The Player

-- After watching Robert Altman's The Player I felt uneasy. The ending lies somewhere between quaint and grotesque. The very last scene in which Mr. Mill is greeted by a pregnant June Gudmundstottir (his wife) in true American style with June waving over a plethora of flowers as he gets out of the car. They then hug and kiss each other sweetly. You would never suspect that June happened to be the girlfriend of the screenwriter Mill had killed not too long before.

The emphasis on the traditional "happy ending" within the last scene illuminates Altman's view of the audience. He seems to be commenting on the real desires of movies watchers. He spends the entire film building these characters and the story only to end with the murderer not only living happily with his new family but at the peak of his career as well. Everything that we as the audience expect to happen (the bad guy getting caught and paying for his crime, the woman feeling remorse for the death of her boyfriend, etc.) takes a twist. The audience seems to be made fun of for getting so involved with the story and even the characters, because they all turn out to be something else then you originally thought.

One of the most interesting aspects of the movie, in my opinion, is the way power is used--power between the audience and the filmmakers. The audience spends an hour and a half watching a film; they connect to the characters, and begin to predict an outcome before it is over. It's almost as if the audience believes that they have a certain power over the film, in that they came to the conclusion of the story before being shown the ending. The audience figured it out without being told--and in a lot of cases, they do figure it out. The movie delivers. However, in this instance, the filmmakers play into the audience's idea that they could predict the ending and uses that against them. Altman exercises the power to twist the ending in a way the audience doesn't always expect. However, he also gives in the audience's power in a way. Altman creates the happy ending, giving the audience what they think they want--a new, successful family living together amidst flowers and sunshine but at what cost? The murderer goes free.
Who wins? Who has the power now? The audience gets the happy ending they demand but is it really what they wanted?

Donna explained The Player as a movie commenting on movie watchers and what the audience really wants from a film. She brought up the point that Altman wants us to "own up to wanting the happy ending" and knowing this about the audience, he gives us a disturbing ending with a sweet facade.