I saw this film for the first time yesterday but I didnt get the ending.
what happened? who was the killer? why did fonda attack klute? sorry I
guess I was half asleep at the end. I really liked the film. fonda was very good. The film is very dated, but I enjoyed that, things were different in
the early 70's and this film proves it.
JCO
Hello hifisapi,
the ending of "Klute" is rather ambivalent. Bree wanted to leave New York but she knew that she probably would be back again within a few days. She was reasonable enough to know that she wasn´t able to change her way of life.
This is also the reason why she didn´t want to continue her relationship with John Klute; she felt too much for him so she didn´t want him to be hurt. On the other hand she might as well change her mind once again.
The killer was Peter Cable, Tom Gruneman´s boss and the same guy who hired Klute to look for Gruneman.
Bree attacked Klute because she was really scared of him. He had just attacked her pimp and when Klute turned to her she thought that he wanted to beat her, too.
I hope this helps a little. Hope you don´t mind my English, I´m a little bit out of practice ;-)
As far as Bree attacking Klute, she doesn't attack him because she is scared. Her attack on Klute is more of a result of her self-destructive behavior. She knows Klute genuinely cares for her and values her as a person, which frightens her. "You always hurt the ones you love", that phrase applies here.
shareI think Bree brought her (former) pimp into her apartment to piss off Sutherland's character. Then she lashed out with the scissors to further push him away - she was afraid of her feelings for him, yes. But the presence of the pimp was (to me) so obviously deliberate - she knew how Sutherland felt about him. She was trying to stick it to him, to conceal her real feelings for him. Just watched this for the first time last night! Terrific! Another question about the ending - we hear the voice over of her conversation with her analyst, but we're seeing her leave with the detective. I'm not so convinced she is being honest with her analyst: I think she leaves with Sutherland despite herself.
shareI think that Bree THINKS that she is being honest at the moment when she talks to her analyst. Bree´s main problem is that she cannot make up her mind whether to lead a normal life "back in Cabbageville" or to keep on tricking.
So we see her leave with Klute but she knows herself well enough to admit that something stronger than her might drag her back into her old life.
On the other hand I am not quite convinced that Bree really leaves New York in order to live with John. After all that happened she aurely wants to get out of the city but does she really join him?
In the final scene in Bree´s appartement they don´t look like a couple in love looking forward to spend time together. Bree seems to be impatient and kind of harsh, John´s looks are awkward and uneasy.
What do you think about that, jbowring? I´d be glad to know your opinion.
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Thank you, rduke! I try to do my very best ;-)
By the way, I have often tried to figure out what Bree would do with her life. I mean, if she really left to start a relationship with Klute, what was she supposed to do all day long in rural Pennsylvania? Or what could be her future if she returned to NYC?
I have to admit that I don´t see her as a loving wife or even as an actress. As a matter of fact, I can´t think of anything she could really fill her empty life with. Does anyone of you have any idea?
She leaves with Klute. They get married six months later. They have kids. Dabble with vegetarianism. Go to soccer practice, band rehearsal, and dance recitals. Buy Honda Civics, then Accords. She runs for City Council, is involved in PTO, joins a book club with her friends to unwind once a month. Writes for the local paper while she works on her novel. Takes cooking classes.
Just like the rest of us did.
coldwind:
De to the Pressing. But I don't think so on the Hondas, Klute strikes me as a GM man, after all he was spotted in that god-awful wagon before the club scene.
"I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!" -The African Queen
Kathryn --
Depressing? That's a rich full life! Note the great dinner party in the beginning--gotta be better than hanging out with all that horrible disco music blasting. As for GM, it was '71 -- you may have a point.
Yeah it's better... for some. But she herself even doubted that it was for her at the end.
"I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!" -The African Queen
I think I should view it again, that's what I think! hee. I hear what you're saying - I think Bree is unclear about what she really wants. She has some disturbing realizations, like witnessing what's become of her former friend, the woman with her partner who are waiting for their dealer in the slummy apaprtment. The look on her face when she leaves is not ambiguous at all, in that scene. I also think in the final scene, either after she's taken the phone call or while the phone is still ringing, she shrugs in a way that almost says "Well, what are you gonna do/what can I do? This is my life / was my life." Almost a "well, there you go" gesture. Maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but that's what I love about film - trying to get to the kernel of it. What do you think? :-) J.
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I like your version Cookie. Leaving behind a life like that doesn't mean you have to embrace its diametric opposite e.g - the bourgeoise suburban horror. Bree was a blood bohemian, a born outsider. As she says of the Life More Ordinary - 'I'd go mad.'
share"things were different in
the early 70's and this film proves it. "
Well, I'm certainly glad we've established that once and for all. Deep thoughts.
Does anyone really think she went off with Klute and lived happily ever after in "Cabbageville"? I understand the desire to feel some hope, but I find it very unlikely. Even if she quit hooking, she'd never be able to live in a place like that. And if she did, she'd have lived out the rest of her days in a valium haze, which is not much different from being a junkie.
Can you imagine Klute introducing her to the folks? Neither can I.
cool movie. i think they start driving west and just keep going, forget pennsylvania, all the way to san fransisco. she turns klute on to pot somewhere around iowa, and they end up following around the grateful dead for a few years. then she becomes a counselor to help out druggies and hookers and other types she can identify with in inner city SF.
anyone heard of the so called "klute syndrome"? supposed to be based on this film, but i can't find much about it.
I saw Klute twice when it was first released, and both times, the audience had the same feeling at the end.
Bree left with Klute, but could never live her life in Cabbageville and would return to New York City for the faster life, even if she didn't go back to turning tricks.
Yes everyone thought she loved Klute too, but even that wasn't enough to keep her away from something closer to her former lifestyle.
Two things:
1.) this is a movie. The movie wants us to believe that Bree and Klute DO leave together and that their love and tenderness toward each other IS enough to make their life work.
There are so many clues to this: the music playing at the end is the same mellow music that plays in their tender, sharing, loving, shopping for produce scene together.
He makes her come. She hasn't come with any other man, ever.
She tells her shrink that he has made everything in her life new.
So, in movie-world, yes, Klute and Bree make it.
2.) This film is a reflection of real life. Fonda's performance is so lifelike it's spooky. She plays Bree not just as a whore -- that's the least of her problems. She plays Bree as someone with a personality disorder. It's all there -- the massively self destructive behavior, to the point of hooking when she evidently doesn't have to - this is a smart, young, well educated, attractive woman.
Her personality is unstable. she careens from identity to identity.
She shuts people out rather than forming stable bonds.
She's a failed actress. that in itself is an entire head trip.
So, the Bree the film very convincingly depicts is NOT capable of a stable relationship.
so, the ending is a bit yellow brick road.
I really want Bree to overdose and for John to get together with a woman who deserves him.
Can you imagine life with Bree? It would get old very, very fast. No matter how much nipple she shows in her braless look and tight shirts.
I did not at all think she was moving to Pennsylvania with Klute when I watched the movie. However, the Wikipedia plot summary states that this is exactly what she did.
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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc
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I just saw this excellent film aswell..but im a little confused as to why the perpetrator (killer) hired Klute to investigate the disapearance of Klute's friend ? Why didnt he get someone not linked to either of them ?
I understand completetly Fondas character and her reasons for certain actions and what she says to her psych..
But going through it, is this correct ?
(Cable) pays for girl, he beats her up..
(Grunemann) walks into this encounter..
(Cable) feels ashamed and feels his colleague (Grunemann) can use this against him and jeopardise everything he has..
(Grunemann) disapears - obviously killed by (Cable)
(Cable) writes disturbing letters appear to be from (Grunemann) to (Daniels) to insinuate (Grunemann) had problems and explain him missing.
Friends of (Grunemann) hire (Klute) to investigate.
(Klute) discovers (Grunemann's) killer had been involved with (Daniels) - beating her up and recording her and two other girls one being the girl (Page) that he beat up when (Grunemann) walked in on...
(Klute) to bring (Cable) forward now knowing its him with the letter writing evidence suggests there is more evidence that will find the killer..
(Cable) is caught and jumps out the window..
What i dont understand is why did Cable bother hiring Klute to investigate something so close to him ?? did he want to be caught
The problem is both Arlyn Page and Tom can tie him to the dead hooker, but he doesn't know where to find Page. Cable is pretty clever, because he gets Tom out of the way but uses his disappearance to have Klute track down Page. His only link to Page is through Bree Daniels, so he plants the letters in Tom's desk to not only make Tom look mentally disturbed and explain his disappearance but also put the police onto Bree.
It's key to his plan that he puts the police onto Bree, otherwise he would have have written sick letters to any unconnected prostitute. Once Bree is dragged into the investigation he can hire a private investigator to use her to trace Arlyn Page. I think he hires Klute because Klute has a personal investment in trying to locate his friend. A normal investigator would probably give up after Bree can't identify Tom, so he needs someone who won't give up so easily i.e. has a personal stake in it. He knows that Klute will try to track down the man who beat her up, and the trail will lead to Arlyn Page. He follows Klute and Bree around and once they find Page he kills her eliminating the last "witness" who can tie him to the dead hooker.
Things turn sour when Klute ties the letters to Cable's typewriter, so uses the ruse of buying Page's "little black book" to draw Cable into the open, which dramatically backfires.
Thanks..that does explain to me his reason for getting Klute. He knows he wont give up easily and can be involved somewhat in locating Page.
If only Klute investigated the typewriter in the beginning he wouldnt even have to have met Fonda..now that would be a shame!! She looks stunning in this.
Great movie and keeps you thinking even days after.
At the end of the film Bree is absolutely not ready for a full-time relationship with Klute. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen in the future. I had to learn to get over wanting a happily ever after in films but I still want some of them to work out. A dear friend of the family is an ex-hooker, married for years, stable, responsible, funny woman. Lives change. There's always the possibility that Klute and Bree ended up together. I JUST figured out why it's called Klute and not "Bree." Klute is the one man who isn't asking for her body, turning tricks for him, being his victim, or abusing her in any other way. Even the line-up producer was kind of a pig. Every man in the film other than Klute is a vile pig (Tom technically wasn't in the film, so we don't know if he was a pig or not). Bree's shrink is a woman, the other women we see from Arlyn to Nancy McKenna are also horrid, but the shrink shows the most kindness to Bree, and the most normal part of her life. ONE woman, a boatload of awful men, then finally one good and decent man. Klute. That's why the title is Klute.
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Actually, technically Tom was in the film, and I don't mean the photos they showed. He was in the opening scene.
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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc
To: smith-684
Sorry I'm 4 years late in responding to your eloquently written comments about KLUTE. I completely agree with every word you wrote. I first saw the movie at an advance press screening in 1971 and was so overwhelmed by Jane Fonda's performance that I'm afraid I found the mystery plot filled with holes. I didn't see the movie again until a few months ago on TCM and was once again mesmerized by Ms. Fonda (in the ensuing decades I've yet to see an actress do what Ms. Fonda did in KLUTE (sorry Meryl). Tonight, again on TCM, I watched KLUTE for the third time and this time tried to concentrate on the plot, which is intricately constructed but covers all the bases necessary to make the movie a first-rate thriller (no plot holes at all, and Donald Sutherland, who I initially felt was miscast and gave a rather sepulchral performance, is sensational)! When the movie was first released in 1971, many critics, including Roger Ebert, felt that the title KLUTE was a misnomer, and the movie instead should have been titled BREE. They were wrong, and you explained so beautifully why this masterpiece is rightfully title KLUTE.
Many thanks!
Thank you for your post, sdiner82. Like yourself, the first couple of times I watched Klute, I could only focus on Fonda and her stunning performance...that was one time when the Oscar was right on the money.
I now just finished watching the DVD. It is nice to be able to pause, or go back and check things out in the plot-line. I swear, every time I watch this film, I love it even more. What a great, great movie!
Donald Sutherland is perfectly cast as Klute. I can not imagine another actor in that role. He plays it so wonderfully. I always thought the chemistry between Fonda and Sutherland was spot on. In a fairly recent interview, Fonda stated that the chemistry was not just an act, and they were deeply involved during the filming.
Ahh, romance. Don't you just love it.
-AnaElisa