The ending of "When Harry Met Sally" is the ending of another film in reverse

Spoilers, obviously.

This may be well-known, but I didn't see much about it from Google, so something interesting I noticed:

The ending of When Harry Met Sally quotes heavily from the ending of The Apartment (1960), Billy Wilder's great romantic comedy.

The ending of The Apartment (link to scene) plays out like this:

  1. Fran Kubelik, our heroine, is sitting at a big fancy party with someone she doesn't love
  2. She realizes she loves Baxter, our hero, and slips away from the party during the singing of "Auld Lang Syne"
  3. She runs through the streets to his apartment, where Baxter has been spending New Year's alone
  4. They get together

The whole sequence is essentially inverted, both in order and in gender, for When Harry Met Sally (link to scene):

  1. Harry, our hero, is spending New Years alone in his apartment
  2. He realizes he loves Sally
  3. He runs through the streets to where Sally is - a big fancy party where she's been dancing with someone she doesn't love.
  4. He confesses his love and, right after the singing of "Auld Lang Syne", they get together.

Beyond the plot elements, some of the shots are literal reversals - check out :32 in the When Harry Met Sally clip compared to 1:10 in the The Apartment clip.

The most important similarity, though, is unspoken. Harry's has a famous line, which convinces Sally he's not just lonely: "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible!"

The same line is acted by Ms. Kubelik - without words. From 0:30 to 0:48, you can see clearly on her face as she remembers how happy she was with Mr. Baxter, and how alone she feels now - and her realization that she should go and start her life with him. So she does. She doesn't leap into his arms - she walks into his apartment, picks up the cards, and begins the rest of their lives. Two great films, two great endings, one simple, beautiful idea.

submitted by /u/Ganesha811
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ltey1s/the_ending_of_when_harry_met_sally_is_the_ending/

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