MovieChat Forums > Still Alice (2015) Discussion > How would you have liked the movie to ha...

How would you have liked the movie to have ended?

posted 10 years ago by boxercats
15 replies | jump to latest

Having lost my mother to this terrible disease, I wasn't sure that I wanted to watch this movie. I decided to rent it today. Julianne Moore was wonderful and it brought back many memories of things my mother went through. However, I felt the ending was abrupt.

After thinking about it, I believe a better ending would have been for Kirsten to have found the "butterfly" file on her mother's laptop and to have helped her end her life as she wanted to, with those pills.

Anyone have any other ideas as to a better ending? Or did you like the sudden end?

[–] TxMike 10 years ago

I don't have an answer to your specific question but it brings up something I have noticed way too often over the years. Namely that many very creative scriptwriters come up with very good ideas for an interesting story but fail to pull it all together with a really satisfying ending.

I agree with your observation, this one ended a bit abruptly.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

[–] registers-944-48791 10 years ago

As I said in other post, I think the end was good and coherent.

Your end would be good, but then the movie would have brought too much focus to euthanasia. It was cited only, not the focus of the movie.

Also, I feel the writer wanted to show the POV of people who want to euthanasia themselves, but he also wanted to show that even with this kind of desease the person can live a happy life. So, even with all the trouble and limitations, he wants to show his POV that it's better to adapt and find new sources of happiness than to just die unaturally.

Anyway, she was just happy because she had the money and the family. If she didn't have either of them, she'd have way more troubles to handle and would be very hard to be happy.

[–] kvc2 10 years ago

From the beginning, there was only one way it could have ended.

[–] Kariann1964 10 years ago

It could have ended with her husband in the arms of another woman instead of going to the Mayo Clinic. That would have been a terrible ending.

[–] VenomX 10 years ago

It ended with the word "love" and images of such a thing. That's all it needed.

I have a mother with early-onset Alzeimer's and the ending was perfect.

Your day could be worse 

[–] fundaquayman 10 years ago

In my opinion, the ending was what made the film special to me. Her intellect and strength all trapped inside a body and mind that's dwindling away, yet by Alice saying, "Love" it shows that inside she was still the smart lady everyone knew her as.

[–] fundaquayman 10 years ago

[–] HelloMyNameIsMrBurns 10 years ago

Would have been best if the caretaker never came back, she took the pills, and she died. It's what she wanted.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 9 years ago

I kind of felt that way too. But what if the "new" Alice didn't actually want that? It's quite the philosophical conundrum.

--------
My top 250: http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=SlackerInc&perpage=250

[–] rapzip1 10 years ago

I like your ending, which provides resolution, but the problem is that it would be too similar to Million Dollars Baby.

[–] Savybones 10 years ago

Kind of a "Mist" ending where the daughter Anna kills herself and then they find a cure and Julianne raises the babies. YES I hated that daughter.

OH SPOILER ALERT!

[–] stefan-79-235442 9 years ago

Ending was perfect.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 9 years ago

I was satisfied with the ending as it was, although I like your ending as well.

I was however feeling frustrated when her whole plan with the phone and the video got thwarted. I didn't have a problem with her husband for the most part, but his blowing her off when she desperately wanted to find her phone was not cool.

--------
My top 250: http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=SlackerInc&perpage=250

[–] rmontro 9 years ago

I thought the ending was fine. For the daughter to help her end her life in the end, that would distract from the story, I think. Some might think it promotes suicide. Would she be guilty of murder?

There's room for discussion on euthanasia, but I'm not sure this movie is the place to do it. I think this movie was more about a person and her family dealing with Alzheimer's. The "considering suicide" bit was just one part of that.