Why don't Euro films have endings?

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('Life'-as-subject-source is trivialised by moralism implied by superimposed narrative arc which is in any case unavoidably subject to unconscious prejudices on part of by-now-discredited auteur and besides there's been loads of wars and invasions on this continent leading to wariness of totalitarian moralistic auteurs, rejection of which accomplished by neutral/nuanced stance which is NECESSARY YOU'LL AGREE because recent history ['recent' Euro def. = last 27,000 years] proves tragic consequences of simplifying [i.e. fixing one's own relation to] 'subject matter' [i.e. anything that happens ever]) vs (attention-seeking) vs (chickenshit)

― dave q, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"So turned on/ by your lack of conclusions"

― dave q, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

a bout de souffle? (also has same ending as cannibal holocaust, kinda) (not that i've seen ch)

― mark s, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

hmmm dont understand the bumf but in answer to the question i believe it is because many european films are snap shots, not an event (start middle end) but rather a smaller part of a wider perspective and therfore is a conclusion really bec. i see this as the ideal of films - stepping in to a life you have no control over - and that includes when you are thrown out - like having a peep through a window - u do not control when the curtains are shut but it is enjoyable for a time (i dont mean this in a pervy way)

― james, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

zabriskie point? betty blue? seventh seal? the bergman with the spider that = god?

― mark s, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought zabriskie point was american - hasnt it got harrison ford in it

― james, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha ha 'Seventh Seal' was used as the ultimate anti-auteurist example in a film studies class I never showed up for - apparently the number of people in the final scene was entirely randomly predicated on how many extras showed up that day, and the chiaroscuro was because they just wanted to get the fuckin' thing done even tho the light was getting bad. This may be apocryphal, however.

btw I don't really care about films not having endings, I just watch all films like they're MTV, if there's some good bits that's enough for me, but it seems to REALLY bother some people, I'm always recommending films and when somebody watches them they scream at me! "What the fuck was the point of that!? Like, the guy just disappears at then it ends! WTF?" So lately I've started to wonder about it! ('Breathless', don't you think the guy's death was rather 'look, this is a fake shooting and it's only a film! See, the actor's still smoking a fag even tho he's dead!', which would render it a parody of an ending rather than an ending?)

― dave q, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i presume you have seen memento - not euro but its ending is a bit twisted - brilliant film tho

― james, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Journalist: "Do you believe in a beginning, middle, and end, Monsieur Godard?"

Jean-Luc Godard: "Yes, but not in that order"

(My other fave JLG quote - when he was asked why there was so much blood in 'Pierrot le Fou' he replied 'Not blood, red')

― Andrew L, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

memento - not euro but its ending is a bit twisted
you mean the beginning, surely? ;-)

― Jeff W, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

now good yeah i point haha muddled am.

but sense it make will time over

8¬]

― james, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha! I was just discussing on another thread one of the very great movie endings, from Spoorloos (The Vanishing), which is European! And apparently the US remake (both by George Sluizer) throws away one of the great shock twist endings so as to have a happy ending! Concrete proof, if proof be need be, that European films have better endings!

― Martin Skidmore, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

endings suck!!! That's becuz endings are predictable. i like it when a movie ends suddenly. it makes sense.

― Julio desouza, Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

What abt that recent Catherine Breillat one? It has the best ending of any film ever.

― david h(0wie), Monday, 5 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"Trouble Every Day"? "Fat Girl" had a *comforting* ending.

― Mary, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I guess that the type of Euro film you are referring too puts the strain on "this is just a fragment of life" and there you are. No morals, no consequences, life just goes on. But following "The Seventh Seal" path, Scandinavian school is particularly fond of allegoric plots, even Dogma practisers, for instance.

― Arantxa, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

can i just applaud mr. skidmore for his expert use of that day today-ism up there.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I think people are over-generalising as to what European films are like.

Tilsammans has an ending. They all play football in the snow.

― DV, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

But that's not an ending - its a beginning (to the football match).

― Pete, Tuesday, 6 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Every movie should have this format: a small problem representative of a larger moral ambiguity. The small problem is worked out and thus the larger moral ambiguity is resolved. The moral is clearly stated. Then there should be a gag to lighten the mood.

Truffaut said that since life heads downwards into decay and despair, movies should have the opposite curve because they can.

― maryann, Saturday, 10 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Movies would be much better if actors were clearly differentiated by hair colour. ie baddies blonde, goodies brown, victims red.

― maryann, Saturday, 10 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Formally, this would be preferable. Once the language was established, you could have jokes on the format. Things need to be more ultra formal.

― maryann, Saturday, 10 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

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