why did the other guy start crying

I think he was just overwhelmed with emotion while thinking back to his friend's amazing feat.

Yes, sadness and grief are not the only thing that can cause tears.

i also got the impression that their friendship had ended ... and the crying was twofold: the beauty of the walking + the sadness re a friendship that had faded.

***SPOILER ALERT!!!***



Yes, his best friend Jean-Louis recounted how Philip inquired (on the flight back home) about planning a next adventure, "but the friendship had been broken."

It was an overwhelming moment. It really did seem like Philip's friends gave everything to help him. Grinding away at the cable until daylight (with that worthless slug of an American Alan, who gave up and left at daybreak) without knowing the outcome, if he would go to jail, if his friend would die, etc. The stress, and then the break (apparently by Philip, who enjoyed his fame alone and lied about banging that groupie because his friends and girlfriend were again waiting for him) the relationships. He no longer needed them.

His flippant explanation, and apparent delight at having banged a piece of hot strange, and his recounting of his satisfaction, was juxtaposed with Jean-Louis's reaction of disappointment and loss. Philip no longer needed him, so he would go back to whatever life he had, and without his friend. Loss, so powerful, and helpless to do anything about it because Philip made his choice.

This ending really made me sad and disturbed. It was great, no doubt. And when it dropped, all the pieces came together (there was an underlying hostility from his girlfriend, who I assumed would become his wife until that point). The description of the other teammates (especially the Americans, one of whom showed up stoned the night before, and ran out of the caper when it looked too risky). All of it fit. What a great piece of storytelling, and filmmaking.

I did not, for the slightest second even think about the attacks.

I don't know why, but I feel a great annoyance that you couldn't just see the beauty of the film without having to resort to thinking about 9/11.

I can't justify why I feel this way, but to me that seems kind of.. shallow.

I never thought of it that way.

That probably isn't the reason that he was crying, but I really never thought of it that way and I saw it nine times. Unlikely a reason, but possible.

I did think about 9/11, and am skeptical about anyone who claims not have considered the loss of these magnificent buildings that Phillipe was enamored with before they were even built. Even more skeptical about someone who claims that thinking about a terrorist attack that claimed 3,000 human lives is "shallow."

That said, it did not occur to me that Jean Louis was crying over 9/11. His months of personal sacrifice while he put his own life and goals on hold, combined with a lifetime of friendship squandered by someone he trusted, who clearly didn't place the same value on it that he did, seemed quite clear to me. The French are secretly glad it happened to the U.S., and not to them, but would never say it anyway. For him to start crying over 9/11, after a whole movie about the relationships and dream realized of this highwire walker, seems unlikely. But, who knows? That is what makes a movie, not the images on film, but the interpretations of the viewers. Cheers!

Well it was probably pretty painful as well to think about his lost friendship with Phillipe. They did such an awesome thing together, and then Phillipe kind of just abandoned his friends.