MovieChat Forums > Mr. Turner (2014) Discussion > The letter at the end (SPOILERS)

The letter at the end (SPOILERS)

posted 10 years ago by kd-3
9 replies | jump to latest

Very confused by the scene at the end of the movie regarding the letter. Was it addressed to Mrs. Turner (as it looked to me to be) or Mr. Turner? Whose coat pocket was it in? Were we supposed to know who it was from or what it was regarding? How would the letter writer know the address where he'd taken up with Mrs. Booth -- wasn't he incognito there? And who took the letter to the address -- the poor maid? Who was her companion? And why did she turn away when she got to the house? MY GUESS it that it was merely a device to allow the maid to know where he was,and allow her to go there to try to see him. But if so, it certainly introduced an absurd number of questions in its wake!

[–] Rheli 10 years ago

I think it was addressed to Mr. Booth, no? The name of convenience he was using there. It was Turner's coat pocket. The point was that he was getting mail at another place. She had long suspected he was regularly living somewhere since his bed was rarely slept in. When you live in place you probably get some mail there, if for no other reason than having to do with the place itself. And I'm sure if you think about it you can come up with other reasons. No doubt she took one of her friends along on the visit. As to turning away, probably she lost her nerve in the end. I'm not sure any of it is particularly mysterious.

[–] lillurr 10 years ago

Was I mistaken or was the woman she brought with her not Mr Turner's daughter?

[–] Rheli 10 years ago

That wasn't my observation, but could be I suppose. Maybe we'll figure it out once it appears on DVD.

[–] cmhofman 10 years ago

No, she's not one of his daughters. (She looked a bit like Evelina, the one that died.) In the screenplay and the cast she's simply referred to as "Hannah's Friend".

[–] gorye 10 years ago

She looked a bit like Evelina, the one that died

It was Georgiana who died, not Evelina.

--------------

And bits from the screenplay:

Turner’s house. Hannah arrives at the table on which Turner
has thrown his coat. One of her cats is sitting on it.
HANNAH
So bad. Look at your messings.
Naughty pussy.
She shakes the cat off the coat. The cat has soiled it.
HANNAH
I don't know.
She feels something in the pocket. She takes it out. It’s
an envelope, out of which she slides a letter. Then she
looks at the envelope more closely. It is addressed to
Turner at his Chelsea address. She ponders this for a while.

It was Turner's address in Chelsea.
Mr. Turner
6 Davis Place, Cremorne New Road, Chelsea

The episode really happened.
After Turner was noticed to dissappear for some time more frequently, they could suspect he lived somewhere, but never discovered where exactly, till the day previous to Turner died. And the letter he left in his coat which Hannah found was really the key. No one knew it till then, Turner managed to keep his second life a secret.

They were known to their neighbours as Mr and Mrs Booth. Turner never married, so there wasn't "Mrs. Turner" in his life.

[–] BulmaPunkRocker 10 years ago

It is addressed to Mr. Turner (just seen it, and check it).
I suppose it was his coat, left in his old house.

I think Hanna bring his daughter with her as well, but I'm not entirely sure.

Please excuse my terrible redaction, english is not my native language.

[–] lizziebeth-1 10 years ago

Dear Confused,
The letter was in Mr Turner's vest pocket because he wrote it himself for his "wife" "Mrs Turner". That was interesting in itself since this means he finally was COMING CLEAN WITH that moniker to her. Remember, he was trying to lie about his name to her and we never saw a full scene where they hashed out his fraud!

As for the sick housekeeper, she figured out that she had competition for the "Mrs Turner" title which she clearly coveted for decades, you have to know that. So she curiously tottered over to the address she saw on the envelope looking for him, CORRECTLY GUESSING that he was living there incognito with someone.

Sadly she got the neighbours' confirmation that everything was just as she feared, at which point she finally lost her nerve and left again because she was so sick looking herself--she did not want to be seen like that by her Mr Turner while basically spying on him!

How's that explanation?

Well, at least the plot never shirks the unpalatibility of these relationships or perhaps the men themselves. For instance, the film fully lays bare the utter grunting bluntness of the title character. He was utterly unloveable by our terms, but hey, look, not only one but two women somehow WARMED TO HIM. About the only modernistic relationship was the de facto nature of Turner & Mrs Booth the widow. I myself found it a little too mysterioso why Mrs Booth smiles to herself afterwards while cleaning the window. Almost certainly because she made peace
With the outcome, but being so very unflagged, the vignette scene was annoyingly mysterious.

That's all she wrote. Enjoy the film on dvd.

Regards, Lizziebeth-1.

 Open the pod bay doors, Hal! - Per ardua ad astra

[–] Keely 10 years ago

I didn't find her smile mysterious at the end -- it seemed to confirm that for her, the relationship with him had been completely fulfilling. She took him on his own terms, laid no trips on him, and behaved as though every moment she had with him was an unexpected gift.

[–] cmhofman 10 years ago

Actually, there most definitely was a scene where he outed himself as Turner, or more precisely he was outed, by the doctor. He may not have confirmed this in words at that time, but he clearly did by his expression (and he said more by expression than words in much of the movie).