weird ending! (SPOILERS!!!)

He was a little bit brute but with a good heart.
I don't remember any rape. I missed some moments after his gangrene fever, though.

It wasnt rape...He became gradually emotionally attached to her. Beneath his hard exterior was a lonely man in need of companionship.

She ran because she was riddled with issues of her past (parents being killed in front of her by indians) but when she got back she realised that the lifestyle of being with the trapper had become her way of life, so she returned. During the time she was away, the trapper learned that he needed her emotionally, so when eve returned, they learned to function together. Even if the trapper was still ordering her around when she got back, he was more compassionate and knew that she understood his soft interior.

Thats my take on it. I'm not sure if i conveyed it well, but i think you can see where i'm coming from.

I don't think he raped her (at least not intentionally). I think she willingly did it to make him happy, but once they started, she was wondering what the hell she got into and all the trauma from her past came flooding back. Plus, the way he was completely puzzled afterwards suggests he had no idea she didn't want it.

He was a brutish guy, but at that point in their relationship I think he was beyond trying to force himself onto her.

That guy she was about to get married to was the guy she seemed to have a crush on at the beginning of the movie. He was part of her past, and she suddenly realized that she couldn't just suddenly return to living like she had before.

I don't think he wanted a platonic relationship, I think he was just acting like nothing had happened as a way of saying that all was forgiven. I don't think she would have gone back to him if he had raped her.

I must say I too was confused with the love scene: the fear in her eyes, but her hand clutching (clawing?), drawing him closer. Having read some of the comments I think they are right: she got overwhelmed by him, by the emotions old and new and that is why she needed to get away. To breath, to sort things out, to get a grip on things. And when he woke up and reached for her...

Le Bete is a very primitive man: he cannot discuss emotions and has no need for it either. But he is a good man, decent in his bruteness. And that is what she realises while dressing up for her wedding.
Also, the experience changed her to such a degree that her prince charming lost his luster...

So she goes back, and you can see that Le Bete is scared, aloof, bracing himself. He stands tall, hard, shielding himself.
And then she bends her head as if to say sorry. You see how his entire body language changes. There is a softness in his face, he bends over ever so slightly. He realises she is back, for him, for good.

But he cannot say he is happy she is back, that he loves her. Not yet anyway. So he acts as if she never left, tells her to go inside and start cleaning.

When he walks away and looks back and she is standing at the door with a smile on her face, his body language changes even more. There is a lightness in his steps. He is definitely happy.

And Eve? She read him, she knew she was welcome. No questions asked, no hassles, no whining, just a simple 'hello', 'welcome back'. He is who he is: a man of little words and he loves her...

there was no rape.

I think you missed most of the movie lol.