MovieChat Forums > Life as a House (2001) Discussion > The Ending (Spoilers)

The Ending (Spoilers)

posted 17 years ago by NZLady
20 replies | jump to latest

This is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, but one of the things that always bothered me was the ending.

I don't think it was right that Sam gave the house to the disabled girl. Niether Sam or his dad had anything to do with what happened to the girl, they are paying for someone else's mistake.

It would've been much nicer to see Sam moving in there, because the whole movie's about the house symbolising the life of his father.. and it would've been a way to always have his father close to his heart.

Anyone agree?

[–] Firefly_Catching 17 years ago

Yep, I agree. I LOVE this movie, though. But that kinda sucked. I mean, suddenly it's about that girl you know. I would've loved it if Sam had it. Maybe moved in there with his family? His mother, stepbrothers.

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[–] TomServo23 17 years ago

I think Sam did that because he wanted to keep his father's memory alive, to me that wouldn't have been much of an ending, Sam moving in, giving it to the girl I thought was different, and a satisfying way to end the picture.

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[–] NyxOurania 17 years ago

It wasn't acbout whether or not Sam or George owed the girl anything. The point was to show how much Sam had been changed over the course of the movie, and how much better he understood his father's life. George never said he wanted him to give the house away, but he did tell Sam how concerned he was about the little girl and what happened to her. So, I think that Same gave her the house because he got to have a wonderful few months with his father and grow to love him, and since the house IS basically George, maybe giving her the house would allow her to have the father she didn't really ever get to have. It was about giving everything you have to make someone else's life better.

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[–] gemnoli 17 years ago

I agree I was really unhapy with the ending. It came from nowhere and it had nothing much to do with Sam and Georges relationship, more Georges dad and what he did. Suddenly a barely mentioned thing has become the punchline of the movie. It feels like the writer wanted to surprise when it wasn't needed and was very jarring, not every story needs a twist.

[–] Cinderling 17 years ago

Personally I loved the ending and saw it coming anyway with the mention of what his dad did to the girl and her family and how he found her.

I felt that George wanted to contact her to see if she had had a good life because of the mistake of his dad.

I also felt it was so selfless and loving of sam to give the house to her, to give her as good a life as George had. I loved the ending.

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[–] tani_banani 17 years ago

I'm not sure, this is just my interpretation, but I think maybe George felt a little guilty about the girl in the car accident. He tells Sam that he had a gun to his father's head, and from the conversation they had about it it seems to me he feels he could have stopped the trauma the girl went through (even though he says he could not have killed his father).

I think it is a very fitting end to the movie. We can see from the setting of the last scene that the girl is not exactly living the high life. Sam has a (now) supportive family and they are pretty well-off - I think giving away the house was a really nice gesture.

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[–] gemnoli 17 years ago

Most of all I guess I found it pretty unbelievable that a young man with college ahead of him would relinquish such a valuable asset.

[–] idlacemakr 17 years ago

George makes it clear that after his father killed the girl's family and crippled her in a drunk-driving accident, he put the house/property in George's name to keep the assets lawsuit safe. George hated the house and hated that it was his. He neglected it and let it become as run-down and unsatisfying as his life was. The house was always a symbol of George's life.

I really think that in giving the house to the injured young woman Sam is finally fully changed... like his father told him "Sometimes change comes on you so gradually that you don't notice it..." The house isn't what was important. The physical place was beautiful and such a true reflection of George, but the changing of George and especially Sam was what building the house was meant to do. George died a good, loving father and Sam grew into a happy person who was not unable to love. He didn't need the house to remind him of George but I do think he needed to give it to the young woman in order to fully honor his dad. George never did ask him to do it, but it was what he was hoping for, and Sam did what his dad wished for.

What a concept, doing what is right instead of what is profitable or what everyone else would do...

[–] blue1231 17 years ago

idlacemakr, I couldn't have said it better myself

[–] JacintoCupboard 12 years ago

Late reply I know, but yep, the girl was robbed of compensation by the house being made over to George. He didn't want to compound the wrong by just giving it to the girl, but let the son make that choice.

As an aside, before that plot angle emerged, I was concerned that George would leave the house to Sam. This puts Peter Kimball in the odd position of having to make adjustments in his own will to 'compensate' his own children, Sam's stepbrothers. It's a nasty situation, probably more common now with so many merged families than I had ever considered. But all I could think was how messy that might all turn out 30 years or so down the track.

So I was sort of glad it got taken off the table by not being left with Sam.

[–] moviegeek1 12 years ago

Huh?

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[–] fiatlux-1 11 years ago

Well said, idlacemakr. I agree 100%.

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[–] cookiela2001 13 years ago

<< Most of all I guess I found it pretty unbelievable that a young man with college ahead of him would relinquish such a valuable asset. >>

Mmmm-hmmm. Considering the beachfront property alone must be worth a couple million dollars.

[–] whre-1 17 years ago

I thought that two things indicated George wanted to leave the house
to the girl. First he asked scott Bakula to locate someone. Then
at the very end of the movie as Sam and Robin were leaving the
realators office, She asked him if it really was what he wanted
to do. She then added "I read the Will" but "You read the letter".
This indicated to me that George had left Sam a letter indicating
his wish to leave the house to the girl. May be wrong but this
is how it hit me..

[–] Kroyall1962 14 years ago

Giving the house to the girl was unrealistic. A house in California right on the ocean with that awesome of a view would be unaffordable to someone living in a trailer even if the mortgage was free and clear. The taxes and upkeep would be far beyond what she could afford. She could of course sell the house and get a better place with the proceeds.

[–] Livana_Faolan 13 years ago

I agree. I felt that I had been led to believe that the house was for Sam and maybe, one day, his future family. The thing that happened in the ending came out of nowhere.