Ending vs. Third Act

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  • Ending vs. Third Act

    I notice that in dicussions of "endings" that it is sometimes the case that one is speaking of the final shot, final scene, or final sequence, and other times one is speaking of the third act as a whole -- the buildup, the climax, and the resolution. After all, the three-act structure is beginning, middle, and end: thus the third act is the end.

    Among Done Dealers there is a somewhat greater inclination to speak of the Third Act, but among the general movie-going public, that's rarely the case. You simply hear something like "I just loved that ending", and it could mean the whole of the third act or simply the final shot.

    In a film like the Usual Suspects, where the big reveal is actually in the final scene, it seems the climax and the end are definitely one and the same, and when one says they loved the ending, it's pretty clear what was meant.

    So my question, or idea for discussion, is: how do you interpret the notion of a film's "ending"? And I'd be curious for examples where the climax is great, but the ending was not, or vice versa.

  • #2
    the most obvious example of a good third act to climax with a crap denouement is psycho. great movie, wonderful stuff from beginning to end and then -- ten minutes of unnecessary explanatory psychobabble.

    terrible.

    but it doesn't matter, because the movie is so good that by the time we come to the psychiatrist or whatever he is, the story has been satisfactorily told and we can happily ignore him.

    (i will now await being told how wrong i am.)

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    • #3
      Psycho is a good example of a bad ending. IMHO denouements fail when they stop telling the story, as happens in Psycho.

      Great endings IMHO are those that end on an affirmation rather than providing us with the absolute ending. It should create the beginning of another story.

      The two characters get onto the elevator at the end of Sleepless in Seattle. Verbal gets into the limo at the end of Usual Suspects. Costner plays catch with his dad's ghost.

      We are never told that Hanks and Ryan will get together, or that Verbal will escape and get away with his crime or that Costner and his dead father will resolve their differences, but we have been led to believe it will happen because of the trajectory of the characters.

      Return of the King holds the record for most and worst denouements in a film.

      (dons helmet in expectation of Clary's wrath)

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      • #4
        One of my writing prof's summed it up like this; "A good writer doesn't slam the door shut on a story, but gently closes it on his way out."

        A good ending sums nothing up but leaves you with the definite sense of how their lives are from that time on.

        Which is exactly what Deus said and what Bligh pointed out as a bad ending in Pyscho.

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        • #5
          The ending/third act of Casablanca is one helluva surprise. The Third Act begins when Rick "decides" to use the lettres of transit to flee Casablanca with Ilsa. But the 'popular' ending is when he puts her on the plane with Viktor Laslo.

          For my other favorite film, Chinatown, I'd say the climax happens in the "my daughter, my sister" scene. Yet the film slowly winds down. That revelation is the climactic, tie it all together and gasp moment. Everything in the denoument leads to her death- and from what I've heard, she had to die.

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          • #6
            One of my personal favorite endings to any film is in John Carpenter's The Thing. You pretty much have no idea what is going on (those who have seen the film know what I'm talking about), and after the film ends, you still don't know. That's what makes it fun to watch over and over again. I'm just glad they haven't made a sequel. I hope they never do.

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            • #7
              I think people say "I loved the ending" or "I hated the ending" based on how emotionally satisfied they feel coming out of the theater. It might be the last act or just the last shot that feels satisfying and right -- or unsatisfying and annoying.

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              • #8
                A great ending or catharsis ties up all the arcs and loose ends in one big emotional swoop.

                The third act is the end of the arc, the playground for the final battle for the external goal at all costs.

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                • #9
                  The Sting provided me with the most fulfilling 3rd act/ending that I can remember, although Casablanca must also be considered.

                  In The Sting, we actually walked into the parking lot in a state of bewilderment. There were four of us, and although we somehow knew that Redford and Newman would prevail; none of us were in anyway prepared for the manner in which that story was crafted. Truly a breathtaking experience. In my way of thinking, that's what storytelling is all about.

                  In this instance, if memory serves, the ending comprised the final thirty or so minutes of a roughly two hour film. In the case of Casablanca, perhaps the final 15 minutes -- or less. To attempt to determine which was the more satisfying would be quite difficult. They were entirely different genre and therefore the structure worked out a little differently.

                  While I found both of these movies to be satisfying experiences, I find a number of more recent efforts that could be good, attempt to throw in devistating twists late in the story that I find considerably less satisfying. Most of M. Knight's efforts come to mind, along those lines.

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