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What did Bill Murray say at the end of “Lost in Translation”?

Mike December 13th, 2007 Movies

It’s rare that you find a movie that sticks with you long after you’ve seen it for the first time. “Lost in Translation” (2003) was like that for me, for some reason. Maybe it stems from a time in my life where I was offered a job in Burbank, California, and I almost up and took it. It would have meant leaving my family and friends behind, moving away from Phoenix where I lived my entire life and starting up somewhere new without a single acquaintance.

It had some appeal to me, despite the nature of being very much on my own. Perhaps that’s why “Lost in Translation” had the impact it did. Bill Murray, who plays Bob Harris, is in a strange country and cannot sleep, and he meets Charlotte, played wonderfully by Scarlett Johansson, who is also in the same situation, but almost totally alone as her new husband has other things to do.

They connect with each other out of their need to be with something familiar. Being in Japan with no English spoken, these two naturally relate and spend a lot of time together over the next few days, trying to hold onto this amazing thing they’ve found amidst their loneliness.

The movie did an superb job of bringing the audience into the emotions going on inside these two.  You actually can almost feel what they are going through and how they long to just BE with each other.

And that brings us to the end of the movie. Bob has to leave, the filming is done on his commercial,it’s time to go home and that means leaving Charlotte behind. But that’s the end really, they had no future, they were both married and their time was up. You felt their pain in ending the short relationship, but what other choice was there?

So Bob gets into his limo and is taken away, while Charlotte heads out onto the streets, back to wandering aimlessly like she did before, alone and out of place in this strange country.

But Bob stops, goes back and finds her walking.

They look at each other for a moment, and then they just hold each other. He whispers something to her, which makes her cry, makes her smile. They kiss, and she continues walking down the sidewalk, tears flowing, but a new look of happiness on her face. Bob gets into the limo and is gone.

I loved the movie, and I loved the final song in it so much that I now own the “Jesus and Mary Chain” album Psychocandy that it came from.

So the big mystery for all that saw it was this: What did he say to her?

Some wise words of comfort from an older man that allowed her to move on? That he’d see her again? That he loved her?

Well, we now know. I guess this video has been around since April of this year, but I hadn’t heard about it until my wife passed on a link to me this morning. Someone took the scene, digitally enhanced it and put together the find sentence that Bill Murray whispers to Charlotte.

It’s hard to hear, but I think they got it right.

Now, not everyone wants to know. The way it ended was perfect in my opinion, leaving it up to us to decide what he said to her. It was fitting and obviously kept people thinking about it afterwards.

So if you don’t want to know, don’t watch the video or read on after this point. But if you do, check it out below.

Here is the final line from him again, if you didn’t watch it or want to see it again:

Bob: “I have to be leaving…but I wont let that come between us, okay?”

Charlotte: “Okay.” *gasp*

This exchange seems totally fitting to me. But the real meaning behind it will always remain a mystery. Did that mean he was coming back to her? Or was he just leaving her with hope. That in having this hope, she wouldn’t be completely miserable and lonely. Her gasp at the end was like a breath of relief escaping her, so the words he said were the right ones.

I don’t know what it means. I don’t think we ever will. They are both married, so the real guy inside me wants to think that they just return to their lives, but another part of me hopes they end up together.

What do you think? Does it make a difference knowing what he said? Am I the only one who really enjoyed this film?

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Viewing 13 Comments

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    The sweetness and innocence of their relationship is what made that film for me. I liked not knowing what he said to her...having it left to my imagination...something to ponder after it was over. But a few years later I like finally knowing what he actually said and don't find it inappropriate or unfitting to the film.

    "I don’t know what it means. I don’t think we ever will. They are both married, so the real guy inside me wants to think that they just return to their lives, but another part of me hopes they end up together.

    What do you think? Does it make a difference knowing what he said?"

    I don't think what he said makes a difference at all: they were an unlikely match who found themselves alone in a strange city, lost in their own lives but together in this place and condition. Despite feeling alone and disconnected from the world, they were able to make a human connection with each other BECAUSE of this perfect confluence of place, time and respective circumstances. While the romantic and sexual tension between them is palpable (this is just brilliantly acted by both of them) I don't think there's any question that the realization of it just wouldn't make anything better: in their lives, in their marriages, in their relationship with one another...just worse, so they don't go there. They also know that pursuing one another later, in the "real" world would be pointless: it would never work.

    So they leave one another with the unspoken understanding that the little thing they shared in that strange place, in that short period of time, was perfect and pure and meaningful to them both...and should be left that way.

    I liked that they realized that just because they could didn't mean they should. Adultery would've just cheapened the sweet thing they had together.

    Great, great film.
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    Good comment Xtie...there is a lot to be taken from that scene and what might be going on inside of them.

    Thanks for stopping by!
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    Few years ago when I watched this film for the first time, I wasn't interested in knowing what he said to her at the end. I like the mystery that the film put in the mind of its audience. But watching it again and again makes me want to know what he said that gave Charlotte some hope.

    What they had was special, and nothing can take that away from them. Bob may leave her physically but the memories will bring back good feelings to Charlotte like he was never away. As for Bob I think it will be harder for him as he has to deal with being with his wife of 25 years and kids again. He may be physically back with his family, but his heart and mind is with Charlotte at the other side of the world.

    That's what I love about this film. They know their place in their special relationship and they never took advantage of the situation. Love can be translated and communicated in many ways. And this film touched me dearly.
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    I feel the same way Kae...good analysis of what they felt, I kind of think you got it right.

    Now I'm wanting to watch it again :)
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    I read something different somewhere else. Something like "I'll never forget the last few days with you. Don't part mad, tell him the truth, ok?"

    I don't know about the first part, but the Don't part mad sounds about right when I rewatched it just now.
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    Interesting...it's really too hard to hear to figure out if he said that or not.
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    I think they meet up in the US. In his limo after the goodbye, Bill Murray beautifully communicates the look of an excited young man, embarking on something new, as a gentle breeze gusts through his hair, the first sense of fresh air we get in the film. I'm more cynical about human nature and it is wishful thinking in today's world that people don't jump ship when there is a better offer on the table.

    Anyway, if I was her, I'd be checking the internet for his agent the moment I got back to the hotel!
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    Think this analogy:
    Musician (composer) select a level -volume/intensity-
    for each instrument, for each sound.
    What happens, what happens with the music,
    if you turn up and down levels a piaccere?

    I think that's what happens with this issue
    the 'message' of the movie -that complex structure-
    has been broken, or modified.
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    This movie will always stick with me. Have watched it countless times. Paints an incredible picture of the sense of lostness we all experience at various stages in our life. The connection between Bob and Charlotte is so well done that we find ourselves somehow hoping they get together, even though our better natures know they are both married and such a union would ruin a family and rob a young woman of her continued quest for self-discovery. I loved "Roman Holiday" and had a similar reaction when Gregory Peck walks away from Audrey Hepburn after their brief romantic fling. It was the honorable thing to do...special while it lasted, but not viable for either of them. It was simply a special moment in time. The digitally enhanced audio interpretation of the final whisper may or may not be what was said. I much prefer the mystery. Seeing Charlotte walk away from Bob with a sense of hope, or the possibility of hope, and Bob being driven to the airport, reflecting on all that has happened is enough for me. Wonderful film. Probably won't see the like of it for many years.
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    I totally agree with all of you. This film is fantastic in many subtle ways and it should be left as it was done. The mistery in Murray´s final words play an important roll in the imagination of each viewer. The way it ends it´s finally your choise which will depend on your own sentimental needs. I kind of gift the script writer gave to us all I guess.
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    This movie reflects almost EXACTLY how I felt/feel/will feel when I travel to some specific places, or at different times in my life, or different factors such as mood, environment...
    I get this sense of "No ones sees me, no one hears me, I am alone" just like they do, and I mainly see the world as perfectly smooth, this big city working and it doesnt care that im just sitting here or whatever and I can just watch it flourish.

    Its actually a great environment for thinking, working, innovating etc...

    This is definitely one of my favorite movies, id say the same spot as Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind


    When I allegedly found out what he said I completely believed it... 5 minutes later (now) I dont... I still think my mind over powers it and tells me that the movie ended there and its up to me to make up the rest



    -Philip Han
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    "So the big mystery for all that saw it was this: What did he say to her?" I think he said who the fifth Cylon was....

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