As a hopeless romantic, when I saw the young lovers who had to separate because of a father obviously, I was just waiting through the whole movie to the moment when they would meet again. I was wondering why it was taking that much time for them to be reunited. And I absolutely did not understand why one of them killed himself.
Why? Oh, why?
the reason he killed himself was that he truly believed they would meet again in a future life and he wanted to end this life for a better one... and that faith that they would meet again was the punch line of his story
shareThank you very much for this answer. I understand what you are saying theorically but I don't see why he needed to find a better life, since he had written an amazing piece and had not really killed the old man (as far as I understood). Have I missed some elements of the plot? Was he in trouble of being throwed in jail for instance?
shareHe killed his benefactor and thus would get no recognition for his masterpiece and would at least end up in jail, he was so poor he had to give his dearest possession, the waistcoat from his lover, away to pay his past due rent... he literally believed he had exhausted this life and it was time to go on to the next....
the whole movie is based on Buddhist like reincarnation and he clearly had a complete belief in it
Hi darling, thank you for answering back and being thorough. I understand better now, let's say he was utterly depressed and afraid, right? But then the way it is played is not accurate. I would have expected to see him that way. I haven't. I have had a situational surrender (as our friend here named it) and I did try to kill myself but it was very dramatic I assure you.
I haven't seen in the movie that he had a belief in reincarnation. Maybe I missed some lines as I am not a native english-speaking person. But even if he were, reincarnation is not about leaving this lifetime when you're upset and then you'll live a better next life. Reincarnation implies that nothing is never lost, which means next time you gotta deal with all the left out stuff from your previous lives.
I re-read your comment to see if I missed something, and yet he had his lover. I mean what else does anyone need?
I re-read your comment to see if I missed something, and yet he had his lover. I mean what else does anyone need?
Thank you darling for this thorough answer. I am really grateful you and others would take your time and intelligence to help me get this. And I'm getting there...
I understand more the scenes you describe by what you say than by seeing them!
In my opinion the acting was not clear enough.
Sure I saw the guy when he was hiding from the police. But he did not kill the man, right? So I mean, it's not that bad.
Also I remember he says something about his suicide to his lover, but still I could not be entirely with him, because his friend is so close to finding him.
I guess if the guy had simply suicided far away from his lover, I would be more compassionate. But I found it was a very cruel thing to do.
Very pessimistic as well. He would never be acknowledged for his work because of what he did? I am not sure. "Qui vivra verra" as we say. But hey, I can't change the ending of its life!
Thank you darling for this thorough answer. I am really grateful you and others would take your time and intelligence to help me get this. And I'm getting there...
I understand more the scenes you describe by what you say than by seeing them!
In my opinion the acting was not clear enough.
Sure I saw the guy when he was hiding from the police. But he did not kill the man, right? So I mean, it's not that bad.
Also I remember he says something about his suicide to his lover, but still I could not be entirely with him, because his friend is so close to finding him.
I guess if the guy had simply suicided far away from his lover, I would be more compassionate. But I found it was a very cruel thing to do.
Very pessimistic as well. He would never be acknowledged for his work because of what he did? I am not sure. "Qui vivra verra" as we say. But hey, I can't change the ending of its life!
While all those meanings are valid, it's also 1849. To say being gay in that time was a whole lot different than now would be a gross understatement. If caught it would be a toss up for why they would hang him first. Being gay or shooting his mentor.
Then writing your life's work, being outed, and knowing it would never be taken seriously?
Everything in this piece has multiple layers. It's an absolute masterpiece of bringing a very complicated, piece of literature (you will find the book more often on the literature shelf than the sci-fi shelf) to life that cannot possibly be done on film.
It's a scathing commentary on the adage that those who do not know history, repeat it, shown progressively through the oppression and discrimination of different peoples not just in history but in the future.
Slaves, homosexuals, women, the elderly, on into the future are all helped and fought for by those souls tied together through time.
If it was written by an American author today it would be those that came to our county. At the time we hated the Aficans, Poles, Germans, Irish, and now the Hispanics because they are different from us, and we just cant learn.
"He killed his benefactor"
I should point out that the composer actually survived being shot
"You've got lovely eyes Dee-Dee, never noticed them before, are they real?"
This is called, "Situational Surrender". It's when our mortal minds simply can not see beyond our current problems and think that in some fashion ending a precious life given to us by God is the only absolute solution.
It's a temporary form of mental illness that is cured by time, courage, strength, faith, and resolve. This so-called, "romantic" ending was nothing of the such. It was a waste of a human life endowed with almost limitless potential.
Seeing it played out in this film as anything but a tragic waste is an absurd, careless, and idiotic notion.
Waw! That is interesting! I have not understood exactly the last sentance. But for the rest, I am with you 100%.
I think it is just the movie makers who wanted to add drama, because for me it felt really gratuitious and mean. I mean when his partner is so close to meet him and he kills himself... What the what?
as we see and like that guys noticed he believed that he would meet Sisxmith again in better world like he wrote in letter "i believe there is another world waiting for us sixmith , a better world and ill be waiting for you there" and whole movie is about that we met and will meet in different times each other i have another IDEA,
so when he done his EPIC sonette and shot the old guy his life got mess badly but like we see he saw Sixmith when Sixmith came to him but he wrote letter and killed himself anyways....WHY? here is what i think. have you noticed that Artists and Talanted people are more appreciated when they are dead? so i think his suicide made the sonette not just best PERFECT,he left the whole sonette in room with letter for Sixmith and as we know that sonette released just one ore few in there cuz Sixmith couldnt manage to release more....
LATE ANSWER BUT HERE IS What i think and also agree with you guys the movie and all scenes are so meaningful....
Thank you for your input.
Did it cross my mind that the man selfishly killed himself? Yes.
Did it cross my mind that he did because in a way he had finished his best work? I think so.
Yes, very true, artists when they die become even more known sometimes.
But here it didn't work. I didn't understand why.
Who will ever know? Maybe that's the beauty of life. We never know why people kill themselves. They may leave a note or not. But only they know. And maybe even they don't.
Who will ever know? Maybe that's the beauty of life. We never know why people kill themselves. They may leave a note or not. But only they know. And maybe even they don't.
There's always the next day...
shareWhen I first saw the film I had no issue with understanding the suicide but now a few years later I feel his death is absolutely unnecessary and unfair. All other straight couples get their happy ending. Cavendish and Ursula, Sonmi and Haejoo in another lifetime, Zachary and Meronym. Robert said he shall meet Sixsmith under the stars perhaps another lifetime, but they never did. There isn't another lifetime where they get to be together in a happy ending. Only the straight couples did. Why?
Logically speaking Robert was trapped in his own thoughts before he died. It's easy to understand why he would see no future beyond his sextet. But Sixsmith was SO CLOSE! It's also easy to just let Sixsmith run a few steps faster and give them a happy reunion but no. I understand how in order to follow the original book, Robert had to die. But comparing the fate of those gays to the straights, it just seem unfair.
sometimes in a story the point of a tragic scene is to have the audience feel something very strongly
Like in the original Italian Job, when the digger (British for front end loader) crushes the Aston Martin and the XKE on screen. The director said, Yes, sure, we originally were going to have a few of the characters killed by the mafia villains, but we realized that it was so much more dramatic to show these two beautiful cars being destroyed by the mafia - actors deaths are easily faked, and dismissed but crushing two brand new cars on screen, that gets to you!
I felt the same way when Frobisher killed himself KNOWING Sixsmith was moments away. BAM, that really hits you right in the feeler.