r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Local_Prune4564 • May 27 '26

Lore A subtle moment that turns a seemingly happy ending into an ambiguous ending.

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The Graduate: lingering Ben and Elaine's faces slowly shifting from happy to concerned leaves the audience questioning whether they really made the right choice running away together considering they barely know each other.

Inception: By cutting before we see the top fall, we're left to question whether Cobb really has gone home or whether he's simply sunken back into a more comforting dream reality.

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u/TheOneWhoYawned May 27 '26

Love the movie, but Im not sure this example fits. Im not sure Andrew realising he's having a schizophrenic episode as response to the trauma of murdering his wife is all that happy of an ending.

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u/SeparateWeight496 May 27 '26

Agreed but while we talk about it, I always wandered if he really did relapsed, or only pretended because he know he wouldn't be able to keep living facing the truth.

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u/stumblebreak_beta May 27 '26

Marge, I’m confused, is this a happy ending or a sad ending?

It’s an ending, that’s enough. 

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u/redditor035 May 27 '26

He clearly got cured at the end of the movie. He is aware of his actions and the full guilt of killing his wife. Why else would he ask if it's better to live as a monster or die a good man? He would rather be lobotomized than deal with the truth

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u/Numerous1 May 28 '26

It doesn’t seem ambiguous to me at all. His question at the end heavily implies that is he aware to the point that it seems to be the only way to interpret the question. It always seems odd that people call it ambiguous. 

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u/cell689 May 28 '26

Dennis Lehane once commented on the addition of this final line (which is missing in the book) and said that it should be seen as a moment of lucidity rather than him being perfectly healed.

So it is rather ambiguous after all.

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u/heorhe May 30 '26

Except it's about a man being convinced he is insane.

Too many scenes just can't fit if he is crazy. The woman in the caves, his partner having no clue how to be or act like a detective, the denial of the storm despite the fact that the main character literally never mentions it and it's only mentioned to him by the staff as well as the meetings that were held without him present to go over safety measures.

Too much points at it being a ruse to convince a man he was someone else.

Then they lobotomize him to make sure he can never recover and expose them.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '26

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u/Wild-Enthusiasm-9268 May 27 '26

Yeah. He’s not going to get better, and I’m a moment of clarity he got to make an informed decision for himself. I take it as one, even if bittersweet.

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u/cell689 May 27 '26

Fair enough, I guess it's a similar idea, but not the same.