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| SPOILERS ending discussion SPOILERS by Fussbett 11/26/2006, 9:00pm PST | ||||
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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. |
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The Fountain by 11/22/2006, 9:24pm PST  Warn people that it's sad! Plus tell them that Mogwai did lots of the music! by 11/26/2006, 8:05pm PST SPOILERS ending discussion SPOILERS by 11/26/2006, 9:00pm PST Re: SPOILERS ending discussion SPOILERS by 11/28/2006, 7:47am PST Re: SPOILERS ending discussion SPOILERS by 12/03/2006, 10:54pm PST Poorly/hastily written, let me clarify by 12/04/2006, 8:33am PST 4/4 at "Arrow in the Head" horror movie reviews by 12/04/2006, 8:50am PST Comic Book by 12/29/2006, 9:25pm PST I'm never going to read this, why don't you just give me the gist of it? NT by 07/27/2008, 8:02pm PDT Nobody can keep anything on line. by 09/17/2011, 11:21am PDT Thanks. NT by 09/20/2012, 6:43am PDT Director's Commentary by 09/20/2012, 6:42am PDT I really enjoyed this thread. Loved the movie. NT by 09/20/2012, 7:25am PDT |
