Detachment is a 2011 drama movie that questions aspects of human relationships,

ambiguity, and emotional attachments, but what did the ending really mean? Directed
by American History X filmmaker Tony Kaye, Detachment follows Henry Barthes
(Adrien Brody), a gloomy substitute English teacher who has a one-month assignment
at a high school near his home. Henry struggles with his ailing grandfather, has difficulty
maintaining close relationships, and lives an aimless life. Brody has been known to give
worryingly convincing performances, and he is grim and heartbreaking as Henry
in Detachment.

Detachment features an ensemble cast including Lucy Liu, Marcia Gay Harden,
Christina Hendricks, Tim Blake Nelson, James Caan, and Bryan Cranston in the midst
of his meteoric rise from Breaking Bad. Each of the characters, whether they be
teachers, students, family, or strangers, affect Henry in some personal way and how he
connects with these people reveals his growth throughout the film. It's a passionate and
unrelenting story even if more questions are posed than answered. Some of these
questions remain ambiguous, but the general meaning of the ending of Detachment can
still be understood with a deeper reading.

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Henry's Decisions Are Informed By His Traumatic Upbringing

In Detachment, it's quickly revealed that Henry is responsible not only for his English
class but also for his aging grandfather (Louis Zorich), who is in a care facility living with
dementia. Henry is constantly obliged to visit his grandfather and check in on him. Later
in the film, it's revealed that he suspects his grandfather may have sexually abused his
mother, who is revealed to have taken her own life when Henry was young. This creates
a massive conflict within Henry, who in the film finds himself responsible for, and
perhaps even emotionally attached to, a man who brutally mistreated his own mother
and by extension, himself.

Suicide, sexual abuse, and one-sided relationships permeate Detachment, and Henry's
reaction to these relationships and his decisions in them are certainly informed by what
he has experienced prior to arriving at his substitute teaching job. Henry has carefully
cultivated an unorthodox relationship with his grandfather that is both attached and
detached, close and at arm's length. When others get close to Henry, he is not always
sure of the appropriate way to behave. When a young student, Meredith (Betty Kaye),
goes to him for comfort, he panics, associating that relationship with one he detests
between his grandfather and mother.

Dr. Parker Takes Out Her Frustrations On A Student

Henry is not the only character in Detachment who can't seem to confront their feelings
in a healthy manner. Dr. Doris Parker (Liu) is a school counselor who works alongside
Henry. She, like many characters in the film, has her own side story operating in the
background of Henry's. In one scene, Dr. Parker talks with a student named Missy
(Renée Felice Smith) about her poor school performance and lack of ambition. As the
scene goes on, Dr. Parker's frustration with Missy becomes a rant, and it quickly
becomes clear that she is voicing her frustrations at her own decisions.

Missy sits confused with Dr. Parker, unsure of what her meeting has turned into.
Unfulfilled ambitions and dreams are major themes in Detachment, and it is not solely
an issue for Henry. Most of the other characters are struggling to make some real
connection or understand their pain and regret, including Dr. Parker.

Henry Could Not Have Saved Meredith

One of Henry's few emotional relationships in Detachment is with one of his students,
Meredith. During his time teaching, Henry begins to suspect Meredith is having thoughts
of suicide, as he knows the signs due to his mother's struggle. However, Henry does not
reach out to Meredith until she opens up to him. Their brief moment of honesty is
interrupted and Henry retreats, fearful that he is exhibiting some of the same predatory
behaviors he believes his grandfather is guilty of. When Meredith takes her own life the
next day, it could be inferred that Henry's inability to connect with Meredith was part of
her reasoning.

However, that is not true. Like with his mother, Henry is not responsible for the deaths
of those close to him. In fact, he did the best he could. The day after he panics with
Meredith, he seeks her out, trying to discuss what happened to him the previous day.
Unfortunately, his words don't have much effect, and she still decides to end her life.
Despite his difficulty in making attachments, Henry did try to connect with her though,
and that's significant.

Sarah Has An Unhealthy Attachment To Henry

Another character dealing with similar attachment difficulties is Sarah Madison

(Christina Hendricks), a teacher at Henry's high school. Sarah clearly has feelings for
Henry, but not ones she is able to articulate to him, never mind that Henry is only
somewhat able to handle these feelings. When Sarah sees Henry embracing Meredith
to comfort her in a normal paternal way, she immediately accuses him of behaving
inappropriately, which sends Henry into a panic. Sarah's inability to make a healthy
connection with Henry or understand a healthy relationship when she sees it points to
her own issues with attachment.

Why Henry Reads The Fall Of The House Of Usher On His Last Day
The Fall of the House of Usher is a famed short story from Edgar Allen Po,e and Henry
reads it to his class at the end of Detachment. This scene serves to connect the gothic
novel to the themes and events of the movie. The Fall of the House of Usher's
themes include psychological distress, isolation, and decay, all significant
in Detachment too. Poe's story mirrors Henry's recent life. He has lost his grandfather,
his relationship with Sarah has ended, and one of his students has passed away. His
life is crumbling down around him, and his loneliness is overwhelming.
However, Detachment offers just a slightly more hopeful ending.

The song "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday is sung by a young girl at the very end of the
film. The haunting melody is made even more depressing with scenes of a decrepit and
abandoned school building, another reference to The Fall of the House of Usher.
"Strange Fruit" is an emotional song that is tonally in line with the film. The lyrics
regarding the barbarity of lynchings in America may not line up exactly with the movie's
story, but they still provide a bleak and haunting ending to a difficult story.

The Real Meaning Of Detachment's Ending

The ending of Detachment is intentionally left ambiguous and the scene of the empty
school building Henry walks through adds another layer of mystery to the film. Whether
this is a vision, symbolism, or a premonition of the future, is never clearly explained.
What can be determined is that the loneliness and psychological distress Henry has
experienced over the course of the last month, and even earlier, has sent him to a
mental place that resembles the neglected school building. Henry's inability to make
attachments or overcome his own loneliness has pushed him close to a place of
despair.

However, Detachment does offer one small ray of hope. After Henry kicks Erica (Sami
Gayle), a student, out of his house and onto the streets, he goes to visit her in foster
care and the pair warmly embrace. Despite his hostility, Erica forgives him and the two
reunite. This could be looked at as a sign Henry's story is not over and despite the
overwhelming listlessness and solitude he feels in the end, there may still be chances
for attachment in the future. Detachment does not have a happy ending, but there is
still the idea that something more than grief can come from Henry's trials.