Pascal Chaumeil’s black comedy titled ‘A Long Way Down’ released in 2014, has taken slight inspiration from Nick Hornby’s novel of the same name. The movie revolves around four main characters, all on the rooftop of one building, all trying to die by suicide. While the four strangers initially went on the rooftop to kill themselves in peace and solitude, their accidental meeting with the others causes them to agree upon not dying for the moment and going down the building.
The movie cast actor Pierce Brosnan as Martin Sharp, Toni Collette as Maureen Thompson, Imogen Poots as Jess Crichton, Aaron Paul as J.J. Maguire, Rosamund Pike as Penny, and a few others forming the film’s small cast. The film has comedic aspects to it, but it still deals with the heavy topic of suicide.
It is a delicate topic, and the task of venturing through such a story while cracking jokes definitely requires enthusiasm and sensitivity. Even so, the movie tanked badly and did not do all that well in theatres. Many thought that the movie wasted not just the talent of its great cast but also the opportunity to make an amazing movie inspired by the original novel.
Yes, the movie is a wholesome watch as we see the cast come together in support of each other, trying to convince the other not to end their lives, but by the time it ends, it becomes impossible to feel the satisfying impact or the high of the story. At some point, the humor starts feeling boring and the film loses its feel-good story quality.
Still, if you are curious and wish to find out all about the movie’s end then continue reading till the end.
A Long Way Down’s Ending Explained
We see the movie open on the roof of the Toppers building in London on New Year’s Eve. While some would see it as a romantic spot for a possible date overlooking the beautiful city skyline, our main characters see it as the perfect spot to die by suicide. The building is introduced as a famous spot for people who wish to end their lives.
The story has four main characters named Martin Sharp, who happens to be a television host who got into a brutal scandal when news of him having slept with a fifteen-year-old was revealed to the public. In the film’s narration, he admits his fault but also comments on how this scandal will remain a black spot in his career forever. With the reason for his suicide revealed, it becomes slightly difficult for the audience to sympathize and relate with him.
Martin was on the roof first, but while he was taking his sweet time in gathering the courage to take a step forward and ending things once and for all, he is interrupted by a woman named Maureen, who has, apparently, been waiting for quite some time for her turn to jump off the roof. The two get into a slight argument discussing the manners for when people are trying to take their lives in a public space.
Maureen is a depressed mother with a disabled child, and this is almost too much for her to bear, which is why she brought herself to this roof. While she agrees to give Martin the time to prepare himself for jumping off, another young girl joins the duo on the roof.
The young girl, Jess, happens to be a teen who finds herself helpless in the tough cycle of life and has, just like the other two, decided to end it all for her. A fourth interruption to Martin’s suicide plan comes in the form of a young guy called J.J., a pizza boy but, in reality, someone who desperately wanted to be a rockstar.
A Strange Bond
The group of four, obviously, cannot ignore each other, so they start talking about their stories and what made them come all the way to the building’s rooftop. During this, the group gets closer together and finds in each other a hint of a supportive family. While talking, they convince each other not to jump and instead agree to go down the building and help the youngest, Jess, find the boy who dumped her.
While at the party, Jess accidentally overdoses and has to be taken to the hospital, where the entire group is present. This incident brings them even closer, with Maureen talking about her child, who she absolutely loves but finds that she has no life apart from him. J.J. takes this opportunity to reveal that he was actually in a band that went down and that he was recently diagnosed with a terminal illness.
While the other three wanted to die because life felt too hard, J.J. wanted to do the same because his life would come to an end soon anyway. It is in the hospital that they all then make a pact that not to even think of suicide till the coming Valentine’s Day, i.e. in six weeks’ time.
A Ridiculous Twist
Even till this point, the plot seems believable, and the story makes some sense, but whatever happens, after the pact feels like plain nonsense. The story takes a weird turn as Martin reveals to the public the fact that Jess is a famous politician’s daughter, bringing attention to them, and the four take to different journalists to reveal how they were trying to jump off the roof at the same time, but had to stop because of some otherworldly vision that all four of them witnessed.
This attempt to gain the media’s attention fails tragically as all four of them tell completely different stories, and they end up becoming a playtoy for the public to drag. Martin somehow manages to get all of them to go on the same show that he used to host prior to his scandal, and his former co-host, Penny, takes this opportunity to drag both Jess and Martin and rip them apart.
She brings up Martin’s scandal and the jail time that he was yet to serve and maybe was trying to escape with his pathetic attempt by telling people of his suicide, and calls out Jess for her politician father and her sister, who seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.
Some More Nonsense
With such humiliation thrown at their face, you would assume that they would give up trying to get famous by using their tragic stories, but the makers of the film make them all go on a vacation to bond some more and reveal more about themselves.
Turns out J.J. did not have cancer after all and that he also went ahead and slept with a journalist named Kathy. This fact causes them to lose trust in him, and they end up losing contact with him for a long time. They eventually return to their depressing lives but also keep in contact with each other, having spent so much time together.
A Wholesome End?
So, when Maureen’s son gets admitted to the hospital because of a heart attack, both Jess and Martin obviously, come to visit Maureen, though J.J. is nowhere to be found. And soon, Valentine’s Day ends, and so does their pact. With nothing stopping them from dying anymore once again, the four meet on the same rooftop.
J.J. is also present and all ready to jump, but the other three manage to bring him down once again. The movie ends with a time-lapse. On another New Year’s Eve, all four of them are alive and healthy and actually happy with their lives. The four end up becoming each other’s biggest emotional support rocks.
Jess and J.J. seem to be dating each other, with Maureen finally feeling content with her new life and her son and Martin also trying to bond with his young daughter. The movie ends with the four of our leads face-timing one another, not thinking of dying for once.
The way, A Long Way Down has so boldly dealt with the fragile topic of suicide and dismissed it as a trivial act that can be postponed and overcome whenever it reeks of the arrogance of the makers. It stopped making sense somewhere around the one-hour mark and continued to go downhill from there.
The movie is not entirely based on the actual novel but is only “loosely inspired” by it, which may be one of the reasons for its failure. The tragic plot and direction of the could not be salvaged even by the talented cast.
Also Read: Snow White And The Huntsman Ending Explained: How Did The Fantasy Drama End?
