James Cameron thus returned to Jack’s death, stating that it was a necessity: “In my opinion, a happy ending would have been disrespectful to the tragedy of the event,” he confided, then evoking Rose’s fate. As a reminder, at the end of the film, Rose, now an old lady, falls asleep peacefully. The following sequence shows her young, back on the Titanic, reunited with Jack, the love of her life. Since its release in 1997, the doubt still persists as to whether the character dreams or dies… A question to which James Cameron does not seem to want to answer categorically: “As for the end, Rose dreams or dies, they are reunited,” began the filmmaker, adding: “When we were filming the final sequence, Gloria Stuart, who played the elderly Rose, says to me: ‘So, Mr. Director, should I play her dead or alive?’ I replied: ‘Hold your breath!’” An answer that is always so enigmatic… It’s up to us to form our own opinion!
James Cameron: rediscover all his films at the Cinémathèque de Paris
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