The woman who drowned herself in misery is a victim of the game being played by this couple. They could even be keeping scores. It might even be unintentional. The film is really clever because you are drawn in to feel a sort of pity for both the husband and his wife.
But they are playing a deadly game of emotional conquest and the melancholy is for the ending of the long season of light. This is what they do to amuse themselves, there's no feelings, just a game with emotions of others. The photographer begins to see it then is caught up with the wife. The husband originally lied that he barely knew the drowned woman yet at the end he admits that he had an affair with her. We are given clues, the husband said of his sick friend who he'd visited in hospital, - "he's forgotten everything", it's as if none of their good times ever happened. Yet he has no regrets about his ex-lover, he denied even knowing her.
Review of Autumn Lights
