For the first 102 minutes, I saw this film much as MATTHEWSCOTT8: a pleasant movie that was charming and colorful, but otherwise ordinary. The final minute, however, is transcendent and elevates the entire work to something else. (The only other example of this I can think of is John Huston's "The Dead" where the final voice over forces you to reevaluate everything that have come before in a new light).
Here is one interpretation of the the events of the last minute and their meaning:A player steps to the edge of the stage, beyond the curtain. He reveals the cosmological structure of this play within a play within a film. The first play is the "real world" where ordinary events occur and characters interact. Most pursue some narrow selfish objective, but on rare occasions one overcomes their greed and achieves a degree of liberation and fulfillment (in this case Camilla).
The second play is the stage on which the our narrator stands; a kind of Bardo between the fist play and our audience. The audience is a sea of human souls - all those who have passed away as their personal play has ended.
The narrator tells us that Camilla is missing. In the background we see her pale ghostly image as she bids farewell to remaining cast members.
The narrator then gives us his philosophy of life, "Don't waste your time on the so called real life. You belong to us"..." the only way to find happiness is on any stage"... "during those two little hours when you become another person; your true self." Thus, even a fairly standard story offers the potential to transcend our plight and experience something eternal. Renoir is describing the essence of pure eastern mysticism, here in a deeply western European context.
"Filipe, Ramon and the Viscount have disappeared. Gone." says Camilla, "Don't they exist anymore?".
"Now they are part of the audience. Do you miss them ?" asks our narrator.
Overall, this ending is so quick and unexpected that is feels like a rabbit punch to awaken the spirit. We are left, like Camilla, to contemplate the play, the nature of all plays and our own existence.
Here is one interpretation of the the events of the last minute and their meaning:A player steps to the edge of the stage, beyond the curtain. He reveals the cosmological structure of this play within a play within a film. The first play is the "real world" where ordinary events occur and characters interact. Most pursue some narrow selfish objective, but on rare occasions one overcomes their greed and achieves a degree of liberation and fulfillment (in this case Camilla).
The second play is the stage on which the our narrator stands; a kind of Bardo between the fist play and our audience. The audience is a sea of human souls - all those who have passed away as their personal play has ended.
The narrator tells us that Camilla is missing. In the background we see her pale ghostly image as she bids farewell to remaining cast members.
The narrator then gives us his philosophy of life, "Don't waste your time on the so called real life. You belong to us"..." the only way to find happiness is on any stage"... "during those two little hours when you become another person; your true self." Thus, even a fairly standard story offers the potential to transcend our plight and experience something eternal. Renoir is describing the essence of pure eastern mysticism, here in a deeply western European context.
"Filipe, Ramon and the Viscount have disappeared. Gone." says Camilla, "Don't they exist anymore?".
"Now they are part of the audience. Do you miss them ?" asks our narrator.
Overall, this ending is so quick and unexpected that is feels like a rabbit punch to awaken the spirit. We are left, like Camilla, to contemplate the play, the nature of all plays and our own existence.