That part always struck me as horribly sad, for some reason. The first time I saw this it actually made me cry. I sort of figured that Hitchcock would bring her back in the end (ie, he'd take her note out of his pocket towards the end and there'd be a meaningful moment), but, no. Did anyone else think the same?
shareI agree. She was so happy that her one chance "to go to United States of America" had come along, only to have her dream crushed. Very sad.
shareThe whole mini-subplot about the Polish countess was very sad, very heart-moving, thanks to Lila Kedrova's wonderful performance. The end of what we're shown as her story here is really sad, but why couldn't Sarah have sponsored her once she was back in the US? She had the countess's address in Berlin and, in order to start the sponsorship, she (Sarah) actually needed to be in the US. So perhaps the countess had a happy ending of her own, too.
share[deleted]
"she knows she will possibly spend years in prison"
Nope.
She knows she will be tortured until death,
in order to get the information about the whereabouts of the two Americans.
The torturer doesn't know whether she has the information or not,
so he always has to think she refuses to talk,
and that's why he has no other choice but torture her until death.
( I know, in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib they didn't go so far,
but you shouldn't forget:
Eastern Germany at that time was not a democracy,
but a fierce and bloody dictatorship ! )
I couldn't get her out of my head either;
I would have liked an epiloge in which they flew her over to the USA, and in which they bought Pi a new bus.
Excellent and brilliant performance by the way.