Broadcast again this evening on TF1, James Cameron’s “Titanic” is a monument of cinema that needs no introduction. But how should we interpret the last seconds of the film?
We are in the final minutes of Titanic. After more than three hours of a breathtaking spectacle, after a heartbreaking love story and an ending as epic as it is tragic for the legendary liner, we are back in 1996, aboard another ship.
The last minutes of Titanic
Now a hundred years old, Rose completes her account of the terrible shipwreck to the captain of the Keldych, who is seeking at all costs to get his hands on the Heart of the Ocean, the priceless diamond that the young woman carried aboard the Titanic. Out of sight, under the moonlight, she walks alone onto the deck of the boat and takes out of her pocket the jewel, which she had secretly kept for more than 80 years.
With a little prankish laugh, she then throws the diamond to the bottom of the ocean, and gently lets it join the wreck of the Titanic which rests under her feet.
We then see her again lying in her bed, a smile on her lips, near the numerous photographs which bear witness to all the adventures she was able to experience during her long life, thanks to Jack’s sacrifice.
20th century Fox
How should the ending be interpreted?
His mind (or his soul?) then wanders along the corridors of the Titanic (which gradually regains its former glory) and even under the large clock which had marked the starting point of his first meeting with Jack. The young man, as well as all those missing from the shipwreck, seem to be waiting for his arrival.
Better yet, the hands of the clock (as we explained to you in a previous article) indicate precisely 2:20 in the morning, the official time at which the Titanic sank beneath the waves. There, to the loud applause of the entire audience, the two lovers kiss each other tenderly. End of the film.
But since its theatrical release in 1997, the final sequence of Titanic has raised a lot of questions and theories, to which no official answer has ever been given, undoubtedly to leave it to the spectators to choose the version that they prefer.
20th century Fox
Dream or beyond?
Is Rose dreaming of this return in time, falling asleep peacefully after getting rid of the weight she still carried on her, metaphorically represented by the Heart of the Ocean? Did her story to Captain Lovett and his crew awaken in her a host of memories which materialize mechanically in her sleep?
Or, on the contrary, has she breathed her last, and has just reached the afterlife, where all the passengers of the Titanic who died on the night of 14 April 15, 1912? After having passed away, she would have accessed an eternal place, where time and death no longer have any influence, which would explain both the fact that the hands of the clock have stopped, and the fact that Rose regained the appearance of his 17 years.
In your opinion, how should the ending of Titanic be interpreted?
(Re)discover the hidden details of the film…
