Oldboy... What do you think happened at the end?

Karl Hungus

Obviously you can tell this is a spoiler-heavy thread from the title, so I'm not going to bother using tags.

Anyway, remember the scene right at the end where Oh Dae-su gets hypnotized, and he's split into two people, himself and The Monster? The hypnotist says the monster will walk away, and by the time he takes 50 steps, he'll die. Keeping in mind that she said it was risky and mightn't work, then when Dae-su wakes up, the camera pans out and we can the footprints in the snow.

The film leaves us with no answers as to whether the hypnosis worked or not, but what did everyone else think? Was it the monster that survived? Fantastic way to end the film though, the way he smiles just had me thinking.

eggshapedfred

he goes back to shagging his daughter. the hypnosis was to make him forget that he knows she is his daughter....

or maybe not. its a cool film

Fysh

I couldn't decide on that. The idea of the hypnosis was meant to be that he forgets it's his daughter, but that smile suggested that he knew it was his daughter, and any guilt he might feel over it had gone with the other half...I'm inclined to go with the monster surviving, since that also shows the contrast between Oh Dae-su and his tormentor.

Karl Hungus

eggshapedfred wrote:

the hypnosis was to make him forget that he knows she is his daughter....

...

Way to miss the point there, eggshapedfred!

MisterAnarchy

It was left open ended by the writer.
Its up to the viewer to decide who survived.

Karl Hungus

MisterAnarchy wrote:

It was left open ended by the writer.
Its up to the viewer to decide who survived.

...that's why I'm asking "What do you think happened".

OfflerCrocGod

They both died what remained was a sort of new alien life form which will soon take over the world and make us all its slaves. Or the monster died.

Basq

One word... 'Rosebud'...

Ummmm... i thinked i clicked on the wrong thread.