One of the most mysterious jokes in the history of cinema

Lost in Translation was released twenty years ago, retaining many things, including the famous last sentence that cannot be heard.

Bob Harris is a middle-aged actor whose career is on the decline. He shoots an unlikely commercial for Japanese whiskey in Tokyo to earn some money. Charlotte, whose last name we don’t know, is a recent philosophy graduate who accompanies her husband, a photographer, on a business trip to Japan and spends most of her time reflecting on her life and her future. A deep bond develops between two equally lonely, confused, and alienated characters, halfway between friendship and romance, culminating in a quick farewell kiss followed by a line he whispers in her ear.

Lost in Translation – Love in Translation Sofia Coppola’s movie was released in US theaters on August 29, 2003, twenty years ago, and for twenty years the public has been trying to recover the last words that Bill Murray’s character says to Scarlett Johansson. Perhaps the most famous phrase “which is incomprehensible” in the history of cinema. Coppola never wrote Murray’s character line, and it was this mystery that made it so controversial. Neither Murray nor Johansson have ever revealed the exact words, but several suggestions have been made over the years.

Coppola said that about Lost in translation his second feature film was, at least in part, inspired by his own life. In her youth – she is the daughter of famed director Francis Ford Coppola – she spent a lot of time in Tokyo working in fashion and photography, and so she decided to “capture” the experience of traveling to Japan between planes. falling behind and discovering a new and unfamiliar place, and “everything he had in mind and everything he tried to understand” when he was 25 or 30 years old. In addition, for some reason, she often dreamed of meeting Bill Murray in a Tokyo hotel and for this reason insisted that he play the main male role.

In the film, Charlotte and Bob meet at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo and become friends. In the following days, they spend a lot of time together, talking about their lives in the hotel bar, watching TV or singing karaoke, while there is some misunderstanding between them and with the local culture. Between them, both married, a strong rapport and unspoken romantic tension is born, which is shattered when Bob ends up spending the night with a local singer. Charlotte takes this badly, and the relationship between them cools down: in the end, each goes his own way.

As he wrote Los Angeles Timesalthough the plot was not particularly complex, Lost in translation among other things, he demonstrated “how much weight and substance something very light can have in capable hands.” The film, which was released in Italy on December 5, 2003 and was an immediate success with audiences and critics, won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2004: it was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Coppola explained that the film is “about a misunderstanding between people and places”, which, in fact, suggests the expression from which its title is derived, pointing out the details and nuances that are often lost when translated from one language to another. “It’s about disconnected things and finding moments of connection.”

At the end of the film, Bob and Charlotte meet for the last time to say goodbye at the hotel bar, on the eve of his departure from Tokyo. The alchemy that had developed in the previous days seemed to be over. But the next morning, seeing her walking down the street, Bob stops a taxi that takes him to the airport to meet her: he hugs her and whispers something unintelligible in her ear. They kiss for the first time and then greet each other with a simple greeting (“bye”).

As is often the case in cases like this, various theories have been formulated over time about what Bill Murray’s character said to Scarlett Johansson’s character because you can’t hear yourself. The people who tried to turn up the volume of the movie to try and recover the words also gave very different interpretations.

Someone heard us: “It’s time for me to leave, but I won’t let this come between us. Okay?” something like “I need to leave, but I won’t let this tear us apart. Good?” Someone else: “I love you is the best thing I can think of. At some point he has to tell her this”, i.e. “I love you is the best thing I can think of.” At some point, he has to tell her.”

According to other interpretations, the last part of the sentence is instead about telling the truth, while the first part varies. “I won’t see you until the next Suntory shoot. Go to this man and tell him the truth, okay? or “You will always be an independent woman, don’t go crazy. To tell the truth. Okay?” meaning “We won’t see each other until the next shoot for (whiskey) Suntory. Go to this man and tell him the truth, ok?”, or again “You will always be an independent woman, don’t drive us crazy. To tell the truth. Fine?”).

However, the reconstruction, considered one of the most authentic, seems to be: “When John is waiting on his next business trip… Go to this man and tell him the truth. Okay?”: “When John (Charlotte’s husband) is waiting for his next business trip, go to him and tell him the truth. Fine?”.

There are those who believe that the final scene is actually a figment of the imagination of Bob’s character, given that the last time Charlotte was seen in the hotel, she was taking the elevator, and immediately after he saw her walking down the street. Instead, the Reddit user claims that there are elements to say that the entire movie is time travel, and that Bob is actually John going back in time to try to make things right because he realized he neglected Charlotte.

– Read also: 18 memorable movie questions

As the film and pop culture site notes Colliders, the ambiguity of the scene allows anyone who watches the film to interpret it based on their own experiences and emotions regarding the theme of love, friendship and relationships between people. In any case, Coppola believes that this is an intimate joke that reflects the connection between the characters.

Conversation with the site Little white lies On the occasion of the film’s 15th anniversary, Coppola said that “What Bill whispers to Scarlett shouldn’t have been anything special.” According to him, his idea was to come up with something to make him say later, but in the end he never wrote the joke. “It was something between them”: it served “just a recognition that this week meant something to both of them and that it would affect their return to normal life,” he continues. When people ask her what the line is about, Coppola replies that she likes Bill Murray’s version: “It’s a matter between lovers, so I won’t say anything more.”

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