**Obviously Spoilers**
I have come to the conclusion that Florence did not survive the poisoning and that Robert ended up killing himself. The only person who acknowledges either of them, is the red head boy who was also able to see Tom. I believe they are both ghosts that will roam the school for eternity.
That was my take, too. The way the headmaster and everyone else were talking about Florence as she walked right past them, as if she wasn't there... And then, yeah, the little redheaded boy, Parry, seeing her/talking to her, after Maud had explained that only the loneliest boys could see Tom...
I'm not absolutely certain about Robert being dead, only because of how he addressed her: "I know you're there." Even though we, the audience, get to see them kiss goodbye, nobody else reacts, so it could be that Robert is interacting with Florence the same way she interacted with Tom. Robert is also profoundly lonely, which makes sense of his ability to see her even if he's still alive.
So hard to say. I don't always need or even want endings to be explained away to me, but this is one I'd have liked to actually KNOW!
They were talking about Maud's death, not Florence's. They worded it weirdly, tying it to the water incident with Florence and higher education comments. The part about the kids adoring her made me think they were referring to Maud though. I'm in the "they lived" category of voters...though I could be swayed. The ending WAS filmed to initially lead you to believe she's a ghost now. She made the comment about no longer seeing them to Robert though. Suggesting her near death experience and coming to terms with her past has left her at peace from ghosts.
shareIf she were dead she wouldn't very well be traveling on business and communicating with the chauffeur, would she?
shareAt first I was all confused as to what was happening. When she was talking to Robert, I kept thinking that if she was dead then the kids walking by would be seeing a cigarette floating in the air. She took it from him and started smoking it. However, right after she walks away from Robert she says "hello" to some boys walking up and they say "hello" back to her. That confirmed it for me that she was still alive.
sharewelll smoke will kill u!!! so it right 4 gost 2b the one smoking!!! ahahahahaa i made funny laugh!!!!! ahahahahahahahahaa!!!!!!
shareexactly
shareI think they are alive. She tells robert to run through the walls and help her which he does.
But, it is very confusing with the clock ticking end which one would assume means she died.
But, it comes down to this where is she going that she has a driver and since when do ghosts write books.
man I hate these types of endings. If anyone knows for sure please repost
I'm pretty sure she was alive. I'll agree the ending was a bit ambigous, but there's enough evidence to suggest she lived.
The conversation the teachers are having when Florence walks by is about Maud, the water incident talked about is that of the kid that died. Florence water incident was probably added to make that line seem ambigous.
They clearly say that the Cathcart girl didn't help, which indicates that they are indeed talking about Maud, and how florence arrival didn't help her supposed depression.
And that comment is what sparks Florence quote when Robert says he knows she is there and she says, thats more then the headteachers can (or something like that). Implying how she walked right passed them and they still talked smack about her.
Again well placed by the creators to make it seem ambigous.
I'd at the very least say that there is more evidence pointing to her still being alive rather then dead.
It confused me because there is evidence that she lived or that she died lol
I know thhe boy got the stuff for her to drink so she was sick and lived BUT then hes laying in her arms and she says she can feel him now....which means she would of died
not to mention her walking past everyone and noone seeing or paying attention to her specially the head teacher when hes talking about her
but the she would know she was dead and a ghost so why would she be going somewhere in a car and on about writing lol
I think they are alive. She tells robert to run through the walls and help her which he does.
There was a staircase inside the walls. It was a shortcut. It was in that cupboard thing that was disguised as a wall. That was how he was able to run through the wall.
shareShe lived. It's intended to play ambiguous, but a few things sort of let you know. She tells the kid that she can never be happy and he gets her the antidote/puke medicine(though she doesn't puke, so I guess, antidote.) I think he wanted her to live, though the first time I saw it, I wasn't sure if he gave her the rest of poison just to bump her off for his own selfish reasons.(This is a horror movie after all. It might be the ghost variety, but still horror.)Anyway, he essentially flew through the floors of the house to get the antidote. Then I thought well maybe he gave her the antidote, but it didn't work in time as the man comes in and you hear the ticking of the clock stop(like her heart stopping. Really, I think it just meant his time had passed and he had crossed over.)
When she was talking to the boy she was getting him to cross over, essentially, though they never specifically say that; he says, "I'll stay with you, even if you can't see me." I think he's telling her sort of like I'll be with you from the other side or thinking about you from there; waiting; all that. If you listen to the lyrics of the song playing (Be still my soul, when change and tears are past) mixed with what they say and her telling him that he must be brave. It's all there just not stated specifically, so no, "Bye my sweet half sister . . ." Also, the boys mother just passed, so presumably he went to go be with her. Not sure why we never see the Maud ghost . . .
Outside she tells her guy that she is writing another book, interestingly enough on the interpretation of ghosts(Multiple ways this entire ending can be looked at.) She's riding in a car with a Chauffeur and making plans to see her guy again the next Saturday. She speaks to a boy who speaks back to her. (However, if you listened to what Maud said earlier I guess you could wonder if the boy she is speaking to, since he is the only person outside of her boyfriend who acknowledges that she is there; if he might indeed be one of the lonely boys who can see ghosts too.)
However, I do think her half-brother saved her life and she is now a believer in ghosts, writing books about them; happy with her new life.
I agree with most of these comments in that she's alive because of one thing. Yes she said hello to the lonely red head boy who could see ghosts as was explained. BUT. The very last second before it cuts to end credits in black. She passes a group of other boys and she says hello and they say it back. (Wouldn't have noticed but my closed caption was on). I rewound it and she indeed says it to a group. Which means they aren't so lonely unless they ALL can see ghosts.
So. I believe she was alive and was sending Tom on his way to the afterlife. Though it was brilliantly written ambiguously. Especially for people like us who catch every detail lol
If she hadn't said hi to the group. It would be my inception spinning top ending. But seeing the group is definitive for me.
Well, but did you notice that just as the boys said hello, another boy ran up past her and joined them. It's still ambiguous. Were they saying hello to her as she passed them, or were they saying hello to the boy joining them? Hah.
Also, remember the scene where Florence asks Robert if his friends who died in the war were still with him, could he see them? He looks away from her at something invisible and says yes. So. He can see dead people to whom HE had a connection. So maybe Florence IS dead, and he's just not going to let that stand in the way of a beautiful relationship.
I think that the director left it ambiguous, with clues in both directions, and leaves it up to the audience to decide for themselves which way they want it. It's a bit of a Japanese ending, LOL.
Lethe
Ah, but the boy who appears to say "hello" turns his head to his left, where Florence is walking, and the boy that joins the group enters to his right. To me that's a clue that she's alive. Also, she barely drank any of the poisoned drink, and she does vomit after Thomas gets her the medicine. The headmaster referring to Florence in the past tense is, in my opinion, done intentionally to avoid giving away that she is alive. Saying, "I suspect she isn't altogether well herself", would be too obvious, and it's understandable that he would use the past tense if she is about to leave the school. This and the other clues that have been mentioned - saying she's going to write another book, mention of her being driven by the chauffeur, along with the line about no longer seeing Maud and Thomas (implying their souls have passed on) lead me to believe she is alive.
We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms, turnin' every good thing to rust
I agree, she is still alive. When Tom gives her the medicine, she heaves over to vomit and then lies back exhausted.
Another way to see it is as someone said, they were saying hi to the boy that ran up or they were saying hi to her. One of the lines that throws it all out is Maud who says that some of the other boys were starting to see Tom too. They could just as easily start seeing her. But I'm unsure about the whole thing.
shareAgree completely! I had captioning on as well and caught that at the very end, because I was questioning the entire time. I think the writers MEANT it to be ambiguious so to question if she actually had made it out alive, to play with our minds and make us think she really DID die (as with what happens in other ghost stories)...but after I saw that last moment, I decided she was alive.
shareYes, I agree with that interpretation. Kept the suspense up until the last possible moment. I have been poisoned in real life (accidentally) and after I heaved up my guts (or so it seemed; certainly everything inside them anyway) and got ALL the poison out I was so exhausted that I had to sleep also.
shareIt's my interpretation that she died. When the headmaster was talking about Maud, he referred to Florence in what seemed to be the past tense. I don't know about Robert though, he was incredibly lonely and would explain why he could see her, but I was still confused about some of the interaction with Tom. Oh well, I did enjoy the movie.
shareIn Florence's awakening memory, Maud was young. But in the movie Maud was an old lady, I assume she was a real human. In the end she poisoned Florence and herself. Florence survived.
shareThis is my theory, I am not going to defend this, I know this may sound crazy....but I am trying to fill in all variables to see if it fits the formula.
When she was dieing, this is what happened...
a) She tells him to fly, he gets the medicine, gives her...but they both realize she is not going to make it.
b) Tom says, he will always be with her even if she can't see him (kind of he will be inside her n not outside).
c) He lies close to her heart, and when she is about to die she says she can feel him.
d) When Robert comes back he vitnesses, Florence's death...the clock tick stopping...
At this point somehow, Tom's restless soul gets into Florence's dead body and now makes her come back to life.
e) The head master talking *beep* because Robert made up some story about Maud's death...to protect Florence & all the things that he was aware of by then. This discussion is more about Maud's death and the poor job Florence did by not being able to save Maud and also just before the headmaster went for vacation, the last thing he knew was Florence fell into the waters and she was kind of behaving weird.
f) Florence walks past the headmaster, hears headmaster talking bad about her, but she is not worried because what they are talking is minor thing compared to what she has went through and learnt.
g) Robert and Florence are happy together discussing about book etc., which shows it is still Florence who is alive because its her body.
h) And when Florence sees the lonely redhead boy, she says Hello to him because its Tom's soul in Florence's body and this time its happy to say hello to this readhead boy without making him afraid.
She's definitely alive. Besides all the other evidence already said, ghosts don't change clothes. End of debate.
shareBut why are ghosts wearing clothes at all? Did their clothes die with them?
I think it was deliberately left vague, and I think it works as it is.
In the light of this controversy I've just re-watched the ending before deleting it from my hard disc as being not worth keeping. The ending strikes me as not so much deliberately ambiguous as unintentionally contradictory. All the dialogue suggests that she is dead, as does the fact that only two people seem to be aware of her presence. But: (1) does a ghost smoke a cigarette? And, if you think that’s only because Robert is imagining her (or is himself a ghost), the clincher for me is that (2) when she is walking across the doorway of the entrance hall before going out onto the terrace she actually casts a shadow. I do not believe that ghosts cast shadows.
shareBut Tom changed his outfit (not to mention his appearance) numerous times during the film, therefore your idea that "ghost don't change their clothes" doesn't apply to the "rules" of ghosts in this film.
share