Stardust Memories

The film's final sequence shows a train carriage filled with grotesque, unhappy figures. A passenger looks out and sees a second train of beautiful, happy people, prompting him to suspect he is on the wrong car and he tries to jump off as the train speeds away. In the next scene, the passengers drift through an immense garbage dump, illustrating a surreal disconnect between fantasy and reality.

Studio executives who watched the film complain that it is uncommercial and depressing. Sandy defends his work, insisting that he no longer wants to make shallow comedies and that honesty matters more than box office. This clash sets up his struggle between commercial pressures and personal artistic integrity.

Sandy's managers remind him that a weekend-long retrospective of his films is planned at the Stardust Hotel on the Jersey Shore. He is reluctant but ultimately agrees to attend the event. The retrospective will force him to confront his career and its reception.

Sandy remembers meeting Dorrie on the set of one of his films, where a spark begins to form between them. The memory traces the start of their relationship and hints at its fragile foundation. The recollection anchors his emotional turmoil throughout the weekend.

The memories reveal the gradual blossoming of Sandy and Dorrie's romance, with moments of closeness and shared affection. Yet insecurities on Dorrie's side and Sandy's philandering create tension that foreshadows their downfall. The past resurfaces as he navigates the retrospective.

The memories culminate in their last meeting at a psychiatric hospital, where Dorrie is depressed and heavily medicated. It marks a grim turning point in their relationship and underscores the fragility of Sandy's personal life. This scene bleeds into his present as he faces public scrutiny.

At the Stardust retrospective, Sandy is swamped by fans who request bizarre or comical favors. He attends screenings of his films and participates in question-and-answer sessions. The interactions blur lines between his stage persona and private doubts.

A young couple, Jack and Daisy, invite Sandy to a nightclub, and he eagerly joins them. When Jack is absent, Sandy openly flirts with Daisy, exploiting the situation as he tries to recapture a sense of romance and control. The encounter sows seeds of further complication.

Isobel, Sandy's current lover, arrives at the hotel and reveals that she has left her husband. Sandy's reaction is ambivalent as he weighs taking their relationship to the next level while confronting his own infidelities. The moment deepens the emotional conflict at the center of the story.

Sandy meets with studio executives who have reshot the film's ending—moving the characters to 'jazz heaven' instead of the garbage dump. He calls the idea idiotic and refuses to accept it, defending the original, bleaker vision. The disagreement crystallizes his resistance to external control.

While talking with his agent on a public phone, Sandy overhears Daisy discussing her sexual ambivalence toward Jack. The overheard conversation adds to his sense of the tangled, unsatisfying nature of the relationships around him. It further unsettles his grip on reality.

Sandy arranges an outing with Daisy and they travel by foot after a car breaks down. They reach a vast field where locals gather to see flying saucers, and Sandy's perception begins to distort. He experiences a cascade of surreal hallucinations, projecting figures from his life and films, including extraterrestrials.

Sandy experiences a panic-induced reverie of receiving a posthumous lifetime achievement award, praising a sunny morning with Dorrie in Manhattan. He then awakens in a hospital room, to Isobel waiting by his bed. She tries to break up with him, setting up a turning point as he decides what to do next.

Isobel confronts him after the awakening and attempts to break up, but Sandy persuades her to forgive him. They kiss as Isobel's train departs, choosing to stay together for the moment. The moment is both intimate and unstable within the film's metafictional frame.

The film's audience, including characters who are themselves part of the movie, discuss its merits and flaws in a meta moment. As the audience leaves, a figure resembling Sandy walks in, retrieves his iconic sunglasses, and exits. The film ends on this wink to the audience.