12 Movies That Tricked You Into Thinking They Had Happy Endings

5. Life Of Pi - The Second Story Has To Be True

The Allegedly Happy Ending: Stating earlier on its ambitions to make you believe in God, Life Of Pi weaves a tale of a young Indian boy stranded on a boat with a tiger that's full of bright colours, CGI animals and personal discovery. Then at the end you get an alternative tale full of murder, tears and desperate cannibalism, with the suggestion being the previous story is a fantasy Pi has created to hide the darker truth.

But instead of leaving it open to interpretation, the film then leads you to the ending; the writer "prefers" the one with the tiger.

The Depressing Ending: Life Of Pi presents two versions of what happened between the ship sinking and the lifeboat landing on the beach, but dismisses the more rational one lest the audience start to believe it.

Ang Lee was so desperate the film be believed he recast the writer from Tobey Maguire to Rafe Spall, lest a famous actor reminded audiences they're watching a film. And it's also why the possibility the visual splendour you spent the past two hours watching was a lie is skirted over; power of God and all that.