Does Ige really return?

Of course Ige returns. I don't understand how anyone can be confused about it.

thats a very good ?
but i dnt think the film provides an answer. i think it was meant to mess with you
there is basically not a wrong answer. its what you want to believe.

I replayed it a few times.

The person on the ceiling is himself, presaging his own death.

I disagree with those who say that Ige's return is obvious or otherwise not ambiguous.

The sequence is: close to death, he injects himself in the bathroom, then hears the door and calls to Ige. Hearing her answer and seeing her shadow in the door, he relaxes.

One could argue that she literally did just come in, or one could point out that he did just shoot himself with morphine and is close to death. Given that his strongest desire is for her to come back, it is a very real possibility that it is all in his mind.

Supporting that is the earlier story about how the tiger killed its trainer.
Also recall that she always stated, both to her boyfriend and to Uxbal, that she was going back to Senegal. She NEVER said otherwise. Even when each pleaded with her, in turn.

The shadow in the mirror appears, to me at least, to be hers. He sees her in the mirror and, whether you believe she came back or not, she is definitely not in the bathroom at that moment, lending to the hallucinatory nature of that scene.

For those who think her staying solves Uxbal's problem, the money he leaves her would soon run out and she has no means to get more (so going back makes the most sense for her). Here's your happy ending: She goes back so the brother takes the kids. They stand a much better chance with him, he has money (and the mother's always hanging out over there anyway).

Final point. It would have been very easy for Inarritu to show a clear shot of her standing in the kitchen or laying in her bed. But he did not do that. So I believe he intended it to be ambiguous. If I had to come down on one side or the other, I would say she did not come back, but that the movie is stronger with the element of ambiguity.

I just finished watching this masterful film and believe that Ige did return as per the director and Javier himself. The scene in the train station shows her indecision, yes she was tempted to leave but she did not. Re: the face on the ceiling, it definitely Javier nearing death. I understand the different takes on the ending and whether Ige was physically seen or not, I think others might still be debating if she was a hallucination. My two cents, she returned.