20 Greatest Final Shots In Movies Ever

18. Oldboy (2003)

Oldboy ending smile
FilmDistrict

Park Chan-wook's infamously shocking thriller climaxes with the revelation that protagonist Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) has been manipulated into having sex with his own daughter, Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung), by the movie's vengeful villain Woo-jin (Yoo Ji-tae).

At the very end of the film, Dae-su visits a hypnotist to have his memory of this revelation erased, so he can continue to have a relationship with Mi-Do. Father and daughter lovingly embrace, and in the very final image, Dae-su smiles, before the smile gradually transforms into a pained grimace.

It's a savagely ambiguous way to close things out: did the hypnosis fail, and Dae-su's residual memories are coming back to the surface? Or could it mean something else? After the insane bombast of the big reveal and its fallout, this was a wonderfully subtle way to wrap it all up (or rather, not to).

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.