Perfect BLEH: Why Perfect Blue's Ending Fails

A while back, I reviewed the late-Satoshi Kon’s directorial debut, Perfect Blue, on ScrewAttack. I didn’t like it, going so far as to give it a 2.5/5 star rating (half a star shy of a recommendation.) However, because discussing that movie is like feeding a cocaine addiction, my thoughts and disdain lingered. More-specifically, one of my critiques about the film, namely its third-act twist feeling tacked on, stood out most. Since that’s a pretty damning flaw, I guess the only way to excise it from my mind is to elaborate…as if doing so on Twitter plenty wasn’t enough. I’m creature of habit, so I guess I’ll reiterate in hopes that it’ll finally, FINALLY, leave me alone.

Now, be warned, I’m about ruin the movie’s ending, as well as several details from its narrative. If you haven’t seen Perfect Blue and were trying to avoid it being spoiled, I suggest clicking on a different Infinite Rainy Day article. This is your last chance. For everyone else, strap yourselves in, because here I go.

To give context, Perfect Blue is the story of young, idealistic, former pop idol Mima Kirigoe, who turns to TV acting in an attempt to be taken seriously. While most of her fans and close friends are supportive of her decision, she quickly begins having second-thoughts when the pressures of television take a toll on her. She sees flashes of her past self everywhere, and her new associates start dying in a series of murders orchestrated by a shady-yet-obsessed fan of her former career. Ultimately, we’re meant to assume that Mima is going insane, and that this crazy fanboy is working for her in secret.

Unfortunately, everything the movie, which was pretty sloppy and disjointed prior, tries to establish is ruined in the third-act by a last-minute twist. After confronting and killing her fan/stalker in a struggle for her life, Mima, distraught and emotional, decides to spend the night at her manager’s house so as to regain her composure. But then the movie pulls the rug out from under us with a 180-reveal that Mima’s manager was the brains behind everything, using the justification that she was really Mima. So the two get into a rooftop chase, eventually ending with Mima’s manager getting impaled on broken glass, running in front of a car to commit suicide and being saved at the last-second by Mima. The movie ends with Mima, now a full-fledged movie star, visiting her former manager in a mental ward before muttering that “there can only be one Mima” and leaving in her car. Cue the credits.

Time to explain why this ending doesn’t work:

Let’s begin with its placement. Perfect Blue isn’t long, but its third-act twist occurs near roughly the last 20 or so minutes. That’s a pretty late inclusion for a twist, no? Most movies with plot twists usually throw them in at the halfway or two-thirds mark, allowing a chance for it to sink in. Even when it’s a last-minute twist, there’s a build-up of sorts to, again, let it sink in. That’s not accidental, since film is a medium of time and budget constraints. If you’re gonna add a twist, it needs time to develop.

Perfect Blue doesn’t have that time for development. Instead of placing the twist appropriately, it shoves it in at the last second in hopes that it’ll, somehow, work to the film’s advantage. This creates the opposite effect of feeling rushed and clumsy. I’ve seen the movie twice, and both times I felt the twist occurred way too late. That’s not a good sign for a movie that already had serious pacing issues.

Next, it’s contradictory. Every good twist has to, in my opinion, fulfill two criteria to be effective. The first is context, i.e. fitting into the grander picture. For instance, the Kayzer Soze twist at the end of The Usual Suspects? It works because it subverts and contradicts the information given by the protagonist. The twist at the end of Memento? Again, because of how the movie is edited, it subverts and contradicts everything we knew prior about the protagonist. These twists have context, so they work.

Perfect Blue’s twist has zero context behind it. It turns out that Mima’s manager, Rumi, was the real mastermind behind all the murders. Okay, was there any indication of this prior? When did Rumi ever imply that she thought she was Mima in the first two acts? Why would she even want to be like Mima? These are all valid questions, but the movie doesn’t think of that prior to pulling out the rug. We’re left as confused as Mima, instead of thinking, “Yeah, that was brilliant!”, hence it fails the criteria.

Then there’s progressing the story effectively, which is my second criteria for a good twist. To that, the answer is also “no”. Say all you will about the twist in The Dark Knight Rises, but it at least progressed its story. Conversely, say all you will about the twist in Iron Man 3, but it at least progressed its story. The twist here, however, doesn’t do anything to progress this story; in fact, it could’ve worked without it.

I’m not kidding: Rumi being infatuated with Mima was unnecessary. You could’ve cut that, kept the ending to Mima killing her obsessed fan and nothing would’ve been ruined. At all. You still could’ve gotten your message out about the dangers of a false image, and it would’ve worked fine. That the twist was added anyway completely derails the film’s message, but I’ll cover why shortly.

Furthermore, there’s the issue of execution. Ignoring how dumb the reveal was, and let’s not pretend it wasn’t, and how out-of-character Rumi’s motives were, and let’s not pretend that wasn’t dumb either, the entire finale is a rooftop chase with Mima and her psychotic manager. My problem is two-fold, and it has nothing to do with Mima’s cries for help (because, y’know, she’s not a martial arts master.) On one hand, why does no one in the streets respond? Perhaps it’s a cultural difference, but I’d expect that, even if no one came to her aid, her cries would at least attract some onlookers and spectators, no? And while you could argue that it’s all in her head, I don’t buy that because the movie makes it clear that Mima’s being chased by a real person.

On the other hand, the conclusion of said chase is ridiculous. Rum accidentally gets impaled on a broken window pane, and we see her bleeding fatally. In other, better-written versions of this sort of scenario, Rumi would cough up blood and die on the spot. But Perfect Blue decides to have Rumi get up off the broken glass, adjust her wig and proceed to stand in front of a moving truck to commit suicide. True, Mima shoving her out of the way at the last second makes sense. But that Rumi would have the energy to attempt such a death doesn’t.

This leads to anger with the hospital scene in the end, as Mima is perfectly fine and Rumi is recovering from her insanity. You’re meant to be relieved that this is over, but instead I’m angry that it ended this way. You’re meant to feel bad for Rumi, but I don’t. You’re meant to shout “BRILLIANT!” once the credits roll, but each time I shout “REALLY?!” instead. Because it’s a dumb way to end a dumb climax that stems from a painfully dumb twist.

The twist even ruins the message of the film. What’s Perfect Blue about? The harsh expectations of fame on celebrities, and how it can drive them crazy. Wouldn’t it have been kinda cool if Mima turned out to be the orchestrator of this whole murder spree? Better yet, what if the twist climax was her running from herself, akin to Episode 3 of Paranoia Agent, getting impaled accidentally during the chase scene and dying? Wouldn’t that have made more sense than-I’m being too clever for this film.

Ultimately, this twist makes me question why Perfect Blue is frequently considered one of Satoshi Kon’s best. It’s not, it’s a crappy movie directed by a man who’d go on to greater works in the future. Besides, acknowledging that not everything a director you love has made is great respects his or her humanity. I love Hayao Miyazaki, for example, but I’m not afraid to criticize Howl’s Moving Castle’s flaws. I do it all the time, and I like that film! I simply recognize that it’s not perfect and move on.

So yeah, that’s all I have to say. Perfect Blue isn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but it’s no masterpiece. It’s a bad movie with a bad twist ending, period. And it’s still deserving of its 2.5/5 star rating. Now, if it’d only purge itself from my mind forever, but I guess I can’t have that too…