Funny how, as a late comer in this whole “Ryan Gosling might be the best thing that ever happened to Hollywood” business, and currently in my #LaLaLand era, I keep on being asked how much do I love the dream sequence at the end and how I wish it were true…
Um… I don’t love it. At all.
And I wish even less it were true.
Don't get me wrong... It is a stunning piece of cinematography impeccably choreographed and perfectly performed by Ryan and Emma, its direction and music are beyond breathtaking, but damn... I hate what it implies. It hits harder every time I watch the movie (roughly every three days on average).
The dream sequence is nothing but Mia’s ideal life. It follows what the past five years have been for HER. In that version where they end up together… Seb does not exist anymore. He is Mia’s husband, he is the father of their child, he is her number one fan, but he becomes a supporting role in his own life.
It tears me apart every single time I see anyone implying that this was the perfect ending for the both of them.
For Seb ? Not even close.
When Seb playing their song brings us to what could have been their first kiss, Sebastian is then being lead by Mia. In their house, in the studio sequence, to Paris… he instantly loses agency.
Also, his white suit is the same colour as the background when they enter the stage scene. That’s intentional. When he is the most himself (first scene-observatory-engagement party-Seb's) Sebastian’s colours are on the hazel spectrum. The black suit he wears from the moment he starts working with Keith showcases his inner struggle, and his light that is slowly but surely getting dimmed. Everything about Sebastian is different when he joins The Messengers, wearing black (while the rest of the band is fairly colorful) expresses how big a toll it takes on him (plus Ryan is insanely skilled at using micro-facial expressions to characterize his loss of identity, it gets almost physically painful to witness such a passionate character vanishing right before our eyes) (*insert enraged whisper about how Ryan was robbed of the oscar here*).
Seb wearing a black suit is unhappy Seb.
Here, he wears this creamy white suit that makes him disappear in the background while Mia's dress is a shade of their dark blue-ish purple (the nuance they both wear when Mia hears their theme song for the first time) which is very telling of his erasure.
Seb wearing a white suit is transparent Seb.
She gets dragged away from him by the casting director and he automatically catches up.
She successfully auditions while he stays alone in the hallway, entirely consumed by his hopes for her future.
She goes to Paris and he immediately follows with no mention of “getting my own thing going”.
None of these actions are initiated by Seb.
Even in Le Caveau De La Huchette where he plays (notice the dark outfit again) it’s a blink-and-you-are-missing-it situation where he gets quickly overshadowed by the trumpetist.
During the waltz sequence, which may very well be a first dance at their wedding, he once again perfectly blends in the background. The first time they danced in the stars at the observatory, they were equals as one perfect shadow. Now, all eyes are on Mia only. And she is still wearing her “actress” dress. Such a symbol.
The sequence continues to the highlight reel of their lives together, which gets progressively worse for Seb. He’s never seen with his child. He is always in the background, once again, either with the birthday hat or in front of the house. We don’t see him actively being a dad. And jazz is nowhere to be seen, nor are Sebastian’s colours.
When we cut to the evening scene, it gets even sadder.
Mia literally erases her actual husband (uh, there is a pattern, here) and put Seb at his place, like they are interchangeable. He behaves the same way. He wears the same type of outfits as David does. He walks like him. He drives like him. He doesn’t talk much, like him. None of the things that make Seb… Seb are so much as hinted.
In Mia’s dream life, Seb's essence is gone, which is the very reason the argument happened in the first place. Seb struggles to survive when he is not himself. Mia didn’t get the message and projects the exact same thing all over again.
Finally, when they get to the club as husband and wife, we reach the epitome of Seb being a ghost in his own life.
His eyes does not sparkle with excitement and joy.
It is a jazz club, for goodness sakes !
He should behave like a child in a theme park, dying to take part in their music and chat with everyone and marvel at the countless authentic pieces of Jazz history used to decorate the walls and talk endlessly about his heroes and enjoy every second spent in his dream place.
He sits with her and he doesn’t even acknowledges the music. SEB. Mister “jazz is so exciting I can barely contain myself”.
He’s physically there but his soul is long, long gone.
This is what broke me. This is what brought tears to my eyes. Not that they don't end up together, but that Mia projects as ideal partner a watered down version of the man whose aura and passion led to her dream coming true.
The dream sequence essentially turns our beloved neurodiverse, autistic-coded musician into the neurotypical version of himself as perceived by Mia and for Mia’s benefit.
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