Regarding the puzzle set by this movie, I do not know how many viewers are still caring about the answer that has never been given. But even if it was seen at the beginning that there was no direction to the answer to the mystery, after watching it, it has not been out of the siege of the plot for a long time.
To me, this seems to be an atmospheric movie. All the plots are hinted but not directed. The beauty of the puzzling lens makes me no longer think about a reasonable explanation. It is similar to another favorite movie [Death of the Virgin] in this regard.
Almost all eyes and thoughts were concentrated on the three girls who disappeared out of thin air among the cliffs in the daytime, especially the most beautiful blonde girl Miranda. Her purity and elegance give viewers imagination. Even the other characters in the film seem to be centered on her: the last Miss Poitiers saw her was a girl in a white dress who turned away like an angel. Before the three girls disappeared like ghosts in the crevices of the mountains, the frightened girl who was dropped only called her name. The teenager who only caught a glimpse of the girl's profile from a distance, adored her leaving back, and returned to the mountains to search after the girl disappeared without hesitation. There was also Sara, the girl who stayed at school alone that day. After everyone returned, she could no longer find the beautiful blonde girl. Her obsessive attachment to Miranda was also an ambiguous outline of the film but did not bother to explain.
The missing girl is far from what the story wants to express. We can see four branches: the two teenagers are the followers of the event. To some extent, they represent the perspective of the viewer, guided by beauty, and bewildered at the same time. Irma, a girl who was miraculously recovered a week later, was a survivor of the incident. She woke up but forgot everything people wanted to know. At that moment, she was surrounded by endless shouts and condemnations from the girls. She eventually left this school and became an escaper. The headmistress and Miss Poitiers are two completely different teachers, the former is harsh and mean, the latter is kind and tolerant. After the incident, facing the female principal who was under pressure from all sides, the ending arranged for her in the film was a message: she fell to her death on the cliff where the girls disappeared. This seems to arouse more speculation. The only girl portrayed positively in the film is Sara who has not gone to the cliff. She is an isolated person, but she has an unusual fascination with Miranda. The unfortunate experience of the orphanage and the final expulsion from the school because no one paid the tuition fees was the darkness she could not erase in the end. So the girl committed suicide.
It is worth mentioning that there are several clues in the film about the disappearance: the girl who was rescued lost the petticoat, but Mr. McCraw was seen running with only the petticoat before she disappeared. For endings that have not given any answers, their existence is even more meaningless. I don't know what the screenwriter or the original novel has any deeper intentions.
Remember a plot. Somewhere in the early part of the film, the detective in charge of the case returned home and asked his wife: What do you think of this matter?
——You didn't give me any details, what should I say?
-The problem is that no one has any details.
——No, everything should have a reasonable explanation.
However, the film continued for an hour without any explanation. If you still can't let go of it, then it is misleading you.
2007.8.
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