The dark fantasy film “Pan’s Labyrinth” by Guillermo del Toro has an ending that can be interpreted in several different ways. At the end of the film, the main character, Ofelia, dies in the mystical, magical stone labyrinth, but the film continues to show her being reborn as Princess Moanna, taking her place at her father the king’s side.
Did Ofelia imagine her rebirth into royalty as a last gasp at a happy life after a childhood full of darkness and despair? Or did it really happen? She died with a smile on her face, so it is impossible to tell, and it’s all up to the audience to decide.
Corpse Bride
The Tim Burton film had a lot of questions attached to it, though most people still find the film watchable enough. Yet at the ending, when the main character decides NOT to marry the titular bride, she turns into butterflies.
It had a lot of people saying, “huh?” since it got them to wonder if the other corpses will also turn into butterflies, why Emily is supposed to only be freed – read, turn into butterflies – when she marries her true love, who doesn’t marry her. Is she truly dead now? Does her consciousness persist in butterfly form? There are lots of poetic interpretations but no real answers to get from the movie.
Gone Girl
Though not confusing in the traditional sense – we know exactly what happened to the characters and why – but a lot of viewers had follow-up questions for the film that never got answered. The film ends with Amy (Rosamund Pike) clearing Nick (Ben Affleck) of her murder. She had initially framed him for it, but she then forced him to stay with her by getting pregnant with his child.
Viewers couldn't help but ask: would Nick really stay with her? How long will the relationship last before it ends in murder? Did they actually want to be together because they enjoyed the drama, or is it going to crash and burn?
In Bruges
Though straightforward on the surface-level, the dark comedy/crime film “In Bruges” raises questions on repeated viewings. At the end of the movie, guilty assassin Ray (Colin Farrell) takes a bullet in the streets of Bruges and is carried into an ambulance. Did he die? The movie doesn't tell us. It also doesn't tell us...if Ray is already dead.
During the length of the movie, Ray is complaining about discomfort and boredom, leading some film theories to posit that Ray is already dead, and Bruges is some form of purgatory. Others believe Ray will be forced to live out the rest of his life in Bruges, bored, cold, and annoyed.
The Road
At the end of the dramatic apocalyptic movie “The Road,” Viggo Mortensen's character dies, leaving his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) alone in a world full of famine, drought, and cannibals. A family approaches him, wanting to take him in, but he is mistrustful.
They convince him to go along with them, and the movie leaves the audience to decide if this was a good decision or not. Will he be able to live for very long without his father? Will the family treat him well? Like the road the two main characters travel for the movie's duration, the ending is wide open.