Elena Knows is an Argentine thriller focusing on a 65-year-old woman named Elena, who battles Parkinson’s disease. Despite her condition, she is resolute in investigating the mysterious death of her daughter, Rita. The authorities have ruled Rita’s death as a suicide, but Elena suspects there’s more to the story. This gripping narrative is now available for streaming on Netflix.
Plot summary
The film begins with Elena struggling to navigate through a bustling train station crowd, using only an umbrella for support due to her slouched back and limping caused by Parkinson’s disease.
Back home, Rita, her daughter, wraps up her chores to take Elena to a salon. Despite her protests, seeing no point in getting groomed, Rita plans to get her mother dolled up.
Rita’s frustration with her mother’s lack of cooperation leads to her breaking down and crying in her room, feeling defeated. Seeing her daughter in distress, Elena agrees to go to the salon.
Upon arrival at the salon, Rita leaves her mother with Mimi, the owner, and Rita’s friend. By day’s end, Elena waits by the door, fully groomed, for Rita to take her home.
When Rita doesn’t appear, Mimi and her boyfriend offer to take Elena home. There, a police officer informs the old lady of Rita’s death, found at the church.
Elena, prideful and often refusing unsolicited help, has always admired Rita for her care, yet failed to see through the facade Rita maintained under the guise of responsibility.
This reveals that Elena, thinking she knows everything, fails to truly understand her daughter.
The film follows Elena as she investigates her suspects, including the priest from Rita’s church and a student who tormented Rita at the school where she taught.
Elena decides to seek answers from Rita’s childhood friend while vigilantly watching her suspects and delving deeper into the mystery.
Elena Knows ending explained in detail:
Who are the suspects?
Throughout the movie, the old lady is seen firing random shots into the sky, seemingly without a solid reason. However, she recounts an anecdote from her past related to each person she suspects of murdering Rita.
Rita, a schoolteacher, lived a life that was simple yet complicated. She was married to Pablo, who had a soft spot for her mother. Pablo continues to assist Elena with her daily tasks even after Rita’s death.
One of the first things Elena learns about her daughter posthumously is that Pablo and Rita had separated two weeks before Rita’s death, highlighting how little she knew about her daughter’s personal life.
Father Juan, a figure close to Rita since her youth, met her at the church she frequented. The old lady harbors a dislike for Father Juan, asserting that he smiles excessively for a priest. She firmly believes that he took advantage of Rita and ultimately killed her.
Furthermore, one of Rita’s students, from a wealthy and influential family, was a source of stress for her due to her bullying behavior at school.
Elena vividly remembers this and tries to confront the student and other children at the school. Her actions result in the police instructing her to stay away from the school.
How was Elena’s relationship with Rita?
As the film delves into The old lady’s past, her dogmatic personality becomes evident. She is shown to be unwilling to see things from any perspective other than her own.
There are numerous instances where Rita pleads with her mother to understand her desires and let her pursue her interests, but Elena always dismisses her, believing she knows best.
Her loneliness makes Rita her sole companion. This is also why she disapproves of Rita’s friendship with Isabel and her relationship with Pablo.
The repercussions of their strained relationship spill into Isabel’s life. She becomes pregnant while still in school and wishes to have an abortion.
Lacking support, she is forced to return home and keep the baby. The film hints that Elena might have orchestrated this to distance Isabel.
Rita regularly endures her mother projecting her fears and dislikes onto her. This is exemplified by The old lady’s refusal to let Rita keep a cat, stemming from her aversion to the animal.
All this underscores the fact that the troubled woman’s self-centered world leaves no space for Rita’s interests, desires, or even aversions.
Who killed Rita?
The film reveals that Rita’s death was indeed a suicide, not a murder, during Elena’s visit to Rita’s old friend Isabel.
Elena is portrayed confronting her own beliefs while searching for a culprit she is convinced exists. This revelation is visceral and cathartic, yet it is a difficult truth for her to accept: her daughter died due to the immense pressure of caring for her mother.
She was oblivious to the fact that Rita had been seeing a psychiatrist for depression for a long time.
Finally, she comes to terms with the reality that her daughter was so disturbed she ended her life in the rain, at a place where she often sought solace.
In the end, it is clear that Elena never truly understood her daughter.
The film concludes with her breaking her habitual patterns, petting Isabel’s cat, showing openness to change, and walking alone in the rain without an umbrella, living with the memories of her daughter.
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