One of the biggest taboos among moviegoers and cinema aficionados is the taboo against
giving away the ending. I, however, do not mind it so much; if the film is any good, giving away
the ending won’t ruin it. The endings of both Inversion (Behnam Behzadi, 2016) and The Book of
Delights (Marcela Lordy, 2020—not to confused with a more recent book by Ross Gay) reject
closure. In fact, in contrast to the dominant mid-20th century Hollywood MGM ending, it seems
most movies I’ve seen these days reject a sense of closure that wraps the movie up in a nice
bow; the rejection of closure is almost itself of cliché. Both films harbor too much gravitas to be
classified as “rom-com” but both toy with conventions of comic closure though; The Book of
Delights comes closer to the archetypal “happy ending” than Inversion. Both films have cis
female protagonists who are in their late 30s or early 40s; Niloofar in Inversion is hetero though
Lori in The Book of Delights is more bi, yet both have hetero romantic interests who appear with
them in the final scene (as if to rein Lori into normativity, some would say). In The Book of
Delights (loosely adapted from a novel by Clarice Lispector), Lori seems to be culminating her
relationship with the male romantic lead, Ulisses. As the credits begin to roll, we see the couple
having sex (in my limited viewing, Brazilian movies in general seem to have more sex scenes
than any other country’s, yet this is the first time I’ve seen a sex scene as the credits roll, which
sis both innovative and hilarious), yet the “closure” is refused in Lori’s last words (“you
know what I think?...’) in response to Ulisses’ optimistic claim that this is only the beginning.
Personally, I prefer the ending to Inversion, as much more is left up in the air. Though there is a
sense that somehow Niloofar will be able to unite with her love interest/ soul mate rather than
be forced to leave Tehran, it’s not at all clear how she can make this happen as she extricates
herself from her overbearing sister and brother-in-law,but still plans to leave Tehran (and thus
her romantic interest who can’t, or won’t, leave with her) to take care of her mother who must
leave the city due to the insane pollution (caused, largely, by American sanctions). As we see
the couple drive, perhaps, to say goodbye, the male lead asks her “what would you like to do?”
she responds, “How about some music?”
“Music? Yes.” (reaching for the car radio to play a doleful tune)
“Anything more cheerful?”
“Cheerful…” (he switches the tracks seeming to respond to her request, but the new
track, with the same instrumentation, is just as doleful). At this point, she starts laughing, then
he starts laughing, then she laughs louder and so does she. Perhaps I’m too puritanical, but I
find this ending strangely much more satisfying than the sex scene at the ending of The Book of
Delights. Nonetheless, I highly recommend both movies; neither are as one dimensional as their
ending scenes may imply.
