MovieChat Forums > Bunny Lake Is Missing (1966) Discussion > ending

ending

posted 16 years ago by lkpo90
4 replies | jump to latest

I found the ending a bit anticlimatic. By the time it happens, you already know the brother is unhinged and the sister has to go along with it to save her child.

But what is not clear is whether they have been playing this game for their whole lives (including the past four years)? If so, the mother has been endangering her daughter by requiring her to play along with this sick game. If this was a new thing, she certainly figured how how to play quickly.

And what happens at the end? Does the brother get put into an asylum? It was odd that of all things the brother had done, the cop said "you shouldn't have lied about the name of the boat". Why did he lie-- to get caught?-and why is Olivier so caught up in that- he should have just arrested him and been done with it.

[–] whitelion43 16 years ago

It was a bit anti-climatic. But I think his beinmg unhinged is new because the sister tells him about the doll and trusts him up to that poi9nt.
Oh GOOD!,my dog found the chainsaw

[–] liscarkat (18460) 3 years ago

Until Ann found out it was her brother who kidnapped Bunny and was going to kill her, she didn't realize that he was insane. There was no reason for her ever to have thought being around him was endangering the child. At the end, we don't need to have it shown or spelled out that he was put in an asylum. Of course, he would be incarcerated somewhere for psychiatric treatment, and held there until it was clear it was safe to release him, probably years.

[–] bistritapcv (1843) 2 years ago

I bet he loses his job at the London office?

[–] KutWrite (1303) a year ago

I disagree as to when Ann caught on. She is so adept at recognizing when Steven becomes "Stevie" and how to handle his twists and turns, it had to take years of practice. To me, THAT was the best part of the last 1/2 act. Her nimble changes in role and mood to entice "Stevie" to push her on the swing vs play a new game, vs who would state the rules, etc. was fascinating.

Also, Bunny seems to know how to play along, and never seems scared at all, so I think she's used to "Uncle Steve" and his games.

I didn't mind Preminger not spelling out what happened after Stevie was caught. I like to use my brain... it's my second-favorite organ*.

Yes, I think the lie about the ship was part of Stevie's game. When he plays with Annie, he says something along those lines, like "I like to get caught." He was probably also wearying of the effort involved, so he played this one, very big, game. Maybe he didn't intend to actually kill Bunny, after all.

Did anyone else think the doll he burned says "Annie" rather than "Mommy?" It gave me a twinge of sadness when I heard it.