SPOILERS AHEAD!
Ok, so, like everyone else here, I was confounded by the ending. I have read many of your conclusions, and, unfortunately, I cannot agree with any of them.
As I see it, there is one central contradiction in the ending.
On the one hand, we have the famous hand waving scene at the very end of the movie. In conjunction with the scene in which the "Real Julia" doesn't recognize Sarah, we are led to believe that nearly all of the events in the movie were imagined by Sarah. A typical, "It was all a dream ending." Groans are heard from all. This, indeed, seems to be the most popular theory.
However, we also have another small detail. When Sarah is speaking with John, right after she hands him the new book, she mentions, "There are things that you didn't tell me." Now, if nearly the whole movie had been imagined by Sarah, what could she possibly have been hinting at that he "didn't tell her?"
For me, it is nearly impossible to reconcile these two events. I've even considered the possiblility that the whole movie WASN'T imagined by Sarah, and that the "Fake Julie" was actually an imposter. However, if the "Fake Julie" had been an imposter, then Marcel would not have recognized her. This theory doesn't fly, either.
I've seen people compare this movie to Adaptation. I do not agree with this comparison. Adaptation had a pretty clear ending, despite the Philip K. Dick device of having Nick Cage writing himself into his own screenplay.
I would much rather compare this movie to American Psycho or Mulholland Drive. For it is possible that, as in American Psycho, there is no clear answer to the question of "What really happened?," and that the writer and director are doing things to deliberately confuse us. However, I also accept the possibility that, like Mulholland Drive, there is probably a real explanation behind the events of the movie- however, this explanation is so obscure and hidden that neither I, nor any of my friends would ever figure it out on our own.
Ok, so, like everyone else here, I was confounded by the ending. I have read many of your conclusions, and, unfortunately, I cannot agree with any of them.
As I see it, there is one central contradiction in the ending.
On the one hand, we have the famous hand waving scene at the very end of the movie. In conjunction with the scene in which the "Real Julia" doesn't recognize Sarah, we are led to believe that nearly all of the events in the movie were imagined by Sarah. A typical, "It was all a dream ending." Groans are heard from all. This, indeed, seems to be the most popular theory.
However, we also have another small detail. When Sarah is speaking with John, right after she hands him the new book, she mentions, "There are things that you didn't tell me." Now, if nearly the whole movie had been imagined by Sarah, what could she possibly have been hinting at that he "didn't tell her?"
For me, it is nearly impossible to reconcile these two events. I've even considered the possiblility that the whole movie WASN'T imagined by Sarah, and that the "Fake Julie" was actually an imposter. However, if the "Fake Julie" had been an imposter, then Marcel would not have recognized her. This theory doesn't fly, either.
I've seen people compare this movie to Adaptation. I do not agree with this comparison. Adaptation had a pretty clear ending, despite the Philip K. Dick device of having Nick Cage writing himself into his own screenplay.
I would much rather compare this movie to American Psycho or Mulholland Drive. For it is possible that, as in American Psycho, there is no clear answer to the question of "What really happened?," and that the writer and director are doing things to deliberately confuse us. However, I also accept the possibility that, like Mulholland Drive, there is probably a real explanation behind the events of the movie- however, this explanation is so obscure and hidden that neither I, nor any of my friends would ever figure it out on our own.