Hi...

There's a movie opening this coming season that seems filled with all the buzz that can take it thru the critical stratosphere.

Yet, I am weary of seeing it, because I know in advance that it ends in ambiguity. That you do not leave the theater knowing more of the final truth more than you went in.

I would like you to help me make the case that films that end ambiguously can very well be worthwhile.

What are your favorite ambiguous ending movies?

The only films I can think of are: Basic Instinct, Gosford Park, No Country for Old Men, and the appropriately titled Limbo.

What are some others? What are the enduring classics of this limited subset within the thriller/mystery genre?

Do they have to be mystery/thrillers? The first movie that came to mind upon reading your question, and it's a vague, perhaps faulty, recollection on my part, was Thirteen Conversations About One Thing

John Carpenter's The Thing.

Excellent choice! The "ambiguous ending" applies to any number of horror films, which cheapened the concept as a way of setting up sequels. But some of the best films, like the one you mentioned, never had sequels. (Why am I thinking that a sequel was recently announced? Please tell me I'm wrong.)

This list really isn't about franchise films. It's not like you don't know who the killer is in Freddy the Thirteenth.

Neither would I consider Empire Strikes Back, Pirates 2, or even The Dark Knight.

It's about uncertainty as to understanding the fullness of the situation is what I'm alluding to, not uncertainty as to whether the bad guy gets it in the end...

Nick
ETA: You can make the case that Return of the Jedi reveals truths that were not even addressed in Empire, but it's not like anybody left the theater (after seeing Empire) thinking about mysteries in Jedi resolved, except perhaps how that last shocking secret came to be...

The Birds
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The Visitor?

How is Gosford Park's ending ambiguous? (And why was that spoiler-texted?) I'm not sure I understand the category.

I mean, we learn whodunit. We have pretty good ideas about where the characters are heading. There's some ambiguity about what we're supposed to learn from it all. Is that what you mean?

Birdy

2001
Stalker
Heaven
Blade Runner
Before Sunset
Werckmeister Harmonies

"John Carpenter's The Thing"

Good catch.

It's been years since I've seen it, so I may have misjudged it, but I was under the impression that the audience never finds out who did it, and the joy of the film was in watching the characters interact while upsetting the mystery genre.
As to why it's spoilered, well, who wants to pay full price for a mystery movie in which it's anybody's guess as to who did it? I mean, other than Clue?

Anatomy of a Murder (which I'm not putting in spoilers since it's almost 50 years old.)

I just saw this for the first time the other day. I really liked it, but what I really like is how the film never reveals WHAT really happened with the murder and rape. You know that defense wins and the prosecution loses, but that's really it. It's perfectly ambiguous.

Memento?

The beginning or the end?

Last Year at Marienbad.

Others?

Nick Alexander wrote:
: The only films I can think of are: Basic Instinct, Gosford Park, No Country for Old Men, and the appropriately titled Limbo.

What's the spoiler here, Nick? That certain films are on your list?

It can't be anything within the films themselves, unless of course mentioning a title in this thread means giving away that it has an ambiguous ending. But that's inevitable, of course.

Thankfully, the mere title itself does not reveal HOW the ending is ambiguous; for that, we need actual plot details, and THOSE can be spoiler-coded, sure.

2001 - at least I don't have a clue what happened at the end

WRT Empire Strikes Back - I also wanted to know what happened to Han

And I guess that any Jesus film that doesn't show the resurrection is ambiguous. Last Temptation in particular

Ooh, I've got a good one - The Shining

Matt

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

here. if not for the best use of a polaroid ever .... maybe even better than Bladerunner, on second though nahhhhhhh.


Birdy(1984) probably my own dissonance because i didnt want this bad boy to end.


Henry Fool (1997) Hal Hartley

Matt, this has already been listed. Listing it twice reduces the abstraction.



Oh yeah, Last Days and La vie de Jesus. Good call.

oops

Just erring on the side of caution, thazzall...

Nick

Nick Alexander wrote:
: Just erring on the side of caution, thazzall...

Well, the entire thread has a spoiler warning already, so ...

My own pick for a good movie with an ambiguous ending? Well, I recently wrote a blog post on the ambiguous note on which Dark City ends. Yes, it's kind of a "happy ending". But the film does give you reason to wonder what might go wrong once the credits have rolled ...

A History of Violence.

Days of Heaven

These are the first ones that came to mind:

Magnolia
Punch Drunk Love
Broken Flowers
Fight Club
Wings of Desire

The director's cut of Manhunter. "I wanted to see you.".

Marc Abraham, the producer of Children of Men, said this week that he would like to produce a "prequel" to John Carpenter's The Thing, recounting events at the Norwegian research outpost that occur in the days or weeks before the American research team has their close encounter.

Story here.

To continue with the list...

Cast Away... although, I guess the Fed-Ex Superbowl ad did answer the question of what was in the box that was never opened.

There Will Be Blood.

"I'm finished!"

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

La Dolce Vita. My favorite film, and favorite ending by far, of all time. Poignant and unforgettable.

FWIW, I guess there's a better spot to post this, but I'm too lazy to find it. Sue me.

I watched Carperter's "The Thing" when I was six. Shame on my dad. He asked me what I thought about it when it finished and I replied, "suicidal". I didn't even know what that meant; I just knew that's the description Han Solo used when Luke asked him to assist in the Death Star assault--hopeless, frightening, pointless.

I had nightmares for days of flying saucers attacking the earth. I remember sitting in the upstairs hallway because at least there was a nightlight there. I don't like horror movies probably due to this film. Too scary/freaky. Images from this film are burned in my mind--the body being absorbed by the thing; the CPR scene; Wilfred Brimley running out into the snowy night as he burned. I don't know if these scenes are accurately remembered--just that at some sub-conscious level, they give concrete visuals to my fear.

After highlighting this film for its ambiguous endings, I thought to myself, I should see this one again. So two nights ago, I fired up my Netflix insta-view and started "The Thing".

I only made it through thirteen minutes before I had to turn it off.

Now that's the power of cinema for you.

Buckeye Jones wrote:
: I watched Carperter's "The Thing" when I was six. Shame on my dad. He asked me what I thought about it when it finished and I replied, "suicidal". I didn't even know what that meant; I just knew that's the description Han Solo used when Luke asked him to assist in the Death Star assault--hopeless, frightening, pointless.

That's an awesome story. I can only hope that my boy says something like that at six, and for similar reasons -- but perhaps not TOO similar (no shame on me, I hope).

A few come to mind. These got me to appreciate the ambiguous ending.

The 400 Blows
The Return
The Sacrifice (Tarkovsky)

Lost in Translation
Me and You and Everyone We Know
In Bruges

Would the Dardennes' films be considered to have ambiguous ending? They certainly don't tell you too much.

IMO, I would think that the Dardennes's movies' endings are open without being "ambiguous". The difference is, life always goes on after the story is over (unless it's apocalyptic!), and so every ending is open, at least to some degree. But ambiguous endings are those where the central plot isn't fully resolved. So, for instance, in The Son, an ambiguous ending would leave us not knowing whether the father was reconciled with the boy who killed his son.

Winter Light (in my opinion one of the most perfectly ambiguous films grappling with faith, ever)

And lest we forget, probably one of the most disputed endings of all-time in of the the most disputed best films of all-time, Citizen Kane ("Rosebud")

Cache!

Mike, this is the thread for ambiguous endings, not obtuse ones.

Winter Light is incredibly gloomy, for the most part, but I do like it, for its artistry and for the intense grappling with theological and philosophical questions. The ending is one of my favorites (although I don't interpret it as many people do!). Good choice! Man, I miss Bergman!

This topic has been moved to the better-suited "Film Awards, Festivals, and Lists" forum...