MovieChat Forums > One Day (2011) Discussion > I don't understand the negativity toward...

I don't understand the negativity towards the ending. (SPOILERS)

posted 13 years ago by KyleCV
30 replies | jump to latest

I understand that people don't like the fact that Emma dies. Or the fact that it happened so fast and so suddenly. But if you think about it, isn't that how real life works? In reality, most people do not know they're going to die. They don't get to say sorry to their loved ones for everything they did wrong, or tell them they love them and always have, or even give them a proper goodbye. In most cases, life just... ends. Unexpectedly.

I'll admit, when I first saw the scene I was devastated and even kind of angry that the writer/producer decided to kill the main character, and in such a horrible, quick way. But I think it works, because the whole movie is rooted in reality. Real life is not perfect. These two didn't have a fairy tale romance. They fell in and out of love and friendship for nearly 20 years. Later, they finally married, only to find out she couldn't have kids and then just-- died. I've learned to accept and even appreciate the ending. These two soulmates spent 20 years together. We as the audience have to quit thinking about the future they lost out on when she died. Instead think about the countless memories and years they had before.

This is exactly why the movie ends in a flashback-- to show us as the audience that the old saying is true: ''Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened''. In the final flashback, Emma tells Dex, ''Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today''. That line in itself made me feel okay with the ending to their relationship. It doesn't make me happy that it happened. If it were up to me I'd have her stay alive of course. But the flashbacks at the end put everything into perspective and should help give the audience closure. That's also why the final words spoken in the movie, a flashback to the end of their first date, is so meaningful to her death and possible afterlife in 'Heaven'. He says, ''We'll see each other again'' and she replies, ''I know we will.''

There's a possibility for happiness even in their dark end.

[–] Bree_33 13 years ago

I accept the story for what it is, and the ending was the beginning and the end, and a new beginning again.

------- __@
----- _`\<,_
---- (*)/ (*)------- ----__@
----------------------- _`\<,_
---- -----------------(*)/ (*)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~nec spe,nec metu

[–] dhshoops2001 13 years ago

(Spoilers)...had to watch the end again...I didn't notice on 1st viewing how Dex and his daughter (climbing up) pass Dex and Emma (running down) on that hill in 1988/2011 Edinburgh...cool touch.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Piccadilly11 13 years ago

Well said. I think the ending is very realistic. Not happily every after, obviously, but sometimes, unfortunately, things like that do happen.

I didn't even think of the very ending words like that until you pointed it out, but you're exactly right. "We will see each other again." And he says it so definitively. How can we not be hopeful after that?

[–] modelajb 12 years ago

sure, they had 20yrs together, but it also took 20yrs for them to truly find each other if that makes sense. really, it was mostly dexter who took so long in coming around, and when he finally did, he lost her. i can't help thinking of what those yrs could've been like if he had gotten his act together much sooner. i'm not really mourning the future they lost as much as i am the yrs that they sort of missed out on in the past. it's a shame to have your soulmate or whatever in your life right under your nose all that time, and when you finally realize it, they're gone forever.

[–] Lunar_Park 12 years ago

I thought the ending worked out perfectly given that Dexter was such a whimp dragging his feet over their relationship constantly. But...given Emma made him a better person...what would happen to Dexter without Emma? Sure, he began living as if she still existed...but, seriously.

I'm reading the novel now - maybe some of my questions will be answered.

This was a fabulous story - I love the whole 'peeking in on Dex and Em' each July 15th. Brilliant idea...phenomenal author/screenwriter. David Nicholls is extremely talented.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Hee Hee Hee
Slit your throat
Life is a joke
- Jim Morrison, "Wilderness" lost poems of Morrison

[–] tkip19 12 years ago

Real life is full of sadness, unfulfilled dreams and promises as well as good times. Life is really cold and uncaring at times. That's life. Really, there isn't a happy ending for anyone because sooner or later, we outlive others and eventually die ourselves.

The movie showed us two people that basically wasted too much time before getting their act together and realizing they were soulmates and that the clock was ticking. Their time was cut short. And it's unfair but life goes on. Bittersweet ending though the flashbacks went on a bit long.

[–] miserableandstunning-60-917495 12 years ago

I agree with almost every person on this board - the ending was tragic, but you knew Em and Dex couldn't just ride off into the sunset. I feel like, even though it was a tragic ending, it worked.

Apparently the author meant for her to die. Apparently from the start July 15th was her death date, because David Nicholls is such a huge fan of Thomas Hardy and in his novel 'Tess of D'Ubervilles' there's a quote about death and he really wanted to apply it to his story.

'Love is becoming a blank that lovers must fill in themselves'

[–] macgirl66 12 years ago

I'm going to disagree here, sorry. I didn't find the ending realistic at all. It didn't ring true to me in any way, shape or form, it seemed like something out of a novel or movie. Frankly, most couples will live out their lives meeting others, finding someone, getting married, perhaps having kids and living until a relatively old age. What happened to these two is extremely uncommon and is not a good representation of life. It was like the author said, "How much grief and drama can I throw in one story?" In real life, it would be extremely unlikely for two people to spend 20 years struggling to get their sh!t together to be a couple (like these two did), only to have one of them mowed down on their bike shortly after. I do know a man who had a bizarre accident where he fell through a sliding glass patio door and bled to death. He left a wife and two kids. They had been married 18 years. He was only 44. However, they had over 18 years together. Obviously, his life was cut short and his death was tragic, his young widow and his kids miss him very much. It has left a huge hole in their lives. But it is not even comparable to this story. And then with the mother dying too? Uh huh.

To each their own...opinion