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Did anyone else see a connection with the rain dropping on the wife at the end, and the dream Curtis had about his wife in the kitchen?
When Curtis described the dream he had about his best friend, he said that he was different and implied he was in danger. When we see the dream with the wife, she's wet, acting strangely, and it seemed to me that there's a tension as to whether or not she'll pick up the knife on the kitchen counter (ie, she was different and he was in danger).
At the end of the film, she was only the only one (shown?) who had touched the rain. I'm in the camp that the ending was literal, and, IMO, her getting rained on was a harbinger of bad things to come.
-- wep
Firstly, in my opinion, the ending is real and actually happening in reality so I take all the dreams of the storm as prophetic. His other dreams, I'm not sure what they were supposed to mean. I chalk them up as manifestations of his overall anxiety. I think the ending is real because the wife and daughter notice the storm VERY OBVIOUSLY/INTENTIONALLY per the director's direction AND the score really crescendos and emphasizes that this is a poignant moment in the film. The director also includes the shot of the wife noticing the motor oil. All very intentional heavy-handed choices by the director. So I have to disagree about the ending being another one of his visions, if that were true, his wife and daughter wouldn't see it. If it was one of his dreams and not a vision, and his wife and daughter were just IN THE DREAM, then that wouldn't make sense with overall mechanisms of the film's story-telling... I just couldn't see the director intending that based on the overall storytelling of the film.
The ending almost kind of feels like SIGNS. Very uplifting/revealing/moving... which in a way came off a little bit cheesy but I still think it worked. And I feel the director really delivered on the ending. I was totally thinking when they came up from the shelter that the town was gonna be like GONE... like nuclear devastation and that he was right in building the shelter. But then the town was fine so that threw me... I wasn't sure what to expect after that because I thought THAT was the ending. So bravo to the director for twisting it up a bit in the end. I thought it worked really well.
NOW... here's my question... if the ending is real, DOES THE FAMILY LIVE OR DIE? The storm ends up looking like a giant tsunami right? That kind of a storm/wave would devastate the coast and likely kill thousands. The storm looked like it was really close. And the last shot is them getting ready to run. So in my opinion, I doubt they would have time to get to their car and actually escape the storm. So they probably died right?
This almost makes me question whether or not that final scene is real. The director spends the whole movie showing off this shelter, so if there was a real TRUE storm coming, wouldn't it be good to have them escape from it to the shelter ultimately? OR is the director saying that he was right all along, but because of the scene right before the final scene where the storm wasn't as bad as he thought, they're now screwed and are going to die because there was still too much doubt by his wife? The psychiatrist tells them to go on vacation (intentional choice by the director), so they go, and then it's too late as their shelter is hours away by car and this giant tsunami is obviously coming.
So I guess that's my question? IF you think the ending is real, do you think they lived or died? It seems to me they were destined to die because they ultimately didn't take the husband's visions seriously enough. At least that's what I get out of it... which in a way is rather dark.
-- Ross
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I think the dream with her standing, dripping wet, in the kitchen, was the foreshadowing/hint that listening to her would mean death.
-- Sparta
The reason I liked this film wasn't determined based on whether he had a mental illness, or prophetic dreams. I thought it was a story of selfless love and an illustration of what great marriages are made of. The wife chose to stick by his side, when all indications are that the guy was crazy.
-- Grease
What makes you think that the final sequence isn't another dream?
What's important was that before, when he was keeping his family in the dark about what he was doing, he had to protect them in his dreams, or worse, they appeared as enemies. Now they can all see the coming storm (Curtis' mental illness) and stand by him.
-- ProjectLight
This film is more about understanding people with mental illness.
It doesn't matter if the ending was real or not. What matters is OUR reaction to it. We now, after watching the ending, feel what the character felt like all throughout the film. He knew he must be crazy to be seeing these things, but yet he couldn't make a difference between his imaginations and reality. he totally lost touch with reality. That's what we are experiencing right now by not knowing whether the ending was real or not. that's how he felt ALL THE TIME.
the emotional impact of the last scene was huge. it's only at that point when you start to have FULL sympathy for anyone suffering from mental illness. you realize the essence of what it means to lose touch with reality while being conscience about it, but unable to have any influence on it.
-- mob
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