10 Sci-Fi Movie Endings No One Understands
7. Stalker - Was The Wish Granted?
Released
in 1979, the deeply confusing and complex Stalker is often singled out as the
finest film from Solaris director Andrei Tarkovsky.
The body of the film’s action sees the titular guide bring a heartbroken writer and their disagreeable professor companion through the Zone, a space which is said to contain a room that grants the wishes of its visitors. All manner of metaphysical arguments proceeds from here, as well as plenty of stunning scenery and strange, surreal imagery. The film’s adaptation of the novel Roadside Picnic borrows liberally from both Godard and Beckett in its execution, right up to its enigmatic ending.
It’s impossible to decide for certain whether our young heroine Monkey is moving glasses with her mind, or the passing trains soon seen by the viewer are causing them to shake along with the rest of the house. Thus, the viewer is left to decide for themselves whose “desire” was granted, and how real/ imaginary the Zone’s supposed power was after all.
Thus,
the film leaves viewers no clearer than they were at the beginning. Stellar.