ABSTRACT
Unexpected endings discovered (Notorious). Billy Wilder’s Rules for Screenwriters. A lingering ending — The Irishman. Alexander Mackendrick on beginnings and endings. Endings and resonance. David Mamet on endings. The dangers of happy endings. Victories at a price (You Were Never Really Here, Hell or High Water, If Beale Street Could Talk). A. S. Byatt on story. Endings in comedy (City Lights, Bridesmaids). Endings in dark comedy (Parasite). The meanings of catharsis — purgation, purification, understanding/clarification (Leviathan, Loveless, The Vanishing). Endings as critique (Funny Games). Ambiguous endings (The Sopranos). Moral ambiguity (Breaking Bad). TV show endings, planned/unplanned (The OA). Journey or destination as primary. Endings in short films. In franchise movies. The ending that suggests circularity (The Tenant). Twist endings (Psycho). Meta endings (Pain and Glory). Fulcrum endings (The Lobster). Genre and endings. Ending of L’Eclisse. Narrative POV in endings (The Tenant, Notorious, The Third Man, Destroyer, Miller’s Crossing). Moral avoidance in endings. Endings as encapsulation.
