Talk To Me’s Ambiguous Ending Gets Explained By Directors: “All The Clues Are There”-TGN

Warning: Spoilers for Talk to Me

Summary

• The directors of the horror film Talk to Me explain the ambiguous ending, stating that all the clues are present on screen.

• According to Danny Philippou, the ending hints at the protagonist Mia being a lost soul torn between two worlds, with her light slowly fading.

• The interview with the directors reveals that viewers have been trying to guess and interpret the ending, but all the necessary information is provided visually.

The ambiguous Talk to Me ending gets explained by the movie’s directing duo. Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou in their feature directorial debut, the new A24 horror film follows a group of friends who discover an embalmed severed hand that allows them to summon spirits, but when they become enthralled with the exhilarating experience, they inadvertently unleash terrifying supernatural forces. Like many A24 horror films, the Talk to Me ending is ambiguous and requires some additional explanation.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Philippous explained the Talk to Me ending. The directors refrained from revealing all the answers about Mia throwing herself into traffic, allowing audiences to find all the clues on screen and form their own interpretation of the ambiguous ending. Danny Philippou also explained the moment when Mia wanders the hospital and sees Riley and her dad, but whether those visions are real is up for interpretation, the directors say. Read Danny Philippou’s full explanation below:

The Talk to Me Ending Explained

Talk to Me finds the 17-year-old Mia (Sophie Wilde) struggling with the apparent suicide of her mother Rhea (Alexandria Steffensen) and her emotionally distant relationship with her father, Max (Marcus Johnson). The only solace she finds is in her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and her little brother Riley (Joe Bird). Mia’s desire to communicate with her deceased mother causes both her and Riley to hold onto the hand for too long, leading to the latter’s possession, horrific injury, and hospitalization.

Related: Talk To Me Is The Latest Movie To Break Horror Taboo Rules (& It Won’t Be The Last In 2023)

However, Mia continues communicating with the spirit world in an attempt to save Riley. Due to this blurring between the real and spirit worlds, the Talk to Me ending is ambiguous, but just as director Danny Philippou says, all the clues are they to understand it. Defying the spirits who want her to kill Riley and put him out of his misery, Mia tries to ostensibly save Riley by throwing his wheelchair into oncoming traffic, but she ends up causing a car crash and killing herself instead.

Back at the hospital, Mia sees a vision of Riley and her father, and she soon discovers she is on the other side of the spirit world. The Talk to Me ending is particularly disturbing but also poetic. Mia becomes one of the lost souls she summoned, stuck in a purgatory of her own doing, and summoned by partygoers playing a game with the embalmed hand that drove her to madness.

Source: THR