Fractured Ending Explained
Fractured is a suspense thriller that seems to draw inspiration from a popular horror trope/urban legend known as "The Vanishing Lady" or "The Vanishing Hotel Room." In most versions of that story, a mother and her daughter are travelling abroad when the mother suddenly takes ill. The daughter either ventures out in search of medicine or leaves her mother to rest for the night, only to return and find absolutely no trace of her mother. It's as if the mother never existed. The daughter is ultimately driven mad by her fruitless attempts to convince authorities her mother existed and has gone missing. In some versions of the story, the mother's disappearance happens because she contracts a deadly plague. The authorities are determined to prevent an outbreak at all costs, even if it means burying all traces of the woman's existence.Similarly, Fractured focuses on a couple named Ray (Sam Worthington) and Joanne (Lily Rabe) who bring their daughter Peri (Lucy Capri) to a remote hospital after she's injured in a fall. Ray leaves Joanne and Peri in the hospital's care in search of a motel room, only to wake up disoriented in the waiting room and be told his family doesn't exist. According to the nurses and doctors, Ray came to the hospital alone seeking treatment for a head wound. Ray embarks on an increasingly desperate quest to find his missing wife and daughter, first involving the police and then eventually arming himself and sneaking into the hospital's basement. There he finds doctors harvesting organs from patients. He kills several doctors and manages to escape with his family.
However, Fractured's ending is anything but a happy one. The movie regularly hints that Ray may not be an entirely trustworthy narrator, referencing his struggles with alcoholism and the tragic end of his first marriage. As Ray drives away from the hospital and admires his wife and daughter in the rear-view mirror, the image shifts to reveal a random, comatose hospital patient in their place. As we learn, Ray has been hallucinating throughout the movie. His wife and daughter both died when they fell into an open construction site. Ray was so traumatized by their deaths he concocted a false reality where he became a heroic protector instead of a negligent parent. The movie ends with Ray driving off into the sunrise, leaving viewers to wonder if he'll ever snap out of his psychotic break and be brought to justice.
Check out the video below to find out what other movies are new to Netflix this month:
Fractured: Reality vs. Fantasy
The ending leaves some room for interpretation, as it's unclear whether Ray is starting to see through his own mental deception and realize what he's done. The final shot shows Ray's blissful grin hardening into a grimace, suggesting he's experiencing a harsh dose of reality.According to Anderson, that ambiguity is very intentional. He told Fresh Fiction, "The last frame of the movie is a close up of Ray’s face after he’s just sung a song to his child in the backseat and his wife. It’s a sense of accomplishment and being a hero. ‘I did it! I saved them from the bad guys at the hospital.’ But then we kept it rolling, and in the last frames, you start to see his face fall, like it just dawned on him. That wasn’t in the script. In the script, it ends with, ‘Ray drives off into the sunset with his family.’ But I wanted to add a little of... ambiguity for his character.”
Anderson continued, "Depending on how bleak of an outlook you have on things, you can say better that he live in self-delusion, which is better than him living in reality. We all do that to a certain degree in our lives. We don’t want to face harsh realities. We just want to gloss them over and put them aside. Maybe there’s a little bit of that going on here. I find the ending to be sad and tragic, but it’s also poignant, too. He’s just a guy that wants to be a good dad."
That final shot can be compared to the iconic ending of Christopher Nolan's Inception, which ends with Leonardo DiCaprio's Cobb spinning his top but leaving the room before it reveals to him whether he's in a dream or the real world. That movie leaves it up to the viewer to decide the answer. The top wobbles, but we never see it stop spinning. Similarly, Ray shows signs his false reality is crumbling, but we never know for sure whether he'll come to his senses or continue living in his dream world.
Fractured: Twitter Reacts
Needless to say, many Netflix subscribers are shaken up by Fractured's twist ending. Here's a sampling of the reactions on Twitter:#fracturednetflix ending pic.twitter.com/rr05VGEEEy
— Roams (@ItsRomii) October 13, 2019
Nah everyone needs to watch “fractured” on Netflix bc woooow that ending has left me shook— large head (@_fadssss) October 11, 2019
If you’re looking to have some sort of psychological turbulence this night, watch #fractured on Netflix!— Stephanie (@stefaniieo) October 11, 2019
Me rooting for Ray just before the last two scenes of #FracturedNetflix pic.twitter.com/579WO5xweY
— The Obumnenye (@The_Nenye) October 14, 2019
Literally me with the dad from fractured #fracturednetflix pic.twitter.com/NVAsdOGDYc
— Kim (@kimberlymich) October 13, 2019
For more Netflix horror goodness, see what's new to Netflix for October, and check out the best horror movies currently available on Netflix.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.