MovieChat Forums > They Might Be Giants (1971) Discussion > Understanding the ending *SPOILERS*

Understanding the ending SPOILERS

posted 15 years ago by DevinDCEG
3 replies | jump to latest

First impression: My first impression of the film's ending was that Watson had finally admitted to loving Holmes, and that she wouldn't live without him. The sound they heard was not a horse, but instead an oncoming train. Watson could see only the horse at this point, just like Holmes. The light shining on their face, made me believe that it was definately a train, and both Holmes and Watson were struck and killed just as the film ends.

Second opinion: My second opinion of the film's ending was that Watson had finally admitted to loving Holmes, and that she wouldn't live without him. The sound they heard, which they assumed a horse, was completely imaginary. There Holmes stood at a dark tunnel, and Watson, for the first time was a part of Holmes' insanity. Together they both stood there staring at nothing with a mutual belief that a horse was approaching. The light shining on their face only gave the viewer(s) visualization of what both Holmes and Watson merely imagined.

On any note, "They Might Be Giants" (1971) was one of the more tragically beautiful stories in film history.
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[–] Bad_Dog 15 years ago

Your second impression is in my opinion the most accurate in that Watson finally gives her heart and joins Holmes in his world of oblique reality. One clue is in the epilog scroll after the tunnel scene. And I'll paraphrase it below.

~~The human heart knows what the ear cannot hear, the eye cannot see and the mind cannot "begin" to comprehend.~~

EMPHISIS ADDED "begin" MINE.

Sometimes you have to ponder things very deeply to really understand even the simplest of visions.

[–] crmfghtr 10 years ago

Truth of the matter is we really dont know, and to this day hypothesize about it. I like to still think it is what I saw through my juvenile eyes on first viewing. That Moriarty really did come, that he existed on this fantasy plane Watson had now joined Holmes in, but real in this alternate reality. Notice she was insisting to Holmes it was all in his mind, she hears nothing, and at this point while she is telling him there is nothing does she finally hear the faint steps of the horse drawing closer and closer..

I know this theory has been put forth before and is not the most popular one, but I like it the best. The most popular one seems to be that the white light was Watson finally be engulfed and giving herself to Holmes mental illness, and joining him in it. In any case, unless anyone can find the writers true intention in his own words, we will never be sure.

[–] greenbudgie 9 years ago

During the course of the film, I was beginning to think that the 'Moriarty' that 'Holmes' was searching to apprehend was an allegory for modern life. But the sound of a horse recalls the past when horses were more a part of peoples' everyday lives. So bang goes my theory perhaps. A really intriguing ending.