Sorry, I refuse to accept that the Waitress was also... *spoiler*

Hi Tensaip

Thanks for your thoughts. That's a very good argument you make regarding Kira.

I do not think that Terpsichore "took" on the image of Australian model Kira.
The name Kira is obviously a pseudonym she chose when presenting herself to Sonny.

I believe that's what she really looked like. Remember when Sonny "broke" into Mount Halycon, that's how she appeared to him, plus even Zeus refered to her as Kira, so it is obviously a pseudonym she may have used before on her other missions.

There are other instances in the movie which indicate that this is Terpsichore's
actual appearance :


1) The photo of the singer in the 1940's Glenn Miller album looks like
Terpsichore.

2) She appears to Danny Mcguire in the "Whenever you're away from me" segment.

3) Danny McGuire actually does recognise Terpsichore when she appears in the
Xanadu club (after the "Dancin'" segment featuring the Tubes) but she
(using her powers of seemingly avoiding giving straight answers) manages to
dissuade Danny from probing her further on the subject.

4) Danny also realises that Kira is the girl he loved from 1945 when she kisses
him (this is before she reveals herself to Sonny). This is the same kiss they
give each other at the beginning of the "whenver your're away from me"
segment which is how Danny finally recognises that Kira is a muse. You can
see it in his reaction at the close of the scene before it fades to the scene
where Kira reveals herself to Sonny whilst walking on the pavement. And so
Danny now knows that Kira is a muse and tells Sonny to go "there" and bring
her back in the beach scene.

5) If Terpsichore took on the persona of a "real" model called Kira from
Australia. How come both the modelling agent & the modelling photographer
(who is actually a heavyweight in the industry given how concerned he is of
his reputation) are
unable to identify the girl in the photo to Sonny?

6) The reason why Kira does not recognise Sonny & walks awa in the nightclub is
because she is either :

a) Testing Sonny to see if he will chase after her (Danny didn't do this
which was why he lost her forever). He even acknowledges this in the
beach scene to Sonny when he tells him to go after her.

b) She requests Zeus to let her leave Halycon to spend time with Sonny. But
because of the standing rule that muses cannot fall in love with mortals
Zeus let her go back to earth (after the Xanadu song & dance sequence) as
a mortal (ie : with no muselike powers) and obviously with a different
pseudonyn other than Kira. And so Terpsichore has to "pretend" she
doesn't recognise Sonny at first so they can start their relationship
all over again.

c) I have actually read an early draft of Xanadu (there were apparently a
few different versions of the prior to the creation of the shooting
script) which describes a musical cue that only Sonny can hear whenever
he sees Kira throughout the story. This musical cue does appear in the
movie when Sonny sees Kira at first. In this early version of the script
the final scene between Sonny & the waitress is there, plus there is a
description of the musical cue that only Sonny can hear. So this is an
indication that the waitress at the end is Terpsichore


I have posted about 4 threads on this Xanadu msgboard called the "Xanadu Xperience". I have also posted the same threads on the ONJ msgboard. Please do read them and post your opinion.

Thanks for reading this

"Be seeing you !"

No6

Thanks so very much tensaip and No 6 for both of your interpretations on this film and for this subject post . All very interesting and alot of excellent points here as well .

If we're meant to believe that the girl who sells Sonny popcorn just happened to get into the opening night of the club, anything is possible.

(btw, that close-up she got was real important to the plot, huh?)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last night, I was lying back looking at the stars and I thought...where the *beep* is my ceiling???

I believe everyone is over analyzing the situation.

The ending of Xanadu is very much like the old Lady or the Tiger fable. A young man's secret trysts with a princess is discovered. Her father decides that instead of killing the man outright he will let fortune decide his fate. The young man is forced to choose between two doors. Behind one door is a tiger that will rip him to shreds. The other door conceals another woman, whom he must marry if he chooses that door. Either choice removes his chance of marrying the princess but only one will lead to his death. His choice is never really given and the story ends as a thought experiment, left to the interpretation of the reader.

The same is happening with Xanadu. The director isn't jumping in front of the screen, pointing to the characters and say "See! It is/isn't her!" He is leaving it to your imagination. An interesting if somewhat unsatisfying ending.

Personally, I believe the waitress was Kira. First, watch Gene Kelly's sly look in her direction when he calls her over to offer Sonny a drink. He knows something the audience doesn't. Second, Sonny and the waitress are talking far too casually for two people who only just met. Third, if you listen to Zeus he is genuinely confused about the difference between a moment and forever. He's not being metaphorical.

Anyway, that is my take.

im sorry...are you actually arguing over Xanadu... this movie was *beep* terrible
you dont need to accept anything, and it doesnt need to make sense
but that song sure is catchy..

tensaip, you are wrong, wrong and wrong. What movie were YOU watching?

If you had paid attention, you would have noticed that Zeus was confused over the notion of "one night" and "forever" (because he kept forgetting). He let Kira go "forever" thinking that it was one night.

The waitress WAS Kira, you idiot. Quit overanalyzing the movie and just accept the FACT that Kira was allowed to come back and stay with Sonny.

It defeats the whole romantic point if another girl was thrown in at the end.