The first part was a waste of time
her parents being killed and all.
shareThe guilt/grief/abandonment felt from her Sister's suicide and parents' death was like a crack in the shell of Dani's fragile egg of sanity. It was required to add even more impact when she fully lost her sanity (in the last scene).
Here is the last line from the script:
A SMILE finally breaks onto Dani’s face. She has surrendered to a joy known only by the insane. She has lost herself completely, and she is finally free. It is horrible and it is beautiful.
That's interesting to know that the actual script mentions her being insane because that isn't what I took away from it at all. To me, it seemed like she was lost and hopeless after losing her entire family (plus her absentee boyfriend) and was more than willing to accept this new "family" that had taken her under their wing and made her "queen". The fact that she chooses her boyfriend for the sacrifice is her cementing her decision.
But that's just the way I saw it.
Caeli
The first time I watched it (the theatrical cut), I too thought as you did. It wasn't until reading the script, and also seeing the Director's Cut did I stumble on the idea that she went insane.
There is some time in the movie (when she is screaming with the women in the cult) that she is embracing them as family. But, after discovering the cult killed all her companions, that feeling morphs into something else (Stockholm Syndrome).
If Dani lets Christian live, she knows that it's very likely the cult kills them both. So, I believe in those moments of decision, she ultimately chose the lesser of two evils, and to protect herself; at least she gets to live. She is upset with Christian, but does not really want to murder him. So, at that point, she is not considering the cult her new family, but more as her captors. It's like taking Stockholm Syndrome to a whole different level! And, the smile she gives at the very end is her giving into her captors, and literally going insane. It's a remarkable scene, and the only time Dani smiles in the entire movie!! :-D
We shouldn’t have to read a film’s script to understand what is going on though.
shareJbran, yep I feel the same way.
shareJBran/Piancol,
Reading the last few lines of the script was all that was needed to realize she went insane. That's not the same as reading the entire script. Also, if you watch it a few of times, and really think about it, you can eventually figure out that she went insane. Her smile is definitely insane. So, like any great movie, it has great replay value, and requires you to really use your mind to realize what the end means.
I like your point here!
shareYes... Mental illness is a recurring theme for this director...
shareit doesn't really matter what it says in the script about where Dani evolves to, its more something for us to resolve for ourselves, based upon the drama placed before us.
i saw her journey from being a tenuous outsider among amoral, self-absorbed obnoxious companions to being an insider within the cult which give her love & attention, also demands its share of blood & devotion.
her smile was an acceptance of her new position in the world. insane is just a word. she wasn't free before, she wasn't free now, but at least she was accepted, rather than grudgingly tolerated.
this was a powerful film, with a lot to say about the nature of belonging, acceptance, normalcy, insularity.
Well put. I'm thinking this one needs a re-watch on my part.
shareI agree up to a point. Dani felt happy to be accepted until she realized she was surrounded by murderers. She is no murderer. You can see the anguish in Dani's face as she makes the decision to choose Christian. She is in tears, and doesn't really want to be a murderer. Then, at the very end, you see her face change to that Joker type smile. Her mind was fractured from her family loss, and due to realizing she is now a murdering cult member as well, she cracks, and goes completely psycho. She is no longer herself, and knows she will never be free, but rather a captive of her own decision to be a murderer. It is stockholm syndrome taken to the nth degree. She embraces her new "family" to protect her mind, to prevent her mind from accepting the truth of what she became.
share