The ending of the film Smile explained. With a truly chilling atmosphere and some of the best horror stories of 2022, Smile is coming to the screens to blow the minds of horror lovers just in time for the start of the scary season. Writer-director Parker Finn's directorial debut is shaping up to be one of the horror hits of the year thanks to a strong script that plays with classic horror tropes while adding something new. And all this thanks to the unique evil essence of the Smile - a manifestation of trauma that jumps from person to person in search of new victims.
Since Smile's villain is able to alter the perceptions of his victims and make them see people and places that aren't actually there, the ending of the film can be somewhat puzzling upon first viewing. Indeed, during the final duel with the entity, the mind of Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) is so fragile from the constant attacks of an evil force that it is difficult for her to distinguish reality from hallucinations. That's why we've put together a handy explanatory material that will tell you everything that happened at the end of Smile, as well as explain the rules by which the film's dark entity operates.
The essence of "Smile" explained
Smile follows Dr. Rose Cotter, a psychiatrist who begins to suffer from chilling visions after witnessing the grisly suicide of her patient Laura (Caitlin Stacy). Before cutting her throat with a piece of a flower vase, Laura told Dr. Cotter that an evil entity followed her everywhere she went. And when the psychiatrist began to suffer from similar hallucinations, Rose decided to find out what was really going on.
As it turns out, Rose is cursed with trauma, which in Smile is represented by a shapeshifter who frightens her victims until their minds are destroyed. When they are so traumatized that they can no longer resist the entity's influence, the evil spirit takes over their bodies and forces the host to graphically take their own life in front of another person. The witness, traumatized by the event, becomes the entity's new target. Thus, the dark spirit continues to live as long as it has people who spread their trauma, affecting the mental health of others in an endless chain. Although suicide seems inevitable, there is another way to break free from this chain and survive the creature's attack. And this is to choose a scar in the mind of another person of your own free will.
While investigating the entity, Rose contacts Robert (Rob Morgan), the only human survivor of the traumatic curse. Robert is in prison for killing a woman in the most horrific way he could think of, in front of an innocent bystander. Smiles' creature, satisfied with Robert's sacrifice, instead of killing its current host, jumps to a new witness. So Rose has only two options: wait for the creature to possess her and kill her, or kill another person. But instead, Rose decides to lock herself in an isolated house and deal with her trauma once and for all.
Dr. Rose Cotter is an easy target because she's already living with trauma.
Rose is such a tasty dish for the Smile entity because she has already suffered a lot of trauma before watching her patient die. When she was ten years old, Dr. Cotter watched her mother (Dora Kiss) commit suicide by mixing pills with alcohol. This event influenced the psychiatrist's entire life, and she chose a career in which she could help other people suffering from mental disorders.
When Rose decides to face her trauma, she locks herself in the house where she watched her mother die, now falling apart after being abandoned for decades. There, the evil entity Smile takes the form of Rose's mother and forces her to relive the moment that determined her fate. As it turns out, Rose found her mother while she was still alive. However, instead of calling for help, Rose ran away, dooming her mother to a lonely death. This is why Rose carries so much guilt and drives herself to the point of exhaustion trying to support her patients.
Although Rose was responsible for her mother's death, she was only ten years old at the time and lived in constant fear due to her erratic behavior. Now that she understands the human mind, Rose knows her mother needed help. However, she can no longer blame herself for a decision made out of fear. Rose decides to let go of her trauma and forgive herself, believing that this will weaken the entity that is haunting her. Instead, the spirit reacts by turning her mother into a giant and deformed monster. But Rose decides to fight back, knowing that the trauma lives only in her head. In the final confrontation, Rose gains the upper hand and destroys the creature once and for all.
The final scenes of the film Smile show that as long as there is trauma, the entity wins
The first thing Rose does after ending the entity's curse is visit her ex-boyfriend Joel (Kyle Gallner), the cop who has been helping her all along. Rose explains to Joel that she broke up with him because she felt vulnerable around him and didn't want anyone to get too close after what she did to her mother. However, now that she has forgiven herself, she is also ready to apologize and acknowledge the pain she caused Joel. Rose's curse put her through hell, but at least the experience forced her to face her past and heal old wounds. Or did it force you?
Just when Rose thinks she has gotten rid of the entity, Joel begins to smile. The world around Rose disappears, and the psychiatrist realizes that she never left her mother's old house. The creature tormented her one last time before taking over her body.
The creature invades Rose's consciousness just as the real Joel arrives at the house, wanting to save his former friend. However, instead of rekindling their love, Joel's arrival allows the creature to kill Rose while there is a witness, to set off the chain of curses further. So the creature uses Rose's body to pour gasoline on the psychiatrist and light a match just as Joel walks in the door. Rose's body smiles as she burns, and we see in Joel's eyes that he will be scarred for life by this disturbing suicide. However, Joel's life will not last long, because now he is the next victim of the entity. In the end, there is no escape from injury.
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