The Door in the Floor
Lately I've been irritated by the slap-on feel-good Hollywood endings of so many otherwise good movies. The Clearing, for example, was a great movie right up until the last 5-10 minutes. Why oh why did the producers feel the need to put a soft-focus fantasy sequence at the end of this movie? Totally uncalled for.
So I was very happy to see the tragic ending of The Door in the Floor, a movie based on the first third of John Irving's A Widow for One Year. Makes me sound sadistic, but really, sometimes a tragic ending is the only one that will do. The movie follows a husband and wife during the course of a summer in which they each are trying to decide if the marriage can last. The wife finally takes decisive action, kicking off what would be, if the movie had a sequel, possibly the most bizarre child custody battle ever. The movie captures the heartwrenchingness of loss and loneliness, and also has some of the most hilarious movie scenes I've seen in some time.
I haven't found too many positive reviews of the movie. The MovieBoy bashes the ending, characterizing it as "wrongheaded and confusing," which was in my view the strongest part of the movie. Joe R. says,
The movie has pretty people, good acting and summer resort scenery, but the themes of death, emotional paralysis, betrayal, cruelty,incest by proxy, child neglect and pompous Picasso-like sexual indulgence and sadism left me sick and searching for something to redeem any of these people.
Why do movies need to feature redeemable characters? Dean Kish takes the movie to task for not being more hopeful, which again, is something I liked about the movie. Not that I don't like hopeful movies, but sometimes, as in The Clearing, there is just no legitimate reason to be hopeful, and damn it, movies should reflect that.
If you, too, hate Hollywood endings, check out Listmania! Movies without the Hollywood endings.
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