MovieChat Forums > Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) Discussion > SPOILER-Is the girl saved??

SPOILER-Is the girl saved??

posted 18 years ago by blainefielding
12 replies | jump to latest

I am kind of hard of hearing and there are no subtitles on the DVD I watch. Moreover, as an American I find the British accents somewhat difficult. So I am confused as to whether the little girl is saved.

She seems to have died. But in the diagogue at the end it seems like she was found still alive in the woods where the husband had left her.

There's not much activity at this site, but hopefully someone will come along with the answer.

Blaine in Seattle

[–] heather_cy 18 years ago

I was confused about this too, but in my estimation, she was still alive when he left her under the tree. The husband asked the cops at the seance, "Is she alright?" and one of them nodded his head. Then he said, "I left her where the cub scouts would find her." I think he just left her under the tree asleep. I think once he realized his wife was indeed crazy enough to want to kill the child, that was his last straw. He could no longer go along with the plan he was ambivalent about the whole way through. He cared about the child and her mother and he was not willing to kill the child just to make his wife happy.

Heather in San Francisco

[–] blainefielding 18 years ago

Thanks Heather. I think you are right. I have watched it again and picked up the same conclusion you did.

Anyway it is a fine movie, though strange.

Blaine in Seattle

[–] bizarre_world 18 years ago

I just finished watching it. The girl was saved.

The wife wasn't though.

[–] heather_cy 18 years ago

You're welcome! Glad we cleared that up. It would be a very unsatisfying movie without knowing what happened to the child.

Heather

[–] El_Guapo_Caballo 16 years ago

<<Anyway it is a fine movie, though strange.>>

THOUGH STRANGE?????

P.S. Soylent Green is people.

[–] myrndra 15 years ago

Yes, with all due respect, it *would* be a strange movie - isn't the title a bit of a clue?

I support two teams: Wales, and whoever's playing England.

[–] jpozenel 15 years ago

I want to believe that the girl was left alive by Billy. He did seem to indicate to the police in the seance that she was alright. And if she was dead, why would he go to so much trouble to place the girl wrapped warmly in a blanket where the scouts could find her? Would he not have just buried her in a shallow grave during the dead of night?

That is what is great about the ending though. It wouldn't take much of a leap to think that Billy had gone through with the murder and had lost all touch with reality and was in denial of what he had done, thus treating her as though she was still alive. In the final scene before the police arrived, Myra certainly looked and acted as though the killing had happened.

Endings like this is what makes for a great movie that will be discussed forever. I guess that I just really want to believe that Billy came to his senses before it was too late.

[–] jcb-nyc 14 years ago

>"I want to believe that the girl was left alive by Billy."

She was.

>"He did seem to indicate to the police in the seance that she was alright."

Other way round. Billy asked the police if the girl was all right, and they said yes.

>"In the final scene before the police arrived, Myra certainly looked and acted as though the killing had happened."

That's because she thought it had. She had told Billy to kill the girl, and didn't realize that Billy had disobeyed her.

Until during the seance, when Arthur tells her that the girl is still alive.

I think we're meant to accept that Myra really is a medium, and that Arthur, although stillborn, really does communicate with Myra.

How else would Myra suddenly realize that Amanda is still alive, when nobody living has told her?

>"I just really want to believe that Billy came to his senses before it was too late."

Billy always had his senses. He was assisting Myra in her plans because he loved her. She thought he had come back to her because he was weak and needy, but he really came back because he knew she was unstable, fragile, and needed protection, especially after the loss of their son. Myra was the weak and needy one.

And so he forced himself to indulge Myra and go along with her ideas, even though he dreaded carrying them out. But when Myra's plans suddenly began to include murder, Billy didn't comply.

[–] angelofvic 13 years ago

Until during the seance, when Arthur tells her that the girl is still alive.

I don't recall that being part of the seance. I didn't realize she was still aliove until Billy asked the cop after the seance ended. Can someone quote or encapsulate that indication in the seance? Thanks.

EDIT: Never mind I re-watched and I think I figured it out.
.

[–] just1Hitch 14 years ago

Not to be cold-hearted about it but does it really matter? It would be a great film either way although Attenborough's character seems incapable of murdering a child unless he'd gone totally off his rocker.

I don't think I want to go to the pictures. Oh?Why not? I've seen everything worth seeing.

[–] VelvetVoice 13 years ago

See Richard Attenborough in 10 Rillington Place. There he is creep tastic.

Velvet Voice

[–] 13 years ago

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