Friday, July 13, 2007

THE BEAUTY OF RIVETTE'S ENDINGS

This is my comment in Girish Shambu’s blog:
http://www.girishshambu.com/blog/2007/07/ten-places-to-go-in-to.html

Thanks a lot for the mention, Girish.

I can’t think of any films with ridiculous studio endings, because I don’t know much about film history. Reading about this topic here is great. I like the ending of THE LAST LAUGH (1924, F.W. Murnau), though. I didn’t expect that the story of such an old film would shift its tone just like that. It’s a nice surprise for me.

As for changes in endings, I have read from wikipedia that Sam Mendes changed the original ending of AMERICAN BEAUTY. I think what he did might be right, because I like this film very much.

Sometimes the ending is changed when the film is remade. Most people would think that the endings of THE VANISHING (1993, George Sluizer) and DIABOLIQUE (1996, Jeremiah S. Chechik) are horrible, especially when compared to the original endings of SPOORLOOS (1988, George Sluizer) and LES DIABOLIQUES (1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot), respectively. However, in my opinion, though I agree that the original endings are much much much better, I think I like it that the two versions have different endings. I think I like the differences between these two versions, though that means the new versions might be much inferior to the original versions. I think I would be so bored if the two versions were similar.

Speaking of that, I think I have to contradict myself, because sometimes I don’t like the differences between the original and the new version. I think I have no rule for this kind of thing. It’s a case-by-case basis for me. One example is BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974, Bob Clark). I like the ending of the original version very much. It’s quite cruel, and very haunting. I think the ending of BLACK CHRISTMAS (2006, Glen Morgan), the remake version, is very boring and worth forgetting.

If I can change an ending in any film, I think I would like to change the ending of VA SAVOIR (2001, Jacques Rivette). I hate its ending. I think it’s too conclusive for me, and it’s not what I expect of Jacques Rivette. I like the way Rivette ended UP DOWN FRAGILE (1995), LA BELLE NOISEUSE (1991), and CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (1974) very much. I feel that the endings of these films are so abrupt, so unexpected. And that’s what I love. I don’t know how I would write the ending of VA SAVOIR by myself, though. I just want it to end very abruptly.

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This is a poster of THE NUN (1966, Jacques Rivette) from http://www.allocine.fr/
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1113/800160328_ed683a4508_o.jpg


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