USA TODAY International Edition
New ‘A Star Is Born’ tackles difficult topic
Ending falls in line with film’s earlier iterations
Spoiler alert! We’re discussing the dramatic conclusion of “A Star Is Born,” which includes mature content. Stop reading if you haven’t yet seen the new version of the movie.
It’s hard not to be moved at the end of “A Star Is Born,” director Bradley Cooper’s story of doomed love featuring troubled singer Jackson Maine (Cooper) and the rising sensation he discovers, Ally (Lady Gaga). In the drama’s heartbreaking final act, the couple’s passion and devotion are replaced with tragedy. Maine is unable to overcome his personal demons and kills himself while Ally is in concert. Ally later gives a mournful tribute to her husband, singing “I’ll Never Love Again.” For moviegoers unfamiliar with the previous “A Star Is Born” films, Maine’s devastating end will come as a shock. But those three movies – starring Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand (1976), James Mason and Judy Garland (1954) and Fredric March and Janet Gaynor (1937) – have featured a similar story: An alcoholic male artist sparks the career of a young star before stumbling into a drinking scandal that damages her career. The 1937 and 1954 versions show Norman Maine fatefully walking into the surf and drowning. In the 1976 movie, Kristofferson’s John Norman Howard dies in a reckless high-speed car crash. “Bradley Cooper is being faithful to the central story but updating it,” says Alicia Malone, author of the film history book “Backwards & In Heels: The Past, Present and Future of Women Working in Film.” “Maine’s death adds gravitas to the tragic story that’s been present in all the ‘Star Is Born’ films. These films have endured because they highlight the destructiveness of fame and suicide,” she says. “It’s shocking in 1937. And it’s still shocking in 2018.” The new film sets up the suicide in a more detailed way than past versions – at a time of heightened awareness after the suicides of chef Anthony Bourdain and designer Kate Spade. Maine is seen preparing to hang himself before the camera cuts away. “A Star Is Born” is powerful and plainly signals the risk factors and warning signs in Maine’s troubled life, says Kita S. Curry, CEO of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services. “It thoughtfully shows what leads someone to this, and I cried at the end,” Curry says. “I just wish the method hadn’t been so clearly conveyed to people. And it’s a method that’s on the rise. But they spare people the trauma of seeing the act of suicide.” Cooper pays respect to the past films, even having Maine repeat the famed line, uttered in past incarnations, before parting from Ally for the last time: “I just want to take another look at you.” Ally’s tribute concert takes place at the Shrine Auditorium, the same location where Garland performed her character’s final tribute in the 1954 version. In each film, the male star recognizes he’s hurting the ingenue’s career. For Cooper’s Maine, that realization comes after his TMZ-worthy drunken debacle onstage as Ally accepts her Grammy Award for best new artist. But Cooper’s version emphasizes that Maine, who undergoes a stint in rehab, has suffered mentally throughout his past and had attempted suicide. “This movie is more about Maine’s personal demons, his abusive childhood with his father,” Malone says. “It suggests that he was still struggling with these and ultimately not able to overcome them.” USA TODAY has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment on the portrayal. On Twitter, some moviegoers posted trigger warnings, cautioning others about the ending. “i walked into the film not knowing there was going to be a suicide scene,” @buckyelektras wrote. “either walk into the cinema prepared or don’t see it.” “Has an important message, esp for women,” @literarylyla tweeted, but “It took everyone in my theater by surprise.” “If you’re someone who has sensitivities, or has been affected by suicide, then heads up,” says Sarah Schuster, mental health editor at The Mighty, an online community that connects people facing health challenges and disabilities. Susan Lindau, an adjunct professor at USC’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, says she found the new “A Star Is Born” moving. “As far as filmmaking, it was tragic and sad. But it was frustrating to have that ending as a clinical professional. It’s a cop-out,” she says. “In real life, (Maine) needed stronger support after his rehabilitation, when he was most emotionally vulnerable.” Nell Minow, film writer for the Movie Mom blog, was dismayed by the fate of Cooper’s character, and that influenced her otherwise glowing film review. “I sat through this whole movie thinking, ‘I hope they find a better way of dealing with this,’ ” she says. “I don’t want anyone to think (suicide) is ever a choice.” Minow was pleased about a scene in which Maine’s brother (Sam Elliott) tells a distraught, guilt-ridden Ally that the singer’s death was not her fault. “That took the responsibility off of her,” says Minow, who thought that still didn’t go far enough. “You want to be sensitive about portraying nobility or catharsis through suicide. Suicide is nothing but sad. Always sad. We can do better in 2018.”
If you know someone who is thinking about suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.