At the end of the movie, after Sam leaves and Walter holds Martha, Martha says something like "things are going to be different." What did she mean by different, different how?
Also, why does Martha let Walter kill her?
It's all a lie
shareWhat's all a lie, about things being different?
shareNow that things are done with Sam, Martha makes a halfhearted attempt at continuing her false relationship with Walter, but after they have each tried to dispose of the other there is no going back or forward. Death might not be the only way to end it, but they both know it is the only end they deserve.
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Yep, I'm with those who say she killed herself.
I also think for a moment, when she says, "its all going to be different",she means it. Although that of course does not make it true: as Sam points out, she seems to "live in a dream" a lot, having gotten away with the unthinkable as a little girl, her grasp of reality - or her own impulses and desires - is not very solid.
She also, for the first time, seeks Walter's approval for her behaviour: Sam's pointed out she's not just a killer but a murderer - and she needs to hear Walter tell her otherwise.
Why he wants to shoot her though I am not that clear about: does her want to escape her cluches or is it pure jealosy? Maybe both, and also a suicidal desire to end it all, their never ending mutual torture?
But I think once she realises that Walter does not believe her about things becoming different, that he is just that tying himself (literally) more tighter around her - and that he hates it - and still doesn't have the strenght to leave her, she, almost perversely, makes him do it...
SPOILERS
just watched this again. i'm in agreement. (i think...well, mostly in agreement, i think...)
at the end, walter takes the gun out of his pocket, and sticks it into martha's belly. she puts her finger over his, and puts enough pressure on his to fire the gun. she slumps (and dies).
then the point of view switches outside to sam, who's walking away. another shot goes off. the pov switches to an outside window looking into the house, and walter slumps to the floor (and dies).
we then see sam is still walking away (even though he has surely heard both shots). then, there's a final wrap-up. (make up your own reasons he just leaves. i like to think he's "washed his hands" of the double-suicide situation created by the two "nut cases" he's walked away from.)
anyway, a Production Code ?. how did this movie get by the Production Code restriction on suicide? or maybe i'm really missing something and nobody committed suicide.
and this movie has been in the public domain a long time. did the subject of suicide influence ownership of the rights to it and then how this movie has been shown theatrically, and subsequently on tv and later still VHS and DVD?
david lean could create a great movie, the rest catch lightning in a bottle.
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You believe me,' Martha says confidently, then puts her thumb through the trigger ring over Walter's thumb and presses it, shooting herself. A voice is heard calling, 'Ivers...Ivers,' but Martha says, 'No...Smith,' and falls to the floor.
Well, the Production Code in force at the time said, "Suicide, as a solution of problems occurring in the development of screen drama, is to be discouraged as morally questionable and as bad theatre—unless absolutely necessary for the development of the plot."
So it wasn't an ironclad prohibition; and perhaps the filmmakers could justify it as necessary for the development of the plot. The code would probably prefer that to her getting away with two or three murders.
I think she just said that to make it look like things would be better between them, but really, there was no future for either of them.
I wonder who inherited all her riches?
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JimHutton as ElleryQueen: talented hot sexy
Just watched TSLOMI again, first time in a whole (it's one of those films I like to revisit, and they show it enough on TCM to make it easy to do so)...
Taking into account how young Martha was when she was blackmailed by Walter's uncle, I believe she has "shut off" inside, believing that if she had actually run away with Sam her life would have been wonderful, or at least better than it is in her current state of affairs. She has appeased herself with power and money, and her control of. Walter. IMHO, Sam's reappearance shakes her into the present, allowing for the possibility, in her mind at least, of something different, of recapturing the past. Sam knows this is not possible, and his ultimate rejection of Martha, after having shaken her up, has let her down incredibly, and also woken her up to how desperately unhappy she really is. There is no going back to her life with Walter after she realizes that the fairy tale she has entertained herself with all these years has been shown to be impossible. She definitely kills herself, and after the exhausting way she has lived since the original blackmail, it is a relief.
"It is hard to be a man of peace. It would be so pleasant to kill Mr. Weddle." - Massai, 'Apache'
LOL! I wondered the same thing - now who gets all the money? I'm all about practicalities. :)
"Six bucks and my right nut says we're not landing in Chicago."