Movies with open endings

questions
#1

Hello, all. I’m looking for some help finding the right story to look at, to see how it would break down in Dramatica.

The best model would be something like *a murder mystery where (at the end) we are unable to determine which person is the killer, but there are several people who have clear and strong agendas (which could have been their motive)."

I’m not even sure that I know of a single book or movie that fits that bill, btw. Maybe Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express? Maybe? (I’ve never read it.)

So, to broaden it out:

• I’m not even looking for a successful storyform. The analysis of Z comes to mind. We found a home for it in Dramatica, but not a true storyform.

• Birdman kind of works, but really it’s a movie with clear rules that it violates right at the end, dashing a good storyform against the pavement beneath the hospital window. Or flying into the sky to the delight of onlookers. We’ll never know.

• Perhaps even propaganda movies would work – Sicko – for example.

• Perhaps movies like *The Big Chill" which have a shared MC, and so are unusual. But I don’t think this is what I’m looking for.

Anyway, you can see I’m not exactly sure what I’m trying to find. Which is why I’m turning to the group for answers. And questions, if you have them.

Thanks!

#2

The Innocents comes to mind (was she crazy or were there really ghosts haunting the children?).

#3

Zodiac or Memories of a Murder.

#4

Limbo by John Sayles might help. I never saw it, but the criticism about its ending I do remember. It might be what you are looking for.

#5

Belle De Jour (1967) has an ending that is strongly ambiguous. Buñuel didn’t want anyone to feel cheated, so he ends the movie in a way that allows every audience member to interpret it a slightly different way. In his words, he gave the audience the ‘good ending, along with the bad ending’ but he himself never knew which was the real one.

But it also makes you wonder if everything that came before was real or a fantasy, so that may be a very difficult storyform to figure out.

#6

Thanks, these are all good. They are helping me hone in on what I’m asking for:

Limbo is a movie that cuts off the last scene, so it’s got an open ending, but it doesn’t have multiple interpretations, which is what I’m realizing I’m looking for.

Memories of Murder is a fantastic movie, unresolved at the end, but it is certain that nobody apprehended is the killer, I think. I would love something where there are multiple options available as possibilities. Movies that can be argued about over a table at Denny’s.

I’ll have to check out The Innocents and Zodiac (unless that’s like Memories of Murder… is it?).

Is Belle De Jour like other Buñuel movies in that it makes no sense?

I was also thinking about The Usual Suspects.

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#7

How about the first season of LOST? Or Lost in general?

#8

In some ways I think you’re looking for the wrong thing, or rather, using the story ending as the means for evaluating what you want creates an ambiguous question, at least in Dramatica terms.

As you know, you do not need to KNOW the ending for the storyform to tell you what the ending should be based on other parameters you DO KNOW about the story. So your question itself is too ambiguous per se. You might break your question into the following camps:

– I want a story where the end is ambiguous. This is then a matter of storyencoding and storyweaving, not a storyforming matter. I suggest you look at “The Lady and the Tiger” or the original short story, “The Birds.” They are a tales and thus unpredictable as to how they are supposed to turn out.

– I want a story where the meaning of the story is ambiguous.

– I want a story where the perspectives in the story are ambiguous.

– I want a story where the context of the story is ambiguous.

– I don’t know what I want except that it should be “different”.

Just some thoughts.

How much is not enough?
#9

Open ending could be the TV show Awake and the movies Inception and Total Recall.

The Usual Suspects seemed a closed book to me, the limping turning into striding, then…poof. You know who was you know who. He used things in the office to tell the story, but it seemed clear it was from a true story. I think the interpretation comes down to how he manipulated what was on hand to give the true story as a way to laugh at them. But it might be what you are looking for, since it was very brilliantly written and acted.

#10

I certainly feel like my question is ambiguous, which is why I needed to ask it, because I need to get some input to help me hone it.

I also know that I have to apply it to a mystery, where (while the author knows what really happened) the audience – and the detective – never gets enough information to know for sure.

While I hesitate to use these terms, it’s like a story where the Solution is Deduction but there is never enough information to make the Deduction – it ends in Failure in that way (so we actually could have a storyform).

Also, I had assumed I needed an OS of Psychology, and while I still think that is true, I’m not 100% any longer.

Addendum:
I can see many dynamic pairs working, so long as the Solution goes unfulfilled. That was just an example.

#11

I’d have to see it again, but did we ever understand what really happened in Anatomy of a Murder?

#12

In my mind, Belle De Jour makes more sense than something like The Exterminating Angel, but it’s by no means a simple narrative. It’s just the most accessible and enjoyable of his movies, in my opinion.

#13

I don’t know! (Post must be at least 20 characters.)

#14

Momento was good at being ambiguous, before the explanation of the cop at the end.

#15

For what it’s worth, the way this is working out is:
A detective tries to solve a crime, and is faced with a he-said/she-said situation.
I think it’s going to have three independent stories, but it’s probable they are all going to merge into one as I get a better sense of the details.

The three stories:

  1. He said.
  2. She said.
  3. Trying to determine which story is right.

But it could also be:

  1. Detective (Protagonist) must determine which story he is hearing is correct, while both stories reflect the throughline of the MC – one in which he is manipulated to lie, and one in which he is not.
#16

Rashomon comes to mind. Mulling it over more…

#17

Rashomon I actually watched. While I like the movie, the four stories are so wildly different as to make their own point – things are not understandable.

The way my movie is going is more about specific interpretations of concrete events.
“They said the conversation made you angry at George.” vs. “The conversation did make me angry, but at Cecile.”
…
What is interesting to see in my notes, btw, is how frequently things like who the protagonist is, or if it’s a success or failure, or who the main character is, change as I move along.

#18

Doubt.

Ends with equal arguments on whether or not he was a pedophile.

Leaves MC agonizing over the question.

Tight focused story, excellent character development, character and plot superbly interwoven.

#19

Great thought!

I think I have the play lying around here somewhere…

#20

Stumbled upon this in youtube and thought it might be useful (Top 10 ambiguous endings).