What she realized during the movie at the end...

I think it is not about love, but more about recognition. She, at the very last moment before slipping into coma, never keeps her eyes out of the film Greg made. Why? It's because "no one has done more to make me smile, and no one ever could". He also realizes she is not a burden, but the best thing that has come across his life. All of this in a dialogue-free, breathtaking musical moment.

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In response to OP, I interpreted it as to show to Rachel the faces of the people who loved and cared about her. He didn't put all of the depressing, sentimental well wishes that all of the students said during recording. He didn't put in any of her mom's reminiscing, but instead simply a close up shot of her face. I thought it was also poignant that the only person in his film who wasn't just profiled but actually showed grief was himself, as if to show her how much she actually meant him.

Why she basically died watching his movie I dont understand anymore than to see it as an artistic choice. As someone who teetered back and forth between hating it and loving it, that scene got me. It was beautiful. After some of the more on the nose parts, the subtlety and beauty of their completely nonverbal communication and conveyed emotion was something rare today.

The love was there for both of them long before that scene. For me, it began the first time she fell asleep on him while watching movies.
Everyone they were with already knew it. Earl, Denise, Madison.

He just didn't know how much she really appreciated his selflessness until he saw the artwork, and the squirrels, and the letters. She always saw his acts, but he never noticed hers. Obviously she had been working on some of those things a very long time.

So sad.


Lose the Game!!!!!!!