So I was reading some other blogs that were throwing around theories and interpretations of Beyond the Clouds, and realized that I had forgotten a totally important fact concerning the beginning and the end. For those of you who’ve seen it, you probably know what I mean…
So we know Sayuri is linked to the tower, but does that mean the destruction of the tower spelled the end of her life? At the very end of the movie, we see Sayuri very much alive (and sobbing) in the plane, indicating a happy ending of sorts. Recently, however, I rewatched the enigmatic intro sequence of the movie, which featured a grown Hiroki. This segment was extraordinarily melancholy and bitterly nostalgic, as if Hiroki was longing for something forever lost in the past, and the absence of Sayuri seems to indicate that she died.
One can make up all sorts of excuses as to why Hiroki would drearily go wandering out by himself to the place where it all started, all the while speaking in past tense about Sayuri (not past perfect tense), as if she was no longer alive, and seeing/remembering a ghostly image of her. Maybe he was just going for a walk, and Sayuri was busy making tea and crumpets and just didn’t feel like going out with him? Perhaps she broke up with him after a long and abusive relationship? Or maybe she was hit by a car, sent into a coma, and woke up 3 years later only to find that Hiroki was dating her best friend. But the fact remains that Sayuri’s death is strongly implied in the intro sequence, which seems to contradict the final scene in which she is very obviously alive.
She could have died soon after the destruction of the tower I suppose…or maybe she’s alive, and the director just wanted to fool us all into thinking that she would die at the end, by throwing us an extraordinarily convincing red herring at the beginning. Or maybe, as some critics would believe, the movie was so damn long that by the time Shinkai created the ending, he had already forgotten what he had done in the beginning (yeah right). The inconsistencies in the movie will undoubtedly drive some viewers insane, but leaves it very much open to interpretation. The indefinite way in which the tower relates to Sayuri, the extremely metaphorical usage of the parallel worlds, and the many timeline jumps serve to further mix everything up, leaving an indelible mark on the minds of many.
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hmm, it could be possible. i’ve just watched it and as my friend says, “good, yes, but hardly a classic”. i would say the long production time will have caused the lack of focus on the storyline later on.
on thought, they didn’t really fully explain the reason of the link between Sayuri and the tower apart from the fact of her bloodline. it’s quite a weak explanation, IMO.
perhaps, she’s also connected to it in other ways. the part of her “losing” something maybe the explaination for this. most likely she would die after a period when the tower was destroyed due to the “loss”?
anyways, let’s hope that Makoto Shinkai will get better on his next venture.
I was originally caught up by the seeming contradiction between beginning and end as well. personally, I suscribe to the “red herring” idea — and the reason lies in the wording of the two scenes (of course this is off the subtitles, as my Japanese is nonexistent).
In the beginning, Hiroki ends the clip with “Our promised place was beyond the clouds,” in a decidedly dejected tone of voice.
In the end, Hiroki says, “In a world in which we lost our promised place, we’ve begun to live again.” He acknowledges again that they have lost what they dreamed for … but this time goes one step further, stating that their lives can finally be restarted.
The arrangement of the words completes the arc perfectly, and certainly optimistically, regardless of what the visuals seem to tell us.
If it was indeed meant as a red herring, I’m not sure it was particularly effective. Why? Because I didn’t even pick up on the contradiction between beginning and end until you pointed it out. And, even then, I had to go back and watch the first few minutes of the film to see for myself. I was under the impression that Sayuri loses her memories in the end – or something along those lines – hence, the idea of “starting over”, etc. Perhaps that’s what the opening scene references: their lost childhood.