Or there’s even another possibility.
In certain occasions, these apparent flaws aren’t flaws at all. Sometimes it’s on purpose so that each person can make his own interpretation.
Anyway, I’m personally convinced that this is not the case. The storytelling in the Married Life montage is very clear and all the elements point to one conclusion.
I don’t see how she possibly could have had a miscarriage.
Exactly. I just can’t be persuaded of the miscarriage thing.
Actually, I think it’s good storytelling - The filmmakers made the point they needed to make: Carl and Ellie Can’t Have Children. They don’t really need to tell us why - and, in a way, by not telling us, they’re letting us project our own interpretations and emotions on the situation. The fact that we’re sitting here debating this a year after the movie came out shows that they accomplished the big goal, which was to make us care about Carl & Ellie and their life together.
I will say, I had not thought that hard about Carl’s reaction, and I think DarkHand makes an excellent observation of how that supports the “barren” theory.
While I agree the sequence is very clear, the elements clearly do no point to one conclusion about the pregnancy. Otherwise, there’d be no need for this thread.
No, exactly. I didn’t say what was the conclusion. And the one I meant was that she wasn’t pregnant at any point. So she was barren.
Well, Spirit, you said “points to one conclusion” and I know that you believe Ellie was infertile, so I just figured that is what you meant.
But any who, does it even really matter what happened to Ellie? Either way we were given a beautiful story driven in strength, motivation, and inspiration from this one moment.
I agree, that’s what really matters 
Hey, I just wanted to through in my pennies worth here even though I know the discussion has ended!
I watched Up, for the upteenth (see what I did there?) yesterday, and I love this film like no film I have ever loved before, and decided to comment on this very interesting question.
Pixar themselves describes the ‘Married Life’ scene,as a Carl’s memory of his life with Ellie so I have to admit, when it comes to the discussion with Ellie being barren or if she miscarried, I would have thought that one of the happiest memories (regardless of it’s initial outcome) would have included finding out they they were pregnant in the first place, not just agreeing that they would have children (which is what I sort of feel the clouds represented as a moment of leaping to the next stage for the young couple. I agree heavily that Ellie was in such a rush to have children they made the nursery early <3)
I also think that Ellie’s character is a very brave one, and if she had wanted children that much she would have surely tried again for children, but of course, the argument for that is the doctor’s room where she’s sobbing.
I have chosen to believe personally that she was barren, but as many of you have said, I also believe that Pixar left that open for us decide for ourselves, as fans. The sequence is what Carl sees as his life with Ellie, ignoring arguments they have had, and issues they may have dealt with (I personally get the feeling that Carl’s parents didn’t like Ellie very much from what we see of them in the same sequence, but they don’t push us into seeing that side of the story do they?)
So yeah, what I’m trying to say, is it’s a very interesting debate and a reminder at just how good at story telling Pixar actually is and though I barely had an input, I am glad to have commented on my favourite characters and movie! ^^
First off, welcome, Cirque… and thanks for reviving this thread. We can never have too many Up fans here! 
I have to say, I’m hearing a lot of persuasive arguments in favor of Ellie being barren, particularly yours regarding the fact that we’re seeing Carl’s memories, and Dark Hand’s comment about Carl’s reaction.
We haven’t really talked here about Carl’s and Ellie’s families, but that’s a great thing to point out: I suspect things weren’t ideal with the in-laws on both sides. Carl’s family probably found Ellie too boisterous and she probably found them too stodgy, while Ellie’s family probably found Carl too quiet and he probably found them overwhelming!
According to this book I have, Pixarpedia, she was pregnant but lost the baby
“When Ellie and Carl find out that they’re going to be parents, they are over the moon. Unfortunately, a docter has to break the sad news that they have lost the baby”
At least that’s what the book says. I personally think that she couldn’t have children from the start. Because usually women who miscarry can become pregnant again, but occasionaly their systems are ruined after a miscarrage and can’t become pregnant again.
Thanks for that information, ellie-jessie-eve.
I’m not yet convinced about the miscarrage, though.
First off, yay for reviving thread!
Secondly, If it’s in Pixapedia I have to admit, I may have to be on the miscarriage side. What the director says goes.
Perhaps their was a possibility that the miscarriage was much worse than even we as an audience realized. pregnancies can go wrong for horrible reasons and perhaps it’s a memory that Carl has ‘blocked out’ in that section of his life for the reason is that it was hard enough as it was.
As for the family discussion, dude, Carl’s family really don’t seem thrilled with Ellie do they? ^^
Yeah, if Pixarpedia says it then I think it’s pretty likely that it’s true.
A good example of this sort of thing was on a soap I watch sometimes, Coronation Street. A woman in this programme got pregnant and unfortunately lost the baby, then once again got pregnant and once again lost the baby, to then be told by the doctor that there was medically something wrong with her that meant that she could keep getting pregnant but would never be able to complete the entire pregnancy without losing the baby.
Of course this may not be exactly the same as Ellie’s case, but it’s one example of how having a miscarriage can lead to one being told that you’ll never be able to have children.
Yeah, I guess he would have just blocked it out in nostalgia…I still think, to the extention of hope, that she was sterile.
But Pixarpedia was made by DK. I own Star Wars books by DK that have some inconsistencies with the canon. So I don’t know if we cant trust it a 100%.
I hope not, I still think she’s sterile, and I don’t want to be wrong!!!
Couldn’t agree more. I think it’s cuter that way.
Her being fertile just bothers me. I like that they don’t have the option to have kids better than that they can but don’t.
I just assumed that she miscarried - the way the whole sequence was set up, with Carl and Ellie cheerfully preparing for their baby’s arrival, only to be met with some evidentally very tragic news, it never even crossed my mind that it could be anything else.
Personally, I think it being a miscarriage gives the whole montage an even stronger emotional charge. Consider that having something you want within your grasp, only to lose it can often be a much harder experience than never having had it in the first place. Carl and Ellie obviously had a very happy and fulfilling life together, but the presence of an unspoken personal tragedy gives their relationship more depth and pathos, IMO.