Confusing yet Intriguing & Beautiful! Well acted & shot!

It is my belief, after one puts the movie's events into a more precise chronological order, that everything that happened following the first few minutes was in fact taking place within the fantasy realm under the guise of the theory of alternate universes wherein the continuation of the story could as such only be possible.

In every scene following the incident with the speeding car at the cemetery one has only to look closely to observe that there are elements of the environment that reveal these alternate universes to the viewer and as such they never truly occurred. The easiest and most widely recognized are the scenes in which there are two (2) suns. These scenes take place in Kim's apartment as well as the end scene. The others are slightly more difficult to recognize and further are at times incorporated into the structure of the scene so as to make them more challenging to identify.

These scenes include the train sequence which contains several elements which serve to identify it as fantasy. The most obvious indicators exist within the train itself. From the outside, the train appears to be completely modern, however, if one looks closely at the booth seating that Kim and Dell are riding in, it's remarkably dated and contrasts greatly with the modern seating visible in the other section of the same car. Additionally, when has anyone walked into a "Amtrak" style train in the middle of the day and witnessed people slow dancing in the bar car? Perhaps after dinner on the Orient Express....but here it merely serves as a reminder that we are viewing a fantasy. Further evidence is the changing colours of the overhead lights in the bar car as well as other features.

While the train scenes are rather easy to distinguish, the scene in the Paris hotel room is a little harder to spot but if you look closely there are several "tells". The most significant is when it starts to snow inside their room as they lie on the bed.

I loved this movie from start to finish and the last thing I want to do is to take away the enjoyment of it from someone else or even worse cause someone not to see it based upon this thread. Regardless of the use of cinematic devices, for which proper disclaimers where provided in the opening minutes, I found this film to be an excellent example of conceptual art and style with a profound message of the importance of time in our lives and the manner in which we choose to live them.

Spoiler Alert!

1. This is open to interpretation but I don't believe they did and here is why not.... First, she is pregnant and clearly states that she is not leaving Jack. Second, the synopsis (although not the movie) explains that it was a six year relationship, hence the final scene is most likely the end of this time. The final determining factor I will discuss more in answer to your third question. Note that this ending is left open intentionally in order to get people to discuss it much like Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene and other films which leaves the audience to decide.

2. Yes, it was the same boy and same girl in the same universe throughout the movie. Not only did they make this clear by explicitly stating it at the beginning of the film but they did nothing to detract from this fact anywhere during the movie.

3. No, it really happened. To get into this I need to give my interpretation of the film which may or may not be right - your own interpretation is equally as valid but mine offers many clear answers.... I believe the "parallel universe" is an analogy for Dell's love for Kim, or at least his perception of their relationship. The two suns might represent the two people in the relationship. I would have to watch it again to see if there was meaning to their rising and setting and the meaning of the comets but Dell offers "comet" as his favorite word maybe because their relationship is precious to him and began with the comet.

They also spoke of it being a dream at the beginning and again at the end of the movie which tells me that the feelings he had did not seem real, much in the way love can be both magical and disorienting. Dell's actual dream that he had at the end is preparing him to accept that the relationship is truly coming to a close. His dream told him that when he went to kiss her that he would wake up. It wasn't whether or not they kissed and whether or not they did or didn't get back together but that Dell chose to "wake up" by ending the relationship. That's why he paused so long before trying to kiss her - to emotionally prepare himself to say goodbye.

You may disagree that it was HIS perception of the relationship and not HERS or THEIRS and maybe it seems different from a woman's perspective but I think I can answer that. HE was the one who had the dream at the end. HE was the one who had issues connecting to people and was questioning love.

I agree that it was beautifully done and very engaging and I look forward to seeing it again to assess my own evaluation of its meaning further.