Broken Flowers

The music crescendos and the finale is displayed. Some people sit mystified. Some in thought or confusion. Others yell out, "I want my money back!" But a few sit with a smile on their face and smirk at the ending, as it was wonderfully done.

It was an ending that fit the movie. It's the same reason that people don't like shows like Seinfeld or any of the other movies Bill Murray has stared in. It's a movie without explosions, explicit sex, violence, rage, revenge, etc. Not to say those movies are bad and should not be made, they should and are. But there is a place for this movie, this type of movie.

In every scene, this movie has symbolism. Some I could catch, many I probably did not. This symbolism told the story as a well written book will. The letters you read off the pages are the true story the author wanted to tell you. Look behind the facade and you will see what is there. Like a painting the underlying meaning can be interpreted...

Here is my interpretation...

Don is a man who is an intelligent man, wealthy, personable, he's had the company of many women. But he's quite unhappy. Don is in the twilight of his life and something is amiss. Don's not exactly a happy man. Don's woman leaves him. He can't even muster a heartfelt fight to keep her.

Don is often called a 'Don Juan' by his friend Jeffrey. Don has an innate ability to understand women. He has the ability to charm any woman. All throughout Don's life he's done just that, going from woman to woman. Don though, it appears, never left these women. He doesn't appear to be unfaithful. But they all appear to have left him.

Don in his road-trip to find his apparent but unknown son, sees a few of them that he had relations with years ago. Each one of these women seem to not have faired well. One is the widow of a race car driver, one is the wife of an obsessive husband, one lives in the sticks with her biker boyfriend and appears to have trouble in her life, and the fourth appears to be a little off her rocker as she has a pet psychic business. The fifth died...

Don appears to care for each of these women, still. After all, Don never left them, they left him. And that is what this is all about, loss and regret. (Well to me at least.) Don hates being called a 'Don Juan', he's not proud of his many women. He's good at meeting women, not so good at keeping them. His life is a failure in many respects. And each one of his failed relationships is a broken flower. Each one of his former lovers is a broken flower. Each loss of love is a broken flower.

In the end, he's looking for his alleged son. One boy runs away, another passes in a car. And he thinks each might be the son he's been searching for. They are not. This story is not about his search for his son. And it's not even about his former lovers. This movie's central plot and character is Don. In the end Don is spinning and desperately searching. This is the story of Don.