Very rarely does an indie film convince large numbers of people to become online sleuths to figure out something that happens at the end of it. Sure, for science-fiction, horror, or other genre films, this kind of behavior is fairly commonplace, as those genres tend to attract obsessive and investigative types. But a low-key character drama that does not have much of a plot? That film must dig deep into someone for them to go on the hunt for answers. Such is the case with Lost in Translation, the 2003 Oscar-winning sophomore feature from Sofia Coppola, which concludes with an ending that has caused many folks online to put on their audio engineer hats to determine what has been said in a muffled whisper between the two main characters.
Before we get to that, we need some context. Lost in Translation centers on the lives of two people who meet in Tokyo. One is Bob Harris (Bill Murray), an aging movie star looking to make some easy cash by shooting some advertisements for a Japanese whiskey. This was a time when celebrities appearing in commercials to shill products was seen as a faux pas, as opposed to today when it is all we see (Matt Damon and crypto?). The other is Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), who has recently graduated from college and really has no idea what she wants to be doing with her life. She has traveled to Tokyo with her husband (Giovanni Ribisi), a photographer with whom she feels distant. Bob and Charlotte meet and form a relationship that sits somewhere on the border between friendship and romance, finding kinship with one another as two people adrift and alone.
The final scene, the one that everyone wants to get to the bottom of, takes place after a half-hearted goodbye between Bob and Charlotte at the hotel they are both staying. Bob is in the back seat of a car on his way to the airport. At a moment where the car is stopped, he looks out the window and sees Charlotte walking down a street. Bob gets out of the car and catches up to her. They share a bittersweet embrace, and Bob whispers something into her ear. The whisper is muffled and unintelligible. They share a brief kiss, their first of the entire film, and tell each other, "Bye." Cue "Just Like Honey" by The Jesus and Mary Chain as the two go their separate ways with smiles on their faces. What an ending!
Obviously, the element that has caused so much speculation and investigation is the whisper. What did Bill Murray whisper in Scarlett Johansson's ear? Only three people in the world know exactly what was said at that moment, and those people are Murray, Johansson, and Sofia Coppola. In the nearly twenty years since the film's release, all three of them have never revealed what was said and do not plan to. When Coppola reflected on the film for its fifteenth anniversary with Little White Lies, she said:
"That thing Bill whispers to Scarlett was never intended to be anything. I was going to figure out later what to say and add it in and then we never did. It was between them. Just acknowledging that week meant something to both of them and it affects them going back to their lives. People always ask me what’s said ... I always like Bill’s answer: that it’s between lovers – so I’ll leave it at that.”
Because they are not giving a direct answer, people have gotten to the point of manipulating the audio levels of the scene to see if it can be discovered. Even this has not provided a definitive answer. One video suggests he says, "I have to be leaving, but I won't let that come between us. Okay?" Another video purports Murray's whisper was out of character, as he says, "I love you is the best thing I can come up with. At some point, he has to tell it to her." Others have speculated he is telling her to leave her husband. Clearly, people's audio skills are not as deft as they think they are with still no definitive answer available.
Here's the thing, folks. What was actually said does not really matter. Ambiguity is a powerful tool in filmmaking. It is also something that makes many film fans deeply uncomfortable. When a moment in film posits a question instead of giving an answer, that forces the audience to look inside themselves for the answer, and by looking inward, people may not be too happy with what they find out about themselves. For Lost in Translation, in particular, this moment of deliberate ambiguity makes each person watching reflect on their own feelings of love, companionship, age, and hope to determine what that final moment means to them. The person sitting next to you, who has watched the exact same film, could have a completely different set of life experiences and perceptions about the movie to believe he whispers to her something you had not even considered. Interpreting the emotions between Bob and Charlotte is what is important for that scene, not the words that are spoken.
These instances of being able to imprint yourself onto a piece of art is a mark of a great work. Just this small snippet of a film, only lasting a few seconds, has stirred up nearly two decades of constant conversation about Lost in Translation. How many movies since the release of Coppola's film have left your brain as soon as you encountered it? Great art needs to leave a little room for mystery because the unknown is what keeps bringing us back to engage with it over and over again. If you watch a movie for the first time and understand everything about it during that viewing, why would you ever need to watch it again? What is left to discover?
For Lost in Translation, I have my theory as to what Bill Murray whispers into Scarlett Johansson's ear. I think he says something along the lines of, "I want you to know that people, including me, love you, and with whatever you do with your life, you are going to be okay." Am I right? In reality, no, but for how I perceive the story that Sofia Coppola presents us, I am. And whatever you believe he says to her is also true, because in art, what is true to you is the truth. That is what makes it beautiful.
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