MovieChat Forums > The Reflecting Skin (1990) Discussion > The ending

The ending

posted 16 years ago by Bon_Jovi_chick
18 replies | jump to latest

Right. I hvae seen this film a MILLION times and I will admot I do like it. Okay some of the acting seemed a bit flat (except for Viggo. He's flawless to me lol) but I do have a question:

I know Seth truely believes Dolphin is a vampire and trying to kill his brother (when he is actually dying slow from exposure to radiation while he was away) and I think that's why he allows the men in the car to take her away. When she is found dead, Cameron sobs and Seth runs away screaming.

Why? Didn't he get what he wanted? He believes his brother would be safe now the "vampire" has gone. Why would he scream? Has it got to do with his brother being heartbroken over his love found murdered?

It makes me wonder if he DID know if the men in the car were killers or did he live in an imaginative world where the "vampire" got them? After all, if he knew the men were killers, why would he let his only friend get in the car without at least screaming or telling someone about it?

So anyway back to the original ending, why would he be upset now that Dolphin was gone?

Helen
xxxxx

[–] OrangeBush 16 years ago

My take: He thought Dolphin was a vampire. And he wanted what was best for him. When Dolphin is murdered Seth sees how it hurts his brother. That's why he cries out. I love this film.

[–] WarpedRecord 16 years ago

I agree fully with your post, though I didn't like this film quite as much as I wanted to because of some of the weak acting (excluding Viggo, of course).

The ending left me puzzled as well. It seemed like an excuse to show a lot of arty images of the sun setting -- or was it rising, because sometimes it's day, sometimes night?

I really don't agree with the other poster who said Seth was sad because his brother lost his lover. Instead, I wonder if Seth might have killed Dolphin himself -- and perhaps the car (which resembles a hearse) was just a figment of his imagination. The car always seems to precede a death. Maybe Seth killed everyone here (except his father, probably). So his sorrow/anguish may have been the realization of what he did.

Anyway, this is just utter speculation, so who's to say what "really" happened?

[–] teethgrrrinder 16 years ago

Seth did try to warn his friend, but he was too far away to do anything

Seth thought he was doing what's best for his brother by allowing the killing of the vampire Dolphin. but it hurt his brother. Seth realised he did a bad thing. thus the end of his childhood innocence symbolised by the setting of the sun

[–] OPTIMUSCRIM 15 years ago

bingo

[–] Craig_McPherson 15 years ago

You've 99.9% captured the meaning of the ending. The only change I would add is that Seth's agony wasn't simply because he'd realized he'd hurt his brother by allowing Dolphin Blue to be murdered, but that because of the way she was murdered, he realized she wasn't a vampire and that his childhood fantasy had allowed a human being to be killed. End of childhood innocence and fantasy. Enter anguish.

[–] oneloveall 15 years ago

Final shots of the overwrought cry-to-the-sky are up there with film's most pretentious outros. Admittedly some of it looks great (running towards the camera-Hello) but only serves to underscore the movies weak nature- artsy, eccentric shallowness.

[–] creatorofk 14 years ago

cinematography aside, this movie kinda sucks lol

[–] Bon_Jovi_chick 14 years ago

Craig, I like that. The fact that he realised she wasn't a vampire could also be part of his anguish and maybe he also thought about his two friends because let's face it, he didn't cry over them when their bodies were found. Maybe seeing Dolphin's body was just one too many to push him.

Why have boys when you can have men!

[–] mc7791 14 years ago

the posts in this thread may explain the ending for me but I still do not understand this very strange and disturbing film. If other people love this film, fine. I dont. I have tried but really do not understand it. Until I looked at the cast list I didnt even know that Viggo was part of the cast. Course it has been a long time since I have seen this film. who was it made for?

"so you cooked up a story and dropped the six of us in a meat grindah."

[–] noraquick 13 years ago

My belief is that Seth was the killer, not the guys in the car.

Note when we first meet them, Seth's father ignores them, and they don;t pay for the gas. This to me suggests they're not real.

Every time they take someone, Seth is the only witness. The guys in the car could represent his burgeoning hostility.

Viewing it in this light this film almost seems to be the tale of the childhood of a future serial killer.

Nothing concretely suggest Cameron has radiation poisoning (his symptoms are somewhat consistent, but also apply to anemia) so Dolphin could actually be a vampire.

I think Seth cries out at the end because in his fantasy,if he killed Dolphin, Cameron would be happy, but when Cameron isn't, his fantasy comes crashing in on itself.

The main point of the beauty of this film is that it's so open to interpretation you can make it your own.

[–] mysticaldragon16 13 years ago

I dont think Seth realized the guys in the car were the killers until dolphin was dead. He thought she was the killer, or he wanted to think that. But once she was dead, he knew for sure that the guys in the car were the killers, and that he had aided in the deaths of all three by not telling anyone about the guys in the car. He felt bad about them, and that killed his brothers love.

[–] lovecomesagain 13 years ago

This one makes most sense. Thanks :)

"We are the people your parents warned you about."

[–] Alex_Vincent 13 years ago

of course he knew the guys in the car were killers. he saw them pick up his friend before he was found dead

Servo Permaneo Bovis Provestri

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] scrapmetal7 11 years ago

Throughout most of this movie the boy had retreated into a fantasy to avoid dealing with the horrors around him. He was seeing things through this blurry filter, and when he let the woman get into the car with the killers, it was so that she, as a vampire, would kill all of them.

When they find her body, it shatters his fantasy, because now he knows that there is no way she could have been a vampire. Now the consequences are horrible and for the first time they are due to his actions. Not only is the woman not a vampire and now dead, his brother is devastated and may not recover.

Once the fantasy has shattered, the boy now feels the full weight of the horror of all of the film's events, from his father burning himself to death and on. Unable to escape this horror, he runs screaming into the night.

[–] mahlingp 9 years ago

The guys in the car were serial killers.

Dolphin Blue was not a vampire. Seth thought she was a vampire.

Cam had radiation poisoning.

[–] Cherry-Princess 9 years ago

The guys in the car don't exist. They are in Seth's head and do the things he can't face doing.
I went to an amazing Q&A with the director that summer.

[–] marloweisdead 8 years ago

Can you expound? I could see the guys in the car not existing, after all he doesn't even mention them to anyone and they don't seem to be seen by anyone and they would probably have to be local if they truly existed, and therefore known. But Seth is 8, how did he kill Dolphin?