The ending????
What the F??????? What was that??? I don't get it
shareI might have posted on this subject before, but here goes -- Axel is a guy who unconsciously seeks to destroy himself. He tries to do this by making insane bets with signficant amounts of money. People keep bailing him out. His mother gives him 40,000 or so to cover one debt. So Axel immediately uses it for another bet. Axel has a powerful grandfather, so he's given a certain amount of leeway in the underworld. Finally, when Axel runs out of favors and has tapped every source, he is bailed out yet again -- one of his students is a basketball player who Axel persuades to shave points. During the game, some henchmen are watching Axel from a distance, in case the point spread isn't covered. Luckily, the spread is covered, and Axel is bailed out yet again.
Now, if Axel were merely concerned about covering his butt and taking care of his debts, the film would end right there. Axel should have learned his lesson. But that's not what this film is about. Axel, having failed to achieve his desire to destroy himself, decides to pick up a prostitute in a dangerous neighborhood. He gets into an argument with her pimp. Rather than be intimidated by the pimp when he wields a knife, Axel holds the knife up to his own throat. Axel has been unconsciously seeking self-destruction in the film, via gambling, and has failed in his objective. Now, he gets what he wants -- the pimp slashes his face, and Axel looks at himself in the mirror, and through the blood, he smiles.
OK, so why does Axel seek self-destruction? Because, he has had everything handed to him on a silver platter, and he wants to start out at the bottom, like his grandfather did. This is his way of testing his mettle, proving his manhood -- earning his stripes (in the visual form of a scar across his face).
In addition, Axel is a self-loathing gambling addict, and quite often addicts (be they drug addicts or alcoholics) seek unconcsiously to hit the bottom, to create a catastrophe that will force them to solve their problem. Obviously this is an unhealthy way to deal with your personality issues, but Axel is a very sick man.
I also have a theory that Axel is an aspring novelist who wants to test the boundaries of experience, so that he can come back from the edge (or even go beyond the edge of reason and civlization) in order to have something to write about. There is a tradition in American literature, from Hemingway to Mailer, of writers getting themselves into intense situations so they can write about it (example, Hemingway going to Europe during WWI). When Axel accompanies Carmine on a visit to a guy who owes money, Axel isn't intimidated by Carmine's vicious behavior. Axel has a journalistic detachment, as he takes Carmine's pulse after Carmine beats up the deadbeat.
This is a complex film, and I have had long discussions with friends who have seen it and don't understand why Axel is so perversely self-destructive. In the parlance of psychotherapy, Axel is a deeply troubled man with unresolved issues, and the manner in which he resolves his deep-seated issues is, obviously, hazardous to his health.
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good stuff.
Where there's smoke, there's barbecue!
Some good analyses here. I agree that Axel was not at first self-destructive, however, by take is this. He felt so bad about corrupting the kid that he does that suicidal thing at the end. But if he was REALLY self-destructive he would have NOT asked the kid to shave points. Anyway, the film was ambiguous, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. The film's strength is that it keeps the tension of gambling going for the whole film. I never understand why gambling addicts don't quit while they're ahead.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of Hollywood... (;-p)