This film is the greatest ever made and the last scene the greatest ever in any movie. That moment of recognition is one of absolute transcendence and absolute love that really begs the question of "living happily ever after" for it is a moment of eternal and infinite enlightenment that needs nothing more. Chaplin has created here (see various documentaries such as The Unknown Chaplin to see how painstaking a process this was) an almost perfect artistic expression that love is NOT blind but is rather its cure, and the cure for everything else that is the darkness wrought from ignorance. What Michelangelo attempted in the Sistine Chapel or Kubrick at the end of 2001, Chaplin somehow goes a step further and reaches that final point which seems so unreachable. That love which is so pure that it strips everything else away and makes all other thoughts, makes ANY thoughts, superfluous. I've watched City Lights countless times and never, especially in that final moment, does it lose any of its power. As such, and in so doing, Chaplin attains a further and even greater miracle, taking that transcendent point in the film and transferring it, making it REAL, to those in his audience. The creation of a story of love that transforms all becomes the most precious gift that can transform us ALL. No amount of scripture or mysticism or philosophy can ever do more than that.

I finally saw this movie and agree it’s a masterpiece capped by one of the greatest endings ever. But I think it’s a great ending because Chaplin conspicuously avoids the eternal love trope, instead ending with simply one moment. The question mark is hanging there for those who choose to imagine what’s next. But if you notice, the scene deliberately avoids the Hollywood kiss, avoids the standard declaration of love, and the blind girl’s reaction is not particularly starry-eyed as much as it’s an aromantic show of tenderness.

The entire film has strong themes of class divisions; though humorously presented, it’s very much a mirror of depression-era society which is what Chaplin is showing us. Furthermore he plants the seed of fickle loyalty, the way the drunk millionaire treats the Tramp as his best friend, only to sober up and not even recognize him. This is a metaphor for the drunkenness of “blind” love. When she regains her sight and finds financial success, she is sobering up as well as moving to a higher social tier. And just like the millionaire she doesn’t recognize the Tramp.

The parallels between the love story and the friendship subplot are too perfect to ignore, and we know that Chaplin was a master of hidden meaning. But if he had ended the story without her recognizing him, it would’ve been too tragic to bear. Instead Chaplin gives us that moment of recognition and ends abruptly right there, allowing the romantics in the audience to leave satisfied but without ever truly showing his cards.