Tags
Best, Cate Blanchett, Dangerous Liaisons, Danvers, Elizabeth, Glenn Close, Hitchcock, Joan Fontaine, Last Shots, Laurence Olivier, Rebecca, Shekhar Kapur
In my opinion, the last shot of a movie has to be memorable and stick in the mind. I have accumulated a list of my personal favourite shots before the credits begin to roll. This is part 1 of a number of posts I will write.
Be warned they may contain spoilers!!!!
Here they are:
Elizabeth- In Shekhar Kapur’s biopic of the rise of the Virgin Queen , Elizabeth( Cate Blanchett in a career making
role) walks into court in the Virgin Queen persona, married to her country having sacrificed personal happiness for the people. This final scene occurs after surviving opposition and assassination attempts to her asceneding to the throne throughout the film.Her intense and regal gaze as she walks towards the camera and takes a seat upon her throne signifies the metamorphosis from skittish girl to powerful queen, now fully aware of the duties that lie ahead of her.
Rebecca- In Hitchcock’s first venture into American movies, the last shot is both sly and ambiguous. Throughout the film, Joan Fon
taine’s character has been tormented by the menacing Mrs Danvers who was obsessed with the first wife, the eponymous Rebecca and tried to drive the new wife away from her marriage to Laurence Olivier’s rich widower. The last shot happens after Danvers in a psychotic state burns down the country house and perishes in the process. The last shot is of Rebecca’s bed engulfed in flames. But the sly gesture is that the pillow features the initial R, hinting at the lingering and remaining presence of her even though Danvers is gone.
Dangerous Liaisons- I know that I’ve already wrote a review on this, but I didn’t want to write about the last scene because i didn’t want to spoil the movie. Anyway, The last shot of the period drama occurs after the vicious Marquise(Glenn Close at her most bitchy) is ouste
d by society after her treacherous and sordid personal life is revealed in detail. Because she is so good at hiding her inner viciousness, the last scene is very significant. In it she slowly removes her make-up from her face, an obvious reference to the mask of deceit she has worn so well. Glenn Close makes the scene memorable with her subtle nuances of her character, the one tear that falls and the bitter resentment, sadness and anger that is revealed on her face as she realises she is no longer in control and the one pulling the strings. A geniunely chilling end to the film.
vinnieh 
One of my favorite last shots comes from Say Anything.
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Thanks for the tip, I’ll have to check it out.
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I haven’t watched Rebecca yet and I’m disappointed in myself. I love Hitchcock. I need to fix this.
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You should it’s a really suspenseful and atmospheric film. If you are a fan of Hitch you probably won’t be dissapointed.
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I like the last shot of Suspiria, which is the dance school burning down. It is possible that it is no accident that there is a similarity between the end of Suspiria and the end of Rebecca.
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Thanks for the comment, I haven’t seen Suspiria in ages thanks for reminding of it.
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“It is possible that it is no accident that there is a similarity between the end of Suspiria and the end of Rebecca”
I imagine so. Isn’t Argento known as ‘the Italian Hitchcock’?
Brian De Palma has used an Argento technique a few times in his more recent films, that of the character physically moving out of position only to shock-reveal another character (‘Raising Cain’, ‘Mission to Mars’) .. this I believe is known as ‘the Tenebrae effect’, after its use in the Argento film of that name.
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However, I reckon it has its inspirational genesis in Hitchcock. In ‘Frenzy’, after Babs has quit her job at the Globe pub, she finds herself on the street and the tracks or zooms in to an extreme close-up of her face. Simultaneously, the soundtrack dims down to nothing (to emphasis how alone or naked she finds herself) and its at that point we hear the chilling, “Got a place to stay?” (before she moves aside and the amera pulls back to shock reveal the man we know to be the killer).
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The Searchers has such an iconic fade out – touching, beautiful and wholly appropriate.
Another that works well for me is Reed’s The Third Man, that half-hopeful, half-resigned wait of Holly, and then Anna just strides past, eyes fixed straight ahead. The poor guy’s got nothing but an empty road ahead of him.
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Thanks for the comment I’ll check out the two films you mentioned.
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Hey, if you haven’t seen those two movies – and your reply suggests that – then you’re in for a treat. Cinema just doesn’t get much better.
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Oh man. I could talk about best last shots in movies for hours. I can think of so many – actually, I think I’ll do a post of my own on last shots because I admire them greatly when they’re effective. A few off the top of my head: Cache, Three Colours: Blue, The 400 Blows, Vivre sa Vie, Jeanne Dielman, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre… I could go on, but I’ll stop there.
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Thanks I agree there are so many but I couldn’t fit thelm all on the page.
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Great post. And I totally agree, the last shot of a film is one of its most important. Think about it, both the opening image and closing image hold such privileged positions in a film that they can’t but *be* important/significant.
I heard Peter Bogdanovich in a documentary relate a story Hitchcock himself told him of how Selznick wanted the smoke from Manderley burning to rise up into the night sky and form a large letter ‘R’.
Hitchcock’s only comment: “I mean, can you imagine?!”
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My favorite last shots are from the original PLANET OF THE APES, 2001, THE BIRDS and REAR WINDOW. Great reviews on your blog!
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In a more classical mould perhaps, I would choose that door closing at the end of THE GODFATHER and the smoke rising into the darkening sky at the end of CITIZEN KANE. I also think that shot of the speeding bike heading towards light and darkness at the end of THE DARK KNIGHT is very impressive. And I love the collage reveal at the end of de Palma’s FEMME FATALE in which finally all the pieces of the puzzle find their rightful place …
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Thanks, I would say Godfather I will include it on my second part to the post. I have done a review of The Godfather ages ago.
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Magnolia’s closing moment has always stood out for me. Very simple but effective.
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‘Elizabeth’ has many iconic shots. I really cannot fault that film, one of the best historical epics, ever.
Have you seen ‘The Third man’, and ‘The Searchers’ since that comment? I hope so.
Regards, Pete.
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I’ve seen The Third Man, but not The Searchers.
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One of the few John Wayne films that I really like. Worth a look, for sure.
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Will have to get my ass in gear and see it.
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It’s often on telly mate. Just hit the PVR record button next time!
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Will have to do that Pete, message received.
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All excellent choices. The final of Elizabeth is epic, she is now the most powerful person in that court; no longer will she be afraid of the scheming Lords around her. Sadly she has also given up her innocence and human desires to become this symbol of power, purity and magnificence. I don’t know about you, but I see many similarities in this film to The Godfather. Elizabeth starts out as innocent and not in the power struggle, then she slowly gives up pieces of herself to become the Queen; much like Michael slowly morphing into the Don in The Godfather. I’d also say the sequence where her enemies meet their ends is reminiscent of the Baptism sequence in The Godfather.
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I totally see the similitaries and pointed them out in my review of Elizabeth. It makes me love the film even more.
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