Name: The Ending Of A Star Is Born Explained
Uploaded: 2019-05-24T16:20:19.000Z
Duration: 5 min 44 s
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Stop right here if you haven't seen A Star Is Born, because there are major spoilers

We're about to take a deep dive into the 2018 remake, directed by and starring Bradley Cooper,

Let's break down the ending, and analyze the new movie's connections to older versions

In previous versions of A Star Is Born, the male lead succumbs not necessarily to his

addictions, but rather to his envy of his paramour.

In the 1937 and 1954 versions, the character of Norman Maine chooses to end his life by

walking out into the ocean, a poetic end for an artist at the end of his rope.

In the 1976 version of the story, the character dies in a reckless car accident.

In the 2018 version, Jackson and Ally work out their jealousy problems, which almost

makes you think that this time might be different.

Unlike the 1976 version, where the budding starlet catches the older musician in bed

with another woman, the new film never casts Jackson as a cheater.

It makes him out to be a better guy in general, portraying him as someone who's self-medicating

to cope with both a traumatic childhood and his development of tinnitus, a condition which

Cooper's version underscores his character's deep personal problems.

As he said in an interview with FilmStruck, the scene at the Grammy Awards was one of

the first scenes he thought of when making the movie.

According to Cooper, Jack doesn't want to hijack Ally's speech out of malice.

He's trying to come from a place of support, and his demons just won't let him.

If you're unfamiliar with the Star Is Born story, you may have missed some subtle clues

In the beginning of the movie, he drops Ally off at home and tells her...

\"Hey, I just want to take another look at you.\"

That line was inspired by past versions of the movie.

But in those versions, it's the last thing the musician says to his lover before he dies.

A exit-by-hanging is also foreshadowed when Jackson speaks to a counselor, revealing that

he once tried to hang himself from a ceiling fan when he was younger.

He only failed because the fan crashed down.

In another scene at the beginning of the movie, his car passes by a billboard covered in nooses,

as good a visual indicator as any that offing himself is on the musician's mind.

Ally's manager, Rez, tells a fresh-out-of-rehab Jackson that his personal problems will make

him nothing but a hindrance to his wife's career.

Rez also tells Jackson in no uncertain terms that he will relapse again.

When Rez refuses to let Ally take Jackson on tour with her, she cancels the whole thing,

but she doesn't tell Jackson why she bailed on her performances.

She doesn't know that Jackson already knows the real reason.

Essentially, Rez unwittingly creates a self-fulfilling prophecy when Jackson's guilt over the canceled

tour triggers the relapse that ends his life.

In the 2018 film, Jackson says he took his father's voice – a line Bradley Cooper says

was inspired by a line in Bruce Springsteen's autobiography.

Jackson reveals early in the movie that he was orphaned at a young age, so his older

Shortly before ending his life, Jackson apologizes to Bobby for their decades-long problems,

blaming the sorry state of their relationship on himself and his addictions.

He also tells Bobby that he took his voice, acknowledging that Bobby is the only father

Interestingly, Cooper really did take Elliott's voice in real life, pretty much literally.

Cooper developed his character's Elliott-inspired vocal performance before Elliott was signed

When Cooper went to recruit Elliott for the project, he demonstrated some of his character

work, essentially parroting Elliott's voice right back to him.

Elliott later said, \"I didn't have any tips at all, he already had it down.\"

\"We spent, you know, months and months, working on that voice.

I think I lowered it like, almost an octave.\"

In the final scene of A Star Is Born, Ally introduces herself as \"Ally Maine,\" using

Jackson's last name in public for the first time.

In another obvious homage to her late love, she sings a song he wrote for her, titled

But that wasn't the only way she honored Jackson in the film's heart-wrenching closer.

Earlier in the movie, Jackson argues with Ally about the lack of authenticity in her

pop records and image, including her orange hair, which was largely influenced by Rez

In the film's final scene, Ally's hair is brown, with her style finally hewing closer

In the 1954 version of A Star Is Born, Judy Garland's Esther introduces herself as \"Mrs.

Norman Maine\" in her final scene after Norman's passing.

It's the same ending from the 1937 original, and the 2018 remake keeps the tradition going

by recreating the 1954 film's closing scene almost shot for shot.

Lady Gaga's Ally even takes the same stage at the Shrine Auditorium that Esther did for

Ally's tribute song also evokes the 1976 version, in which Barbra Streisand's Esther performs

her own song written by her late husband.

In this way, their husbands' legacies live on through the success of their true loves.

The final shot of the film, in which the camera lingers on Ally Maine singing on stage alone,

is what Cooper has called \"the moment a star is born.\"

In an interview with CinemaBlend, he said,

\"Ally at the end of the movie is just starting.

What's she going to create is going to be even bigger than what we've seen prior.\"

Gaga has said that she rarely saw playback of the movie while it was being filmed, with

the exception of this final scene, when she was directed to look right at the camera.

Cooper knew then that it would be the last frame of the film, and Gaga could see why.

According to the star, the \"brilliant\" final moments are so memorable because they show

\"the human courage to persevere and to move forward.\"

It's a powerful theme, and timeless too, a good reason why they keep remaking this movie.

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The Ending Of A Star Is Born Explained

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