Titanic ending explained

What happens

Old Rose drops the Heart of the Ocean into the sea, unseen by the salvage team, and falls asleep. In a dream she returns to the ship, where Jack waits at the grand staircase. The diamond was never the treasure; her memory of him was.

The last image

Young Rose climbs the grand staircase to Jack, as the assembled passengers watch and applaud.

Two readings

1 · A dreamRose is shown asleep, so the reunion is imagined: a wish, not an afterlife.

2 · A deathShe may die in her sleep, and the staircase is where Jack meets her.

What it says

The film starts as a treasure hunt and ends by dropping the treasure. What survives of the past is private and personal, not official. The ending returns Rose to the life she chose, so the loss feels earned and the romance gets its release.