MovieChat Forums > The Dark (2006) Discussion > can someone explain ending

can someone explain ending


Can someone explain what happens from when adele jumps off the cliff until the end? The other posts dont answer it entirely

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I watched the movie 10 mins ago and I think this happened:
Adele jumps off with Abrill in her hands and they both come in Annwn (think about it as heaven).
This sacrefice of Adele made sure her daughter could go back to the living world.
So Sarah is back alive.
Adele thinks she is back too, but as you can see James completely ignores her, he actualy slams the door shut right in frot of her, and she can't get it open.
Then James tells Sarah that Adele sacreficed herself to save Sarah.
Later, when Sarah replaces the picture in the box with one of herself and James, Adele wants to touch her and Sarah turns around and says "you won't find her here".
This shows that Adele is in Annwn, and that the Sarah in front of her is actualy Abrill, in the body of Sarah.
Then, in the car, Sarah tells something about she imagined the thing she wanted the most... this shows that the Sarah in the car is Sarah, but she is possesed by Abrill.

Hope this made it all clear.

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That was an excellent recap of the ending!!!!

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Well - i think its the other way around!

Adele is now in the other world (and WHY would you compare it to heaven???? if its anything, then it must be like hell), adele is now with Ebrill (and Ebrill is posing as Sarah). Why else would se say "you did a brave thing - you sacrificed your self to save Sarah"?

Sarah is now back with here father - and since Ebrill was within Sarah when her father sayd "make a wish - dont say it to anyone, and one day it will come true", Ebrill did NOT keep here wish - she told it right away "i want you to be my father" - Sarah (who was inside Ebrill) did make a wish and she dident speak it out.

Get my point?

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You have to remember that different cultures had different ideas about the underworld. Many cultures didn't see it as a place of good.

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Then it wouldn't be called Heaven, which is paradise. The Underworld or something would be the correct term.

Though you're dressed in rags, you wear an air of queenly grace

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but who's face was that in the end....the last shot. Possibly the shepard?

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That's who I thought it was too. But I'm not sure I understand what's up with that.

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I thought it was Ebril's father, too, but my husband keeps telling me that was Sean Bean's face, and that Sean Bean was actually Ebril's father from the beginning - I think he's crazy to think that, since there's no evidence of that throughout ANY of the movie... but I do have to agree that the father taking over Sean Bean, and Ebril taking over Sarah is way creepier - they both get a second chance... but creepier or not, I don't buy it.

My real problem with it was if Ebril is in Sarah's body, and Adele is in Annwn with Ebril's father, where the heck is Sarah? I think Sarah was back, and Ebril was part of her - in her, but not completely possessing her, like, both girls were now sharing her body. Sean Bean got to talk to Sarah, cuz he's in the real world, but since Adele is in Annwn, she could communicate with Ebril. Ebril being a spirit in Sarah's body, she's still kinda partly in both worlds - Sarah was back, since Adele sacrificed herself, so she was free - she couldn't see Adele.

I'm just guessing, and kinda figuring it out while I'm typing all this, but I think it's starting to sound a lot cooler and make more sense as I go along lol.

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I agree with you ShadeSiren that is the real eplanation. I watched the film couple of times. and I'm sure it's like this :)

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I don't think that's right. At the end, the Sarah body is clearly Ebrill - when Adele is looking for Sarah in the real world, the Sarah body says "you won't find her here," referring to Sarah. Adele is definitely in the underworld, and the guy at the very end coming after here is definitely the Shepherd, not Sean Bean, who is the good daddy that everybody wants the whole time. In the car, the wish the Sarah body/Ebrill personality says that she won't say her wish because it's a secret, but the wish seems to be wanting Sarah in the underworld/hell, because the shots keep flashing to HER. The wish doesn't seem to be that Sarah body/Ebrill personality wanted to be with the father, maybe because she already HAS that now. Sarah body/Ebrill says she has to keep picturing the wish (the mom in hell) until she doesn't have to picture it anymore, but she must still be in the picturing stage because of the repeated shots of the mom in hell.

I think you got this part wrong: "Sarah is now back with here father - and since Ebrill was within Sarah when her father sayd "make a wish - dont say it to anyone, and one day it will come true", Ebrill did NOT keep here wish - she told it right away "i want you to be my father" - Sarah (who was inside Ebrill) did make a wish and she dident speak it out."

Sarah is NOT back with her father - only her body is. This is clear because the Sarah body said "you won't find her here" when the dead mom was say "Sarah I want you to be happy at the end" (see first paragraph above). Sarah, oddly, appears to be nowhere at all at this point. The whole ending is screwed up, becuase all of a sudden you have switching of bodies, which was not at all part of it before - people seemed to be inhabiting their own bodies, living or dead, for 7/8 of the movie, so that's a bad thing to throw in at the end. You were also wrong that Ebrill was within Sarah when her father said "make a wish" - Ebrill was within EBRILL, in the hospital, when he said that. This was back before they randomly threw in the body switch at the end.

So the big flaws of this movie IMO - random body switching that makes no sense, and the complete disappearance of Sarah's personality. Also, why in the world was there a big open door in the floor of the abbattoir with a sharp thing sticking up so anyone could fall in and die? That's so stupid. In all, a movie that doesn't hold together well.

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When Ebrill came back the first time, she brought "The Dark" (an evil spirit) back with her. As I understand it, that's what's possessing Sarah at the end.

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I agree with you 100%. When Sarah first came back it was her,then I think Ebril came out....I think,its a combination of both inside of Sarah. ni htink
"A movie a day keeps the doctor away"


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Yes
Since ebrill is possesing sarah's body in the living world,
the only person the shepard has to relieve the "evil" in her head from is Adelle.
So now Adelle has Ebrill's fate.

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thanks it makes a whole lot of sense.

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i agree with the person who explained it after the original poster b/c... that's how i re-explained to myself after watching it to make sense of it all...... exactly as they said it. :)

i thought it was very good.... just the point is that i forgot that Adele couldn't come back, nor did she remember, b/c the shepherd guy said that the mother (or father?) had to sacrifice themselves - meaning take the place of, their child.... so she gets to stay in Annwin (which according to the myth IS heaven) while her kid is brought back to life... or well so she thinks. :p



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[deleted]

This is what happens,
Adelle knows she needs to get her daughter back, so she tries to send Ebrill back, but because of what James says to Ebrill she doesn't want to go. So Adelle sacrifices herself aswell, which doesn't turn out the way she plans. She ends up on a ghost plane or Annwyn, and that is why James can't see her, but Sarah can. At first we think Sarah is alive and well, but she is putting on an act because it is actually Ebrill in her body, thats how she knows how to open the box, and how she can see Adelle, and how she repeats what James said to Ebrill before in the hospital. Ebrill takes over Sarahs body because she wants a father, who won't trapan her head, she doesn't understand that her father actually loved her she thought he was just being cruel and thats why she kills him, and that is why she wants James to be her dad because he was nice to her.
I hope i haven't confused you too much there, but that is what happend and why it happend.

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Excellent explaination, I was searching for someone who shared my belief that Sarah was actually Ebrill in Sarah's body in the end. I like your explanation of opening the box, which Ebrill would know how to do.

Later, when Sarah replaces the picture in the box with one of herself and James, Adele wants to touch her and Sarah turns around and says "you won't find her here".
This is from the first conversation that Ebrill had with Adele, and showed Adele that Sarah was actually Ebrill.

And then there is the last scene in the car. Sarah, who was actually Ebrill, makes a comment about making a wish, which was from a conversation that James had with Ebrill earlier in the film, not Sarah.

Is the low rating of this film because of the audiences misunderstanding the conclusion?

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Okay I think that is true, I think that Adele is in heaven/hell, looked more like hell to me, but then they described it as heaven? I think that Ebrill took over Sarah's body and so Ebrill is now with Sarah's dad and he thinks she is Sarah because she looks like her. I get that, but where is the real Sarah? You would think she'd be in Ebrill's body since Ebrill is in her body???? I hate movies that have an ending that is hard to understand!

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the mum should have kept Ebrill, she was way cuter than Sarah! LOL

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Adele died. And Ebrill took over Sarah's body. So Dad and "Sarah" live happily ever after.

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okay this is what happened, I know its confusing but yeah. I saw the movie a couple of times. In the end Adelle and Ebrill jump off, well Adelle forces Ebrill to do so. Anywhom, Adelle thinks she gave her life for Sarahs and she did except for the fact that Ebrill possesses Sarahs body and she goes and tells Adelle when shes in the room that she wouldnt find Sarah there, so like the real Sarah doesnt exists in the body of Ebrill but the darkness has her now so she wont be the same and Ebrill is in Sarahs human form. Adelle and her husband are actually in the Annwn or whatever its called. Most ppl dont understand it but when Ebrill/Sarah replaces the photo she replaces how they are, like human form, because even though its not shown in the movie its pretty obvious, you take into consideration the fathers pain of losing Sarah and Adelle so I take it that he jumps too, therefore the Shepards spirit possesses the dad and Ebrills possesses Sarahs, which explains why in the end the dads face appears behind Adelle. I hope this helps a lil.

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hmmm, just watched this film last night, and of course, puzzled over the ending. i like the idea of james and sarah and adelle trapped in annwn, honestly didn't have that thought cross my mind. what i originally took from the ending was what many posters have said, that sarah and ebrill somehow became one person. i like to think that sarah and ebrill's spirit were actually working together, to trap adelle with the shephard because the relationship between sarah and adelle was so similar to the relationship between ebrill and her father, inserting emotional torture for the actual physical torture. neither girl understood that each parent loved them, just had a difficult time showing it or expressing it. in the end, sarah/ebrill is right where she wants to be, with her father, and adelle is right where sarah/ebrill wants her to be....in pain.

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Well, I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned this before but...

Earlier in the film it was mentioned that when Ebril came back from Annwn originally she was said to come back with "Something dark/evil inside her" or something like that... Something that meant she had some evil inside of her anyway (sorry, I don't remember the exact line).

My take on Sarah's situation was that, like Ebril, she came back from Annwn with an evil inside her (possibly the same one that originally manifested in Ebril?). So with this theory the Sarah in the car at the end would have still been Sarah, just... evil - in the same way that the Ebrill who originally returned to her own father was still Ebril, just evil.


I do believe that Adelle was stuck in Annwn, however, to suffer the same fate as Ebril. I think that the end meant that Adelle was stuck in Annwn to suffer the same fate as Ebril at the hands of Ebril's father.
The scene in the car where Sarah speaks of the thing she wanted more than anything could have been the darkness in her. Her hatred of her mother could have meant that the thing she wanted was to have her mother tortured and stuck with the shepherd like she had been. Earlier she said "I kept calling for Mum," - this could have also been because she wanted her mother to be tortured in that place, not because she wanted her comfort like I first assumed.
The old man who pushed Ebril into the sea to rid themselves of her evil (a boy at that time) also said he "should gone with her to make sure she didn't get out" (or something to that effect). Adelle, however, *did* go with Ebril and would have made sure she didn't leave Annwyn, meaning it would not have been Ebril possessing Sarah that left. Although her desire for her daughter to live did mean she fell into the same pitfall that surrounded Ebril when she first came back...

Anyway, so I believe that James (not possessed or anything) was living in the real world with Sarah (who returned with an evil inside of her, like Ebril had done) and James was going to find himself in a similar situation to Ebril's father (although I doubt James would have reacted quite in the same way).

I think this was supposed to have some symmetry to the situation of Ebril and send the message that when you bring little girls back from the dead, they return with evil (or something like that).

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Awesome interpretation...and cleared up a lot of my cobwebs.

But then who is the face mom sees behind her at the end??? I was watching it on a 7" portable so it was barely recognizable. Kinda had zombie-like features. Very creepy ending. And much better then the alternate "happy sappy" ending on the DVD.

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[deleted]

My take after watching the film and reading other views on this thread, is that the ending goes like this: Ebrill = Sarah (possessed) in real world. James (the dad) = himself in real world. Adele (the mum) = in Annwyn. Sarah = who knows!

The whole segment with Sarah (possessed by Ebrill) replacing the old photo of her and her dad with her (as Sarah) and James, seemed to represent the beginning of her new life - hence how she knew how to open the box (the real Sarah would not have known that). As another poster mentioned, Adele went to touch her thinking it was Sarah and happy that she was at least alive but Ebrill revealed herself saying, "you won't find Sarah here", echoing their conversation from their first encounter. So Adele realises she's been tricked and its DEFINITELY the shepherds face at the end to (you assume) take her away and cleanse her.

In no way at the end does it even hint that James (the dad) has been possessed by Ebrill's dad, I don't know where people got that from. The only thing I don't understand is what happened to the real Sarah. I take it we assume she's in Annwyn and has been seen to by the shepherd already...

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You hit the nail on the head perfectly, I can't imagine how everyone else managed to get so confused on this. Sarah was a bitch of a daughter and I highly doubt Adele deserved what she did.

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i think tht Sarah was returned, but she is possessed by Ebrill & the darkness as well. she knows it, too. she has what she's always wanted, what both girls have always wanted, a daddy. i don't think either Sarah or Ebrill are still in Annwn (sp?) completely. but tht the shepherd & Adele both have to suffer for being "horrible parents" atleast in the minds of their daughters, in the land of the dead.

the man at the end, with Adele, is definitely the shepherd. he's coming to finish what he started, when she was in the room with Ebrill. she said she wanted the darkness out of her. thus, the shepherd is going to rid her of it. she is going to be tortured over & over for all eternity, i think, for being such a horrid mother to Sarah, in the first place.

i don't think she was tht horrible to her, really, but it was a connection tht the girls had. she felt her mom was not worthy of having her, she wanted her daddy, & Ebrill thought cos of the way her dad treated her when she returned the 1st time, from death, deserved him to die on tht cliff tht day, she pushed him off.

the darkness/evil, whatever ya wanna call it, is inside Sarah now. she is also part of Ebrill, i think & vise-versa. i think the part of Sarah tht has been taken over by Ebrill is still in the land of the dead, with her father as well, there is no way it can leave. and i think tht the part where Ebrill & her father left the room, into the darkness, when Adele thinks she is being freed as well as Sarah, it is actually, part of Sarah leaving her behind, the part tht is stuck there, with a part of Ebrill. tht's why Ebrill looks longingly behind her, she [meaning Sarah] wants to be free, but knows she won't ever be.

now, James is still very much alive. he is not possessed or anything. he thinks Sarah is still Sarah, he knows nothing of the evil tht is inside of her, or the fact tht Ebrill is also inside of her now, atleast a lil part of her. maybe he thinks everything's over with & Adele sacrifycing herself, has brought about the return of his daughter. he may have also said the same thing to his daughter like he told Ebrill in the hospital once, i mean, tht would/could be possible as to why she is telling him, as well as the fact tht Ebrill is remembering what he told her, too. also, with a part of Ebrill having taken over a part of Sarah, tht would explain why she knows how to open the lock-box, as well.

the end of it, with Adele in the room, when the shepherd is returning for her, tht's what Sarah wanted, her to be punished for being a horrible mother. she is now happy, cos she is with her daddy. James is the daddy tht both girls wanted, he was a good loving man. he told Ebrill tht he'd be her daddy, she would've been with him, too if Adele had not grabbed her & made her jump with her.

this is the gyst of it: Sarah got rid of her mother, she is now being tortured for being so horrible to her, along with Ebrill's father, who she also rid herself of, atleast somewhat by returning to the land of the living when Sarah returned. Sarah & Ebrill both get their "loving daddy" by having a life with James. Ebrill gets to live, atleast thru Sarah, but the evil is also lurking inside her, somewhere, probably waiting to be released. And where is Sarah, you ask?? well, Sarah's other part of herself, the dead part tht Ebrill has taken over, is stuck in Annwn inside of the body of Ebrill tht we see leaving with her father, to reside forever.

atleast, tht's what i think happened at the end of the movie :)

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I just saw this movie and I don't think her Mom was that horrible of a mother. I mean parents aren't perfect, they make mistakes just like everyone else. I am quite sure James wasn't possessed and that Sarah came back with the "darkness/evil" inside her that's a combination of Sarah and Ebrill. I don't see why some people think the Mom will be tortured for all eternity. I just don't understand how the Mom dies. I don't remember seeing her drowning at any point. Well anyway, that's my take on this flick.

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I just froze the frame at the end and still couldn't tell if it was Sean Bean or the shepherd or what.

The alternative ending on the DVD makes even LESS sense.

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I thought it was a sheep's head.

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It was the shepherd. IMO you could tell, not only by the plot, but by the bone structure of the actor. Those were not Bean's cheekbones.

I think the ending would have been clearer to me, if I knew for sure where Sarah was. I'll buy that the Sarah and Ebril shared Sarah's body but there is no indication anywhere else in the plot that that should be so.

I don't understand why Ebril would not have come back again in her own body -- yet obviously from the dialog, that is indeed Ebril in Sarah's body. It doesn't make sense in any other way.

I think it was needlessly confusing. I wonder if the film was cut from the original running time, or changed in the post-processing or editing from the writer and/or director's original vision for the film.

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Is there an alternative ending??

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It's not the point if she was a good mother or not, but how Sarah felt about her. From Sarah's point of view she wasn't so great.

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I watched the movie as well last night on the Space Channel. Terrible movie, but with interesting concepts. I despised Sarah at the end of this film. What a contemptible and loathsome little creature. She has now condemned her own mother to eternal anguish at the hands of a bizarre demented man caught in a cycle of cleansing.

Ebril and Sarah for sure are now sharing the same body, but what an elaborate gamble to be rid of her perceived evil mother. Adele should've just let the little bitch stay in Annwn. She used her mothers love to trap her.

Horrible girl!

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Myrtle's explanation is the closest thing to what I was thinking that I've read.

I think all of these points have been made already but I'll make a few of them again just to support why I lean in this direction.

It's clearly stated that when someone comes back from Annwn they bring something back with them. This could have been explored a little more to fill out the story, but I see it as a kind of aura of death. Ebril was different when she came back so there's no reason why Sarah wouldn't be. So I think it IS Sarah just a more twisted version of her.

If it were Ebril in Sarah's body and the girl with Adelle is also Ebril then we suddenly have 2 Ebrils while Sarah has vanished. Nothing in the movie suggests that a spirit can attach itself to another body much less 2 of them at once (though to be fair to others with different interpretations there are definitely things suggesting James has Ebil rather than Sarah in the car with him). Also when Adelle sees what she thinks is Sarah only to find out that it's really Ebril this is not the same Sarah that James interacts with. The Adelle scene shifts to show that she is not where she thinks she is (in the house) but really in Annwn with Ebril and the shepherd.

Yes, Sarah at the end repeats the line that James said to Ebril in the hospital but it is reasonable to assume that James also said this to Sarah at some point in their lives. Yes, Sarah knows how to open the box without the key, but the scene is a delusion that actually takes place in Annwn so this is likely not the same version of Sarah that James interacts with. Or perhaps Sarah has done what her mother couldn't and figured out the secret of the box (seeing as how she is holding it in the car). It's also possible she, the real though changed Sarah, just feels a connection to it but hasn't actually gotten to its contents.

I like a movie that requires thought and incites discussion, but I think this one leaves too much open. We're just talking about the ending here and haven't even brought up the conflicts of the shepherd or Sarah's apparent ability to communicate from the other side by leaving clothes in walls and such while Adelle appears to be at the mercy of Annwn's delusions rather than able to transcend it to communicate with James (not that James would have understood). The performances, scenery, and overall story are good so I think maybe it would have resonated with more viewers if it hadn't been quite so confusing.



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