The Storm
directed by Jeff Nichols
The scene: The film tells the story of a man obsessed with building a storm shelter. Throughout the movie he is unsure whether what he is seeing is real or fake - hallucinations caused by schizophrenia he suspects he may be suffering from. In the finale, his wife finally convinces him to leave his paranoia behind and spend a day with her and their daughter on the beach. He agrees and the last scene of the movie shows him playing with his deaf daughter as she suddenly raises and shows him the symbol for the storm. He stands up and looks at something in the distance. Then we cut to his wife, who looks stunned, glancing at the distance and then at him. We see weird yellow raindrops falling on her hand, same we saw in the film's opening. And we finally see she is looking at the horrible storm approaching them. The ending is ambiguous - whether it's all symbolic showing that the wife accepted her husband's condition or - something I chose to believe in - it's cruelly ironic - the husband finally caved in and left the safety and now they are away from the shelter, facing death. The important thing though, is that they are together.
Previously in the series:
That's a great ending... I was like "oh man, he was right. Except, it was at the wrong place."
ReplyDeleteThat was a terrific ending indeed, I must say last year's film really had some of the greatest endings I've seen - this one, Shame, Draogn Tattoo..
DeleteChastain is sexy. Take Shelter is a good movie.
ReplyDeleteThat is all.
Agree on both :)
Deleteyup, one of the goosebump moments from the film!! Excellent!
ReplyDeleteTotally! Such a memorable scene.
DeleteTake Shelter is one of my favorites from last year. Great scene, and beautiful shots.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favs from 2011 too, thank you!
DeleteAwesome ending to an awesome film! Still can't believe it got zero nominations at the Oscars.
ReplyDeleteRight? It's insane, at least Shannon and the score deserved nominations.
DeleteI am really looking forward to this movie! I skipped over most of this post in case of spoilers.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think you'll like this one, it's very well made and the story is amazing.
DeleteIt is a great ending- now that I think about it, it reminds me of Melancholia in some way or another! Love Michael Shannon in this movie!
ReplyDeleteYeah, they both have kind of apocalyptic feeling to them!
DeleteI love the ambiguity of this ending. It has spawned many great discussions, with all sorts of theories being tossed around. One of the best films from last year, easily.
ReplyDeleteI love all the theories, really like the hopeful yet tragic feel in that scene.
DeleteThe best film of 2011. Hands down.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it too! I really loved the movie, Shannon was just outstanding and the music was so atmospheric and gorgeous.
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