Where Christina is slowly walking from the car to her house, with the eerie music playing. Everything fit perfectly in this scene, from the frame that the bushes made, to the cat on the steps. For some reason this scene freaked me out.
shareI'll wager that was a combination of the direction (and inclusion of the haunting musical score), and the fact that you the viewer knew what lay in store for the characters.
That last scene is SUCH a standout for me-- I mean, Francis looks happy for the only time in the film, instead of like a man who's been put through the shredder! And Christina is so mousy and nervous-- it's really wild to see both those characters in another part of their lives. It makes me wonder about our own lives, how different we can seem after only a few years and life-changing events happen to us.
The war is not meant to be won... it is meant to be continuous.
Beautifully put. That scene is the picture of innocence, like a snapshot from a point in time that seems so much simpler and better now. It also reinforces why Francis and Christina wanted to continue their relationship after everything went so horribly wrong for both of them.
shareIt's such a haunting ending. One of the most haunting endings to a movie that I've ever seen. The music sticks with you a long time afterwards. I just saw it for the first time, and when the movie was over, I found a clip of that haunting score on Youtube and started to play it again, to stay consumed in that haunted feel.
Atom Egoyan really is the best Canadian film maker alive today.
Atom Egoyan is absolutely the best Canadian filmmaker alive today, and one of the best filmmakers overall. "Exotica" is a work of great beauty and sadness, and the ending sticks with me years after I've seen it -- though I always try to watch this film at least every couple years.
shareAgreed, it was very poignant.
shareIt really is an amazing scene. Francis is so truly happy when talking about his daughter, and he's sympathetic and upset at seeing Christina so unhappy in her life. Funny that he should be the one offering comfort, coming from a position of stability, as opposed to the dynamic in the rest of the movie.
But it's those last two shots of Francis, after Christina gets out of the car, those get to me. If you really watch the changes in his face, he looks increasingly disturbed, and what with that ominous music, it's very unsettling.(Bruce Greenwood is just unbelievable. The master of conveying so much with such subtle changes in facial expression. Incredible.)
Did anyone else notice that in that scene, and in that last scene with Tracey, Francis visibly startles when the girls leave the car? Each time, the girl slams the door, and he flinches like he's been hit. It's like a personal affront. And each time, I think, he had been lost in his own thoughts, and after the door slams, he looks more and more upset.
Agreed, it's one of my favorite endings of any movie, ever, for all the reasons you list. It's heartbreaking with just a dash of strangeness, and was beautifully done. The quietly developing knowledge we get is heartbreaking, too.
And what really made it unique was the way this short, sweet scene gives us a break of laughter! Before it irrevocably changes everything we saw before from the Judges' panel.
I can't imagine someone seeing the movie and not immediately wanting to watch it again -- I know I did, just to catch all the little nuances that we don't understand until that final scene and reveal.
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"I keep thinking I'm a grownup, but I'm not."
It's probably my favorite ending scene of any movie. First time I saw it just blew me away, the way it completes the story by going to years before to reveal the original connection between them. But with subsequent viewings it becomes more heartbreaking: Francis is clearly so happy with his life and his family, not having a clue he will shortly lose all of it. And poor Christina, you have to wonder how bad her life at home was if her only happiness was in her moments with the other family.
Bruce Greenwood is just incredible in this film.
Agreed. Just as he did later on in "The Sweet Hereafter," Bruce Greenwood plays a character without ego and in service to the later storyline of his characters in a really beautiful way.
So I'm fascinated by the early scenes in "Exotica" and similarly by the flackbacks in "The Sweet Hereafter" that even utilize higher management, actors and agents in discussing the roles.
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I keep thinking I'm a grownup, but I'm not.