**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.
I think that there is another possibility: that the "ghosts" are simply the manifestation of painful memories brought to the extreme. Roberts sees the "ghosts" of his friends who died in the war because he is suffering from the "survivor syndrome" (notice the scene when he says that he is seeing them "in that very moment"). Neither we nor Florence see anything.
Florence sees the "ghost" of her repressed memories. Once she "brings out" what happened in the past, and reconciles with it, the ghosts disappear. IIRC there is a line in the movie about how "you can still retain the memories" or such, meaning that painful experiences still don't disappear when "cured" (and Robert could one day overcome his guilt and still bring with him the memories of his dead friends)
Of course the movie brings the idea of "ghosts as a projection of our mind" to the extreme. In the real world his usually happens to people with serious mental disorders (like schizophrenia) - and I don't think that either Florence or Robert were mentally sick. But, interestingly enough, around the time the movie was set (1921), Carl Gustav Jung wrote a book titled "The Psychiatric Origins of the so-called Occult Phenomena". I read it and it is as scary as hell - and I was reminded of it while watching the end of the movie.
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I think she is dead.
The boy with the red hair said hello because he could also see Tom.
Why, having supposedly just saved herself, did she feel the need to sleep?
As she is walking past everyone no one moves out her way or says hello especially the gentleman in the corridor.
The teachers talking about her as she passes them. Clearly the boys will miss Maud but talking about the incident with the water I think they assume Florence wanted to take her own life anyway and that somehow Florence had led her astray. He says something like 'Ladies minds cant often cope with further education' backing up the theory that they think she has taken her own life. The headmaster also made reference, when Florence first arrived, about no parent should lose a child. I assumed this was Maud he was talking about as he had asked right before if she had met Matron so maybe in his mind, Florence - seemingly wanting to die by falling into the lake, has lead Maud to take her own life too.
Robert says 'I know you're there' Why would he say that to someone alive? As for the cigarette she takes from him - watch the scene again - he magically has it back again.
Robert also admitted he could see ghosts, he could see his friends from the war.
'Not seeing them isn't the same as forgetting.' This implies to me that Maud & Tom are no longer visible to her.
As for the argument she is planning on writing another book I took this as sarcasm from a converted non believer. As for having a car pick her up, well Tom continued to go to class so I assume that they still go about their daily business in the afterlife OR she isnt aware she is dead.
" The headmaster also made reference, when Florence first arrived, about no parent should lose a child. I assumed this was Maud he was talking about "
In hindsight that may be what he meant. But the first time I watched the film, I thought he meant that he himself had lost a child. A man his age would be too old to fight in the War but old enough to have a son the right age to be killed in the War. Also, the epidemic killed a lot of people so he could have lost a child that way. That particular flu was most dangerous to young people which is why it was so devastating that it happened when there were so many young men at close quarters.
I will have to rewatch it but my take is she died.
shareI know this is old but since no one corrected it, for future readers there is a correction.
There were not talking about the incident at the water, but the incident of the walter boy (the boy who died before she came to the school) in ref. to maud being unstable.
Had there been two deaths they would have mention it, but they keep stressing how maud died.
Let yourself be happy
She is definitely alive in the end. Whatever little doubt we have goes away when she takes the cigarette from Robert's hand and hands it back, kisses him , talks about writing a book and meeting him on saturday. She even says "Hello" to another boy who is with his friends.
Well either they were both dead or both alive - they were smoking the same cigarette.
Better to regret something you did, than something you didn't do!
I had to watch it a few times before I could figure it out. I initially thought she was dead. Since no one seems to notice her except Robert and the red head boy who saw Tom, it makes perfect sense that she is a ghost. But when she says "not seeing them isn't like forgetting," (or something like that) it makes it seem like she's alive and Tom and Maud crossed over. And right before it cuts to the credits, she says hello to a group of boys and they respond without hesitation
shareIt's clear she is alive. She shares the cigarette-that's it
shareHere is what really happened at the end and i quote from the director interview that i will post a link to it at the end of his quote.
quote " It’s not intentional. This film is about people seeing what they need to and seeing what they need to is carrying forth of the film and as such, I wanted to give audiences that chance at the end. Yeah, I know what she is. Rebecca and I decided she’s alive and then she smokes and she gets a car. Yes, we accept that, but I wanted to toy with the audience and let them be subjected to the same psychological effect as the characters do in the film that if they want her to be dead, she’s dead, and if they want her to be alive, she’s alive. Interestingly, and the audiences that I’ve spoken to, it’s split generally down gender lines that women think she’s dead and men think she’s alive and I don’t know why that is and smarter men or women than me can work that out, but that tends to be how it goes. But no, I had to make my mind up, and I think it’s cheating to say, “Oh, I don’t know. You decide.” If anybody cares to know the truth, I’ll tell them but what’s imperative to me and coming from television, which is a very immediate medium, I wanted to give people plenty to talk about in the lobby afterwards. So that’s a very, very important part of the cinema-going experience. If we’re taking 10 bucks off these people, we’ve got to give them something more than an experience that ends when the credits roll and the subway chat, that matters, it just matters and this is absolutely a film that you will talk about and reanalyze on the way home in your mind. I want people to be lying in bed having watched this film, tossing over scenes in their mind and realizing how different the meaning was when viewed and reviewed knowing what you know at the end"
http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/169205-exclusive-interview-the-awakening-director-nick-murphy/
I read in a interview shocktillyoudrop with the director Nick Murphy the following....
Shock: One thing I’m not sure if you can talk about on the record is the movie’s ending. A lot of people walked out of the movie wondering if Rebecca Hall’s character was dead or not.
Murphy: It’s not intentional. This film is about people seeing what they need to and seeing what they need to is carrying forth of the film and as such, I wanted to give audiences that chance at the end. Yeah, I know what she is. Rebecca and I decided she’s alive and then she smokes and she gets a car. Yes, we accept that, but I wanted to toy with the audience and let them be subjected to the same psychological effect as the characters do in the film that if they want her to be dead, she’s dead, and if they want her to be alive, she’s alive. Interestingly, and the audiences that I’ve spoken to, it’s split generally down gender lines that women think she’s dead and men think she’s alive and I don’t know why that is and smarter men or women than me can work that out, but that tends to be how it goes. But no, I had to make my mind up, and I think it’s cheating to say, “Oh, I don’t know. You decide.” If anybody cares to know the truth, I’ll tell them but what’s imperative to me and coming from television, which is a very immediate medium, I wanted to give people plenty to talk about in the lobby afterwards. So that’s a very, very important part of the cinema-going experience. If we’re taking 10 bucks off these people, we’ve got to give them something more than an experience that ends when the credits roll and the subway chat, that matters, it just matters and this is absolutely a film that you will talk about and reanalyze on the way home in your mind. I want people to be lying in bed having watched this film, tossing over scenes in their mind and realizing how different the meaning was when viewed and reviewed knowing what you know at the end.
I don't get this whole thread.
The headmaster is talking about how Maude died and that ghost hunter girl was no help. He would obviously be talking about how they BOTH died if that is what happened.