Last Night In Soho Ending & All Twists Explained

Last Night In Soho Ending & All Twists Explained

Last Night In Soho’s ending features some big reveals and surprise twists to bring Edgar Wright’s 2021 movie and the story of Ellie to a close.

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Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Last Night In Soho.

Edgar Wright’s Last Night In Soho’s ending has some big twists and surprise identity reveals that work to tie together his era-spanning psychological thriller. Last Night In Soho marks Wright’s first feature film since 2017’s Baby Driver (with his documentary The Sparks Brothers releasing earlier in 2021), and it marks what is perhaps the director’s most ambitious movie to date. Centering on Thomasin McKenzie’s Eloise “Ellie” Turner, the film melds together the present day with 1960s London, with dreamlike visions that give way to a nightmare reality.

Wright has worked to keep Last Night In Soho suitably mysterious and secretive through its marketing campaign, and it’s easy to see why. Aside from the movie’s core narrative device – that Ellie has visions of dead people – there are a lot of twists and turns as the movie has Ellie sink deeper into the past, and sees that world cross over into the present. While Ellie is originally taken with singer Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) and longs to escape reality to follow her adventures, she uncovers the darker truth, with Sandie forced into sex work and abused by countless men, with Ellie having visions of the night she was ostensibly murdered in the same room she now lives in.

Last Night In Soho’s ending, then, becomes a desperate fight to get justice for Sandie, with Ellie believing her killer still out there, and more specifically in the form of an old patron at the bar she works at, played by Terrence Stamp. Except, of course, it isn’t so simple. Last Night In Soho attempts to tie all of its strands and timelines together and pull off some big reveals, which tie into its core themes even if it’s not wholly successful.

How Do Ellie’s Visions In Last Night In Soho Work?

From the very beginning of Last Night In Soho, it’s established that Ellie possesses one very notable ability: that she can see what seems to be visions of dead people. At first, the movie presents this as though Ellie only has visions of her mother, who took her own life several years before the events of the movie, but it’s also clear this is something that’s been happening for a long time (perhaps since her mother died). When Ellie moves to London, though, it becomes apparent this extends beyond just her mother, as she begins to have visions of the 1960s and the singer Sandie, which then increasingly take over her reality. Ellie’s grandmother refers to these visions as a “gift,” suggesting some kind of supernatural power. Last Night In Soho, its ending in particular, suggests otherwise. It’s mentioned a few times that Ellie’s mother had schizophrenia; Ellie herself is not diagnosed with any specific mental illness, but the movie does suggest she is experiencing some kind of psychosis, which can include hallucinations.

Last Night In Soho doesn’t delve too deeply into Ellie’s mental state or why she sees certain people, but she did suffer a great trauma at a young age and that is still with her now. Her being in the bedsit where so many terrible things happens then only adds to this, with a sense of the supernatural still there – when it’s revealed the dead bodies chasing Ellie around were men killed by Sandie, then it implies they were trying to make her see what happened. Either way, Ellie clearly has some kind of connection to the dead, particularly if there is a strong link to them – whether that’s her actual relative, or the sense of sound and place that so strongly ties her to Sandie and why she becomes more susceptible to having these visions. As Ellie herself struggles in the real world and longs to break away from her struggles at university, then the visions initially offer a sense of escapism, meaning she welcomes them and wills them on, and is then unable to stop them later when things turn because it’s too far gone.

Last Night In Soho’s Twist Explained: Mrs. Collins Is Sandie

The big twist of Last Night In Soho’s ending comes with its major identity reveal: that Ellie’s landlady, Mrs. Collins, is actually Sandie. Whereas Ellie believed the visions she had were of Sandie being killed in the bedroom she now lives, that wasn’t quite what happened. As Sandie/Mrs. Collins explains, she did die then, but in a figurative sense, as the abuses she survived stripped away her identity bit by bit. This refers to how she coped, essentially shutting down and closing herself off from the pain, and also how she ended up leaving Sandie before, killing that persona and forging ahead with a new path in the hope of leaving the past behind with her.

While Sandie died in a more metaphorical sense, there were countless murders in that bedroom: all of the men who paid for sex with Sandie, those who abused her, she killed, and seemingly buried within the walls and beneath the floorboards. To that end, it meant Sandie was always living with Mrs. Collins; her return at the end was perhaps inevitable, because she never truly left the past behind, only covered it up. It’s a twist that flips the script on all of Last Night In Soho up to that point, re-framing Ellie’s visions and actions, explaining why there were no records of a murder at the address, and complicating Sandie’s own story, turning her from victim to survivor, but always vengeful murderer.

Why Sandie Tries To Kill Ellie (& Lets Herself Die) In Last Night In Soho’s Ending

The Sandie/Mrs. Collins identity twist in Last Night In Soho’s ending is combined with another surprise turn, as she then attempts to kill Ellie for dragging up the past and involving the police. This does fit with Sandie’s actions up to a point, as she has shown before she is willing to kill when necessary, but it is also something of a dramatic leap given there’s little to link Mrs. Collins to Sandie or the murders (of which no one seems to know about anyway), but as with Ellie it seems Last Night In Soho wants to show violent trauma remaining for Sandie that she has not overcome. It’s possible that Mrs. Collins tries to kill Ellie simply because she doesn’t wish to go to prison, but given her age and how big a step that is, it’s also plausible that it’s really because of the risk this poses to her mental wellbeing and the past she has worked to escape.

Ellie ultimately survives, and so too does John (Michael Ajao), whom Sandie stabs in her desperate attempt to cover her tracks and avoid her secret getting out. Ultimately, Sandie has been living with ghosts for too long for it to be any other way; she is trapped inside of that place, and that’s why her instinct, to kill those she sees as a threat, kicks in. It’s also why she tries to take her own life, and then stays in the burning building: the movie suggests a warped sense of her believing she deserves it, and that she wants to repent (as noted by her line that she “never wanted” any of this), but it is also, perhaps, a chance for her to finally lay those ghosts to rest and find peace.

All The Clues To Last Night In Soho’s Sandie Identity Twist

The Last Night In Soho’s ending twist is designed as a big reveal, but the movie does offer a lot of clues for viewers along the way that hint to Mrs. Collins’ true identity as Sandie. These are evident from the moment Ellie first visits the bedsit: Mrs. Collins informs her of a no men rule, which initially is seen as her trying to look out for Ellie (and it is), but in hindsight there’s a much clearer reason as to why she has such a specific rule in place. Even the casting itself feels like a hint: the late, great Diana Rigg is not only the end of presence who demands a meatier role than mere landlady, but is herself an icon of the 1960s and so perfectly fits with the idea of who Sandie was (or at least, hoped to be).

There are other ties to the 1960s as well: Mrs. Collins pointedly calls out the music Ellie listens to her being of her time; she notes that she hasn’t changed the room since the 60s. Similarly, Mrs. Collins mentions that lots of girls have come and gone, has the same ballerina statue as Sandie, and warns Ellie about covering up the bad smell, and even says she would have killed John if she’d caught him, after the scene where she believed he was attacking Ellie. Individually, they aren’t necessarily remarkable, but taken as a whole then it’s clear just how much Last Night In Soho was guiding viewers to the ending twist.

Last Night In Soho’s Other Identity Twist: The Old Man Isn’t Jack

Of course, the Sandie reveal isn’t the only identity twist in Last Night In Soho’s ending, as there’s also the old man Ellie keeps running into at the bar (Stamp). Ellie firmly believes him to be Jack, but after his death he is revealed to be Lindsay, a police officer in the vice squad who was aware of Sandie and even briefly met her in the 1960s (he appears earlier in the movie, played by Sam Clafin). This twist again makes some sense: there’d be no sign of Clafin in the movie’s marketing, so that he appears in what initially seems such a small role is a clue to the twist itself, and he looks more like Stamp than Matt Smith. One identity twist feeds into the other – if the old man isn’t Jack as believed, then it begs the question of what happened to him, which sets up the reveal of Jack’s death and Sandie still being alive. Lindsay’s interest in Ellie is still a little muddled; he does present himself as a womanizer and his actions are questionable, but he also perhaps knows the dangers she’s headed into. Lindsay’s death in Last Night In Soho’s ending is also foreshadowed: Ellie is almost hit by cabs on two occasions, and then he is hit and killed by one.

Why Sandie Re-appears To Ellie In Last Night In Soho’s Ending

Even though Mrs. Collins dies in Last Night in Soho’s ending, it isn’t the last time viewers see Sandie. The film skips ahead to the end of her first year at university, where she’s presenting her finished design at a fashion show. Ellie’s work is still very much influenced by the ’60s and by Sandie, and in the final moments of the movie, Sandie appears to Ellie in the mirror. This is the idealized version of the character, the singer with a head full of dreams and a star on the rise. In one sense, this can be seen as Ellie showing forgiveness to Sandie, that she understands what she did and why. But it also ties into the idea of either holding on to or being unable to escape the past, which is a more dangerous warning for Ellie; it suggests she hasn’t yet found a balance between past and present, or that she is able to let go of Sandie, and that nostalgia remains in her life.

What Last Night In Soho’s Ending Really Means

The return of Sandie in the mirror in Last Night In Soho’s ending fits with one of the movie’s core themes, which is the danger of living in or holding on to the past, and that the obsession with nostalgia isn’t necessarily a good thing. The way Sandie appears to Ellie is her being giving a glossy sheen, which is how the past is often remembered: the bad bits are forgotten about or kept out of focus, and instead imagery and iconography conjures up a strong sense of feeling and longing for a perfect place and time that never truly existed. This is true of Ellie’s arc in the whole movie, from her move to London in the first place and the realities of what the big city and university life is really like, to the dark underbelly of the 1960s dreamworld she envisages. Much like Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy movies dealt with perpetual adolescence, Last Night In Soho is about how people reflect upon the past and don’t learn from it or grow away from it, and just how dangerous that can be.

There is also a sense of Last Night In Soho attempting to address issues of toxic masculinity, sexist behavior, and abuses of women (including in the sex work industry), both in the past and present. This can be seen in the film’s presentation of Jack, a sneering, leering man who serves as the movie’s de facto villain, and in the likes of the old man at The Toucan (prior to his reveal) and the cab driver’s inappropriate comments towards Ellie. Given much of the movie is based around Soho night life and the culture of going out and drinking, then it’s easy to see Wright and co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns trying to examine the inherent misogyny within that specifically, and society more broadly, but whether it works is another matter.

Why Last Night In Soho’s Ending Is Divisive (Does It Work?)

Last Night In Soho’s efforts are largely admirable and there’s no reason to believe its intentions are anything but good, but that doesn’t mean the ending ultimately works. Last Night In Soho is Wright’s most divisive movie, and much of that is because of its third act and its handling of sensitive issues. As mentioned, the film never takes the time to explore issues around mental health quite enough despite the plot necessitating it, but it runs into bigger issues as it looks to keep unfolding the surprise twists and maintain the sense of suspense. In particular, the reveal that Sandie killed all of those men, then her attempts to kill Ellie and John, undercut some of the aforementioned themes. In isolation, it might have worked better, but it’s worse when the dead bodies of her victims – but also, it shouldn’t be forgotten, her abusers – will Ellie on to avenge their deaths. The movie flips the script a bit too much in turning Sandie into a villain, muddling its messages completely.

The same can also be said for John’s storyline, in which he is caught up in an incident where it’s made to sound as though he is abusing Ellie, but in truth is anything but. That this is a black character who has to run away before the police come and who could potentially have been accused of rape is a problematic choice, and unfortunately the movie never reckons with that decision; instead, John forgives Ellie to fulfill his role as the romantic lead and the one good guy she can trust, but quite why he trusts in her still isn’t really shown. Other logic issues arise too – Ellie comes within an inch of stabbing, perhaps fatally, Jacosta (Synnøve Karlsen), yet again it’s not really addressed. As Last Night In Soho’s ending has to shift away from its time-jumping narrative and fully bring the past into the present to give answers, there’s a sense of the movie slipping away from Wright’s grasp much like reality does Ellie’s. That doesn’t make the film bad – for two thirds, it’s captivating and thrilling – but it’s not hard to see why the ending is divisive at best.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/last-night-soho-ending-explained-sandie-identity-meaning/

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