‘The Wonder:’ That Ending Explained and All Your Questions Answered

If you simply caught The Wonder now that it is streaming on Netflix, you could be pondering that considerably jarring ending. The psychological drama from Chilean director Sebastián Lelio asks you to consider within the energy of storytelling and the way it can alter actuality. Case in level: The younger lady visited by Pugh’s Nurse Lib Wright claims to have the ability to survive with out meals, however actually somebody could be spinning an unbelievable yarn.

Let’s rapidly run by means of the themes of The Wonder, what seems to be true within the story and why it opens and ends in such an odd method.

Warning: Spoilers forward.

What’s with that bizarre opening?

You might need been double-checking what film you’d placed on after that unusual starting to the interval drama. To the sounds of haunting choral voices, we see the semi-built construction of an old school two-storey home. The digicam pans by means of what seems to be so much in a movie studio, full of tools and different items of set. Then actor Niamh Algar says in voiceover: “Hello. This is the beginning. The beginning of a film called The Wonder. The people you’re about to meet, the characters, believe in their stories with complete devotion. We are nothing without stories, and so we invite you to believe in this one.”

The digicam then stops on the inside of a ship crusing to Ireland in 1862, the place the Great Famine “still casts a long shadow and the Irish hold England responsible for that devastation.” It zooms in on Florence Pugh, who performs English nurse Lib Wright, the principle character of the story.

Yep, it is all a tad pretentious. But it successfully units up the principle theme of the movie: the facility of perception. The complete purpose Nurse Wright is summoned by a self-appointed committee to Ireland is that many need to consider Anna O’Donnell has miraculously lived with out meals for 4 months. Nurse Wright is enlisted to look at the lady for 2 weeks to find out how she’s nonetheless alive.

This framing additionally units us up to pay attention to the transportive energy of storytelling — fairly rapidly you are immersed within the creaking, drippy, smokey world of the ship and Nurse Wright’s journey, a journey the narrator has invited us to consider in.

What does Nurse Wright drink each night time?

What’s actual and what is not can also be represented in Nurse Wright’s habit to what seems to be to be liquid opioids. Nurse Wright has suffered her justifiable share of tragedy — her child daughter died and her husband left her quickly after — and the night time cap could be a method of serving to her cope. Pricking her finger with blood might be a method of checking she’s nonetheless alive — or it might be a type of self-harm. Amid the stresses of her present job, the ritual appears to additional loosen Nurse Wright’s grip on actuality.

Is it true that Anna would not actually need to eat?

Not lengthy into Nurse Wright’s stick with the O’Donnell household, we see younger Anna’s mom lean in fairly near her daughter’s face whereas she’s in mattress. It both seems to be like a loving kiss on the brow or one thing extra disturbing. Nurse Wright quickly escalates her watch of the miracle affected person by insisting the O’Donnells now not come near Anna. From this level onward, Anna’s situation deteriorates quickly.

About two-thirds by means of the movie, after summoning the committee, Nurse Wright reveals her evaluation of the state of affairs: “Anna’s mother, Mrs. O’Donnell, has been passing her food from her own mouth. She cups her face and kisses her good morning and good night, and she feeds her daughter with each kiss, like a bird.” With Anna’s mom prevented from kissing Anna, Anna rapidly turns into in poor health, now not receiving any sustenance in any respect.

Why does Anna refuse to eat?

Even after Nurse Wright reveals her findings to the committee, Anna’s mom refuses to confess the reality. She and her husband are prepared to let the experiment proceed, even when Anna dies, refusing to surrender their non secular beliefs. In any case, Anna has “chosen” the trail to dying, believing that if she dies, “one soul will be released… from Hell.” Anna thinks this soul might be her brother, who molested her when she was 9 for years earlier than he died. He was “punished” for the “Unholy” act with lethal sickness, however their mom says he’ll be launched to Heaven with Anna’s sacrifice. Anna believes that is her obligation as a result of she beloved her brother again.

What’s with the narrator on the finish?

In the tip, Nurse Wright makes use of the facility of storytelling and perception to avoid wasting Anna. After discovering the horrifying narrative Anna’s mom has fed her, Nurse Wright convinces Anna of a distinct destiny: That she will die and make her sacrifice, but additionally be reborn as a 9-year-old once more who did not undergo horrible acts. Mixing the opioid liquid with milk, Nurse Wright induces Anna right into a trance-like state wherein she experiences rebirth, assuming the brand new identification of “Nan.”

Nurse Wright fakes a report of Anna dying so the committee do not press expenses in opposition to her and burns down the O’Donnell’s home so proof of a physique seems to be destroyed. Escaping Ireland, Nurse Wright, William and Nan safely make it to Australia, posing because the Cheshire household. There, we see them partake in a elaborate meal, with Nan proven to be consuming once more.

To the sound of extra hopeful, ethereal tones, the digicam pans and we return to the movie studio. There, we see Algar wearing all black, now not taking part in Anna’s older sister Kitty, however the mysterious narrator. She whispers: “In. Out. In. Out.” Again, pretentious, however this goes again to the thought of believing in tales and the facility of religion.