‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ follows Ani Fanelli, who successfully puts on the facade of living an ideal life, but an incident from the past threatens to unravel her. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Ani Fanelli is a writer at The Women’s Bible in New York City, where she writes about how women can please men sexually. She aspires for better and is close to getting a role at The New York Times.
She is dating Luke Harrison, a rich man and is set to get married to him. Aaron Wickersham, an independent filmmaker, returns to take her interview for a documentary he is making on a school shooting in which many believe Ani was involved.
She has second thoughts about presenting her side when he tells her that Dean Barton, her former classmate and now an influential politician, has accepted his interview request to talk about the shooting.
Ani is pondering whether to take part in an MFA Program at Goldsmiths, University of London, or stay put for a job at The New York Times.
In a flashback, Ani, named TifAni at the time, enrols in the school and meets Dean, Liam Ross, Peyton Powell, Hilary Hutchinson, Arthur Finnerman and Ben Hunter.
She starts a relationship with Liam. During a school party, she sneaks out with Hilary to Dean’s house.
In the present day, Ani meets Andrew Larson, her former professor who is acquainted with some incidents of Tiffany’s past. She has a conversation with him, and he urges her not to continue remaining quiet about what happened to her.
Back in the past, Ani is raped thrice during the party at Dean’s house; first by Peyton, then by Liam and finally by Dean. She later reaches the store in a distressed state and is found by Mr. Larson.
Due to the events of the past resurfacing, Ani and Luke’s relationship is deteriorating as well. It is revealed that she is even unable to have regular intercourse with him due to past trauma.
In the past, after the events of the party, Liam acts as if Ani is completely wrong to claim that she was raped by him and his friends.
The principal, Mr. Mayer, asks her if she wants to report the sexual assault and Mr. Larson urges her to do the same. But she relents upon realising that they would need to contact her mother before approaching the police.
Mr Larson is fired for letting the girls leave the school party on the day of the incident, as Dean’s family is extremely influential.
Arthur tells Ani that it’s her fault for not speaking up. Dean and Peyton bullied Ben earlier and he didn’t take action, and he claims she is doing the same. He continues blaming her, and the two have an argument.
Ani accepts Aaron’s request for an interview and narrates the day of the shooting. She was next to Dean when the bomb first blew up.
As all of them ran and hid before the shooter showed his face; it was Ben. He quickly killed Hilary and Peyton, then left after hearing Arthur’s voice.
The survivors decided to escape and TifAni hid a knife with her. With the shooter following them, she opted not to leave the door open for Liam, who was killed as well.
Finally, TifAni and Dean were confronted by Arthur, who gave her a gun to shoot him dead for raping her. When she was unable to, he did it himself but was ambushed by her as she used the knife to stab him to death.
During the interview, she says that the expression on his face while dying was of shock, as he wondered why it was him that she killed instead of Dean.
After the shooting, Dean spun the narrative. He claimed that he refused to be Ani’s boyfriend, which is why she planned the shooting with Arthur and Ben. They all planned to kill themselves in the end, but only Ben did so.
Dean arrives at the studio uninvited, and Ani rushes out, setting up the film’s final part.
Luckiest Girl Alive ending explained in detail:
What does Ani decide for her future?
Earlier in the film, Ani had managed to get the job at The New York Times because of her boss, Lolo.
However, she now wants to move to London instead. She does want to tell her story, but not with the documentary. Instead, she has written an op-ed that she wants to pitch to The New York Times.
She asks Lolo for feedback, who is scathing in her assessment. She tells Ani to expose her true thoughts and not write such a sanitised version.
Does Dean accept his crime?
Ani has a confrontation with Dean during his book signing. He accepts that he made everything up and Ani wasn’t at fault.
He is willing to give the statement that she wasn’t involved in the shooting, but cannot accept the rape allegations as it would also ruin his family’s lives.
She goads him into accepting all his crimes and makes a recording of his entire confession. However, she does not leak it.
What happens between Ani and Luke?
Ani shows Luke the op-ed and he is furious about the level of detail she went into. He criticises her and wants their life to be back to what it used to be.
During the spat, Ani confesses that she had always just been using him. He was just the subject of her pent-up anger for the rapists and a good prospect to show off to the world.
Telling him that she now needs to live the way she wants to, without him or anybody else judging her, she ends their relationship.
What is Ani’s fate in the end?
Ani’s op-ed goes viral and gives many women the courage to speak out against their sexual abusers. She believes that the piece ended up achieving way more than she imagined. She has also accepted a job at The New York Times.
At the climax, a reporter for Bloomberg tells her that she will not be able to stand up against Dean, who has done a lot for the country.
Ani gives it back to her, by saying that she will only remember her as the person Ani insulted on the street. She struts away with the confidence that she can now speak her mind freely.
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