Good question. My first thought was, "Well, some Indian cultures immerse dead loved ones in a river," so I took it as a sign that Bianca had finally "died."

My view is that Lars didn't know what he was doing -- it was an act of despair. Not only as a response to the death of Bianca, obviously, but also to the death of some kind of innocence within himself.

But really, I have no idea.

Hm, I perceived it to be some sort of pre-death baptism. I never even considered it to be anything else, but now I'm questioning my perception...and would love to know!

I agree. Crazy grief-stricken behavior. Maybe he thought the cold shock of the water would revive her. But I think just pure irrationality.

Jay, I was googling this exact question. Fancy it showing up on Indy.com two days ago!

I saw the movie this afternoon, and that question nagged at me and still kind of bugs me -- my first thought was that he was going to drown her. I still haven't really figured out. Two thoughts: 1) If he did drown her or intended to, I suppose the metaphor would be stronger than the action since, well, Bianca was essentially a part of his imagination that he would be killing off. The townsfolk would get this too and still would have the funeral. And 2) Thank God the filmmakers didn't wallow in some kind of grand drowning scene to play on this and simultaneously try to make the audience sob at the loss of what had sorta become a beloved character. I would've walked out. A whole five minutes early.

Regardless, the filmmakers knew better than to try something like that. The scene could've been a little more clear, but the rest of the movie more than makes up for the shortcoming (however slight). It's one of my top favorite movies this year.