MovieChat Forums > Third Person (2014) Discussion > Let me see if I have the ending straight...

Let me see if I have the ending straight...


As I understand it, everything in the movie was part of the book, even the Neeson-Wilde story. The only section of the movie that was not part of the book is the quick shot at the very end of the writer working in a small, dingy room, as opposed to the lavish Parisian suite. Am I correct?

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Whoa, wait. They were different rooms? How about the one from the beginning? Is it the same one as the end? Didn't really catch that.

Anyway, to answer your question, yes, you are correct. The only scenes that are from real life are the first and the last. Everything else we can assume is fiction.

Actually, right now I'm trying to figure out if the drowning boy is a real event in the Liam Neeson character's life, or if he's a metaphor for his failing inspiration and creativity. (Just think of the many bad scenes and dialogue from his stories, like Monika having sex while she knows her daughter is being held on a boat, or the host of unimpressive lines like "Humor doesn't travel more than a floor." that he thinks are good writing.)

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I think the drowning of his son was a real event, the only "real"(it is still fiction of course, but not "fiction in fiction" like the rest of the plot) event of the film basically, and the extreme guilt he feels about that is what fuels his writing. Scott is his autobiographical alter ego, and we see that he is also tormented by the same event.

Fanboy : a person who does not think while watching.

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Haven't thought about it too deeply, but the publisher is obviously a real event, no?

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Yeap, that seems about right, and "Watch me" gave even Olivia Wilde's character in the end. I am not quite sure why she was upset by what seemed a journal she was reading, perhaps Liam informed her in writing that he was on the phone with her (while still in his mind) when it happened. I think you are wrong about the room though, it appeared he was still in the same suite.

Fanboy : a person who does not think while watching.

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The death of his son and his conversations with his wife are real.

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But then Elaine asks Michael if "she" is there with him (he always replies no) and if she knows the book is about her and her father. So is Anna a past affair?

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Yes - past affair.

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Mila, James Franco, Adrien Brody, Maria Bello, and the Roma woman: entirely fictional characters.

Olivia Wilde: things depicted with her did happen, but all in the past. She had read his journal at some point and learned that he was using her sexual relationship with her father in a book and left him.

His wife and his editor: real scenes happening in the present.

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[deleted]

you are correct, except that Wilde was an actual part of his life but in a previous stage and he was writing her story based on what he really knew
the others were inspired by his real story and they all had a glimpse of him

It is never about what happened, it is only how you look at it!

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Jon Jonnz was doing extra duty in the entire film, as evidenced by his last shapeshifting stunt while escaping Liam Neeson's particular set of skills.

Joking aside, I just finished watching the movie, and in my interpretation everything between the first and last scene are fictional in the sense, that they intersected with actual past conversations, making the only 3 characters not represnting the writer's psyche are his wife, his editor, and his dead son. All phone conversations and confessions are real, and has happened to the writer, I'd go as far as to say, it's from his second, third, and fourth book, all written after his son's death. They also represent the 5 stages of grief, which makes the Italian story the last stage, acceptance. We never get to see, how Anna actually looks like, since Olivia Wilde, Mila Kunis and Miss Atias were all part of her likeness, hence why Liam as the writer sees all 3 of them. The note with the judge's address (the writer was suspected of criminal negligence, but cleared on lack of evidence, presented in Julia's story) was a past memory, just like him not making the meeting, and later using the note to register his wife's new phone number. Mila Kunis's story should be the second book (depression, bargaining), Olivia Wilde's story the third (anger and a sense of betrayal) and Adrian Brody's story the fourth (acceptance). I have to admit, this is pure speculation, but after he lost his phone messages from his son, Anna returned to him after meeting his father, and only later did she read the journal, which is why Monika asks to be taken back, and berates Scott for being a fool for previously believing him, or perhaps the opposite, after the third book he just wished the love of his life returns, but it never happened à là the lies he tells himself, to be signified by Anna wearing white.

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I really like your interpretation. thank you

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