I loved this movie, but at the grand closing concert I kept looking for Rowena. Did anyone else wish she'd come back to pay her respects? Were others curious as to whether she'd become a Broadway star? There was definitely a sense that a significant student was missing from this farewell concert. Perhaps they just didn't know what to do with her but surely creative screenwriters could have had some touching or clever moment here.
shareI would have loved to see the addition of her slipping in at the back of the auditorium, and him not knowing she was there, but yet feeling she was. She was a very pivotal character in his life.
shareRight, but he wasn't really all that pivotal to her, and the point of the final scene is to show all the students to whom he WAS pivotal and influential. Rowena knew she was talented. She would have gone to Broadway, regardless of whether she was the star in the review or not. She didn't need anyone to tell her to close her eyes and play the sunset, like Gertrude did.
Besides, remember what Mr. Holland tells Rowena during one of the review rehearsals about the "Someone to Watch Over Me" song:
This song is wistful, Miss Morgan. It’'s about a woman who is alone in a very, very cold world, and all she wants more than anything is to have someone hold her close and to tell her that everything’'s gonna be alright.
Good assessment and I can't help but concur with your perspective regarding NYC chewing up Rowena and spitting her out. Had she learned guitar she may have stood a chance strumming out her Jewel-style songs in the NY subway...
I don’t need you to tell me how good my coffee is..
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When i hear Jean Louise Kelly sing Someone to watch over me i fall in love with her. No one man in the world can resist the deep love and passion of her voice and the beauty of her eyes looking at you like her seeing Mr. Holland. Also i like to overall movie
shareyeah, my heart flutters when i hear it too.
she has the recording on her web site if you want to download it:
- mp3 (3MB) = http://www.jeanlouisakelly.com/someone.mp3
- Real Audio (375KB) = http://www.jeanlouisakelly.com/rowena1.ra
Rowena returning would have put a damper on the event for Mrs. Holland. I thought with her being as supportive as she was with his career, having Rowena back would have been disrespectful. Plus... Mrs. H planned the bash. She would have never invited Rowena.
Rowena returning would have put a damper on the event for Mrs. Holland. I thought with her being as supportive as she was with his career, having Rowena back would have been disrespectful. Plus... Mrs. H planned the bash. She would have never invited Rowena.
Thank you very much for the link mrenticon. I´m sorry she has no much success i think she have the potental to be a star.
shareThank you for the links mredicon, that HAS to be one of the most passionately sang, heartfelt renditions of a song that you'll EVER hear, she is just smoldering with love and passion when she sings it. You fall in love with her just watching her sing it.
shareI Like the end the way it is.
It gives me idea that Rowena, like almost everybody who tries to find luck in broadway, movies etc, eventually failed or didnt achieved much success, and just kept going with her life, not exactly singing.
By being Mr. Hollands Muse, she got in exchange his advice of go give her shot and live without regrets by doing so.
Much Like the Speech Eddie Dupris(Morgan Freeman) gives to Frankie Dunn(Clint Eastwood) about Maggie in the end of Million Dollar Baby so he doesnt feel pity about her death.
What are you guys talking about? She did come back at the end: https://cid-aec9711da57eedc7.office.live.com/self.aspx/.Public/Untitle d8.png
They just screwed up her aging so no one(except me apparently) recognized her. She practically looks like a grandma the way she's dressed and wearing those glasses. I happen to be 33 now and I don't look anywhere near that old. Didn't you notice they cut to her sitting next to Jay Thomas(as she grinned harder) when Gertrude said "he was always working the symphony of his". Its because she's Rowena! How could none else make that connection?!
I believe she was also at the recital at the deaf school sitting behind Cole wearing the Green sweater.
I thought the real Rowena Morgan became a music teacher, herself. At least I found a web page, http://www.musictogether.net/newteach.htm, with a children's music teacher -- is she the same Rowena Morgan? Will the real Rowena Morgan please stand up?
shareHer absence raises a lot of questions.
Did she ever "make it" as a star on Broadway -- or is she toiling away as a singing waitress in New York -- or did she NOT succeed in show biz ( despite her talent ) and give up on music ?
Was she intentionally not invited by Mrs. Holland because she represented a weak point in Mr. Holland's life -- his mid-life crisis ?
Was she there, but not the center of attention, perhaps not wanting to steal Mr. Holland's thunder ? ( an earlier poster who worked on the film suggested that this was a possible wrap-up for her character's arc )
One reason to explain her absence occured to me -- if she actually left school and took a bus to NYC following the school's Gershwin revue ... she basically dropped out of school. Maybe if she was a big star and acknowledged Mr. Holland for inspiring her, she would know about his retirement, but if her life took a less glamourous turn she might never know what happened to Mr. Holland and everyone else at JFK High.
Repetition is funny. Why ? Because repetition is funny.
Yes, Rowena sure should have came back.
...She probably got 'gobbled up' in New York.
I'm still trying to figure why this otherwise responsible teacher did not call Rowena's parents to inform them she was running off.
Holland would have been very close, if this story had been in Texas, to being arrested and charged for having an improper relationship with a student.
"Dadoo4050: and who, disguised as a mild-mannered schoolteacher. . ."
Roweena is not so much a character as she is a symbol. She represents the temptation to run away from his responsibilities and go back to writing music. The fact that they part shows that Mr. Holland, for the first time, truly recognizes the importance of being selfless, and loving what he has. If she came back, it would ruin the whole point of that part of the movie.
shareRowena didn't return because her body was found in a dumpster in an alley behind the strip club at which she was dancing/bussing tables. It was all explained a deleted scene in the Hungarian special edition DVD.
Excellent analysis. I'm glad she didn't return at the end either -- she was a symbolic student more than a literal one, all in all.
shareYes - I was waiting for her to make a totally diva entrance!!!
pamela