A Problematic Film for a Problematic Topic

Prior to attending the showing of the film The Big Chill,  I was unsure how a movie about a group of reunited college friends could possibly relate in any way to Shakespeare.  However, at the conclusion of the film, I found myself thinking about the plays All’s Well That Ends Well and Timon of Athens.  Certainly not due to content or themes, but because of the way that I felt at the conclusion of the film.  While the film ended on a ‘high’ note, I did not feel particularly pleased or happy with the conclusion.  I wasn’t mad, or sad, or irritated; I did not know how to feel at the end of the film. 

I can relate this back to the problem plays that we have read, in that the viewer does not know how to feel at the conclusion of the play (or film, in our case).  While it may have tied up nicely at the end, such as in All’s Well, the ending is not really okay.  At the end of the film, the large group of friends was vowing to keep in better touch with each other, and everything was shiny and happy.  However, I do not think that this particular ending was adequate.  One of their closest friends had just committed suicide, and no one knew why.  Throughout the movie, none of the characters really delved into this grief, or tried to understand where their lives had gone.  Sure, there were moments, but not enough to warrant the happy-go-lucky ending we saw at the end.  It felt like All’s Well, where we are forced to think about these really large, difficult topics that don’t really have an answer, but then the ending is so forcefully peaceful that it doesn’t feel right to us.