Since I was not able to go to the showing of The Butterfly Effect last night, I had the lovely honor of watching the whole movie on YouTube because (of course) Blockbuster did not have a copy. I was always hesitant on watching this before, because many of my friends said it was “lame” and rotten tomatoes only gave it a 33%. But, I’m glad this class required me to watch it; and even though I had to watch the movie on the computer screen, it was still a good movie in my opinion.
Knowing that the class had to watch the Director’s Cut edition, I had to watch both endings that were posted online because I was not sure which one was the one that everyone else saw. In the version that yall watched last night, the movie ends with Evan watching a home video of his mother in labor, returning to his mother’s womb to strangle himself before being born. In the theatrical version, Evan returns to a video of the day that he first met Kayleigh, and tells her that he never wants her to come by him because he hates her. After seeing both, though, I am curious which one (had either been possible in real life) would have been the worse.
Now, I know that many are looking at this saying “Are you serious? In one version he doesn’t exist….duh,” but think about it. Both instances require Evan to perform an act of self-sacrifice. In the theatrical version, since he is forced to prevent his friendship with Kayleigh, he has to live in the present from that moment on knowing that he lost his love, and it had to be done. That, I feel, is a huge burden to have to live the rest of your life with. However, in the director’s cut version, although he has to go and kill himself in the womb, he does not have to live in the present with the agony of the other scenario.
As sadistic as it might sound, I think that the theatrical version is the worse of the two because he has to live with guilt, agony, etc. But I know that I don’t have the only opinion. So what you yall think? Which is worse, in your opinion?
I agree with you. I felt that the theatrical version was much sadder, especially with that shot of Evan passing Kayleigh on the street and having to keep going without saying anything. If you're dead, you cannot feel the pain and regret of knowing what you would like to make happen (i.e. Evan's romantic involvement with Kayleigh) and knowing very,(very)well how much it could never happen. It seems to me that feeling nothing is much better than losing your closest friends.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say anything after we watched the theatrical ending in class because everyone else seemed pretty convinced that the director's cut version was sadder (? I'm not sure if that's the right word). It's nice to see that someone felt like I did.