I'm never going to read this, why don't you just give me the gist of it? NT by Jerry Whorebach 07/27/2008, 8:02pm PDT NEW
    Nobody can keep anything on line. by Caltrops Magic Posting Company 09/17/2011, 11:21am PDT NEW
        Thanks. NT by Mischief Maker 09/20/2012, 6:43am PDT NEW
    Director's Commentary by Mischief Maker 09/20/2012, 6:42am PDT NEW
        I really enjoyed this thread. Loved the movie. NT by Ryan Paul 09/20/2012, 7:25am PDT NEW
 
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