So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, pet. We look at the best goodbye scenes in film
This week's Clip joint is by Leonidas Vyzas; a 16-year-old student from Greece and editor-in-chief of student magazine MUST. Follow him on Twitter here, and on Tumblr here.
Think you can do better than Leonidas? If you've got an idea for a future Clip joint, send a message to adam.boult@guardian.co.uk
Cinematic goodbyes, whether for death or departure, generally require a moving last line and a captivating performance. They're not always easy to pull off, given the plausibility required to make the credulous masses shed a tear.
Here's my selection of some of the most thought-provoking, most soulful and most touching goodbyes throughout cinematic history.
1. Dogville
No embeddable clip - watch on YouTube
Grace (Nicole Kidman) has witnessed or caused the execution of all the manipulating, miserable and tyrannical citizens who once inhabited Dogville, but there is still one person remaining, the one she truly loved. Tom was different, to begin with, but now Grace is lacking any sentiment for him. The only honour she will grant him will be to look away while she plants a bullet in his head, severing her final link with the dreadful town. "Goodbye, Tom."
2. Toy Story 3
Andy isn't just waving goodbye to his old toys, but his childhood, and his innocence. This is what breaks the hearts of even the most hardcore viewers' hearts during the Toy Story trilogy's excellent ending; the fact that we all reach the point of moving on, without our favourite cowboy. Woody, Buzz and the whole gang are now in the caring hands of an imaginative little girl. And Andy is behind the wheel of the vehicle that will take him to a new life away from home, the places and things he grew up with. The faithful cowboy stands up for a last goodbye: "So long, partner."
3 The Wizard of Oz
All together, Dorothy and her three companions made a complete person. Each was lacking something, each was afraid of something, each was capable of something. "I know I have a heart, because now it is breaking." These are the Tin Man's last words to Dorothy, and Dorothy is devastated too. Does she really want to leave her new best friends? "Say goodbye, Toto."
4. Up
It's Pixar again. This top "goodbye" is distinct from the others in two ways ? it's not spoken by the character, and it's not really goodbye. It's one that's read, a long time after it was written, on the back of a notebook, and it's more like a wish for a new life. Carl Fredricksen loved his wife, and that was the biggest adventure he'd ever have in his life. "Thanks for the adventure! Now go have a new one. Love, Ellie."
Last week, Claire Ramtuhul selected clips on the subject of dreams. Here are Leonidas's favourites from the thread.
1) tommyboy79 was spot-on for praising the bizarre and frightening dream sequences in Rosemary's Baby.
2) Anime has a fine history generally on depicting dizzy dream sequences based on the characters' subconscious worlds. But monkey2 recognised correctly that few were as affecting as Perfect Blue.
3) stuartm proposed American Psycho, a film that conveys the essence of not knowing if you have just stepped inside or out of a dream.
4) littleriver focused on the "ashen dream" scene from Scorsese's Shutter Island. Paraphrasing a quote from the beginning of the book upon which the script was based, isn't it already enough that we have dreams of our own? Do we have to relive them too?
5) It is a horrible feeling to wake from a beautiful dream and to have it interrupted by a dreadful reality, as in The Descent, proposed by swanstep.
Ashley Tisdale Asia Argento Aubrey ODay Audrina Patridge Autumn Reeser
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