Goodnight Mommy is a psychological horror film following twin brothers who believe her mother has been switched by an imposter after surgery. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Lucas and Elias are twin brothers, and their father takes them to live with their mother for a while. The parents’ relationship appears to be estranged.
When they arrive, their mother’s face is covered in a bandaged mask, and she informs them that she had minor cosmetic surgery to tune up her appearance as she ages. She requests that they keep this a secret. The twins are clearly taken aback.
From photos in the house, one can understand that she used to be a big star or celebrity.
She also establishes certain house rules for the boys like no running around or shouting and not inviting anyone on playdates or the like. She also states that her room, office and barn are off-limits.
The kids feel bad to see specific changes in her behaviour and can sense that something is different. She lashes out at Elias one day and becomes violent when she sees him in the barn. The twins become suspicious of her and start listening in on her conversations.
Exhibiting behaviour unlike their mom, they suspect she is an imposter. They also notice how her eye colour is different from their mother’s. She also takes away their phone and destroys it.
Elias tries to find out more about her and tries to see what’s beneath her mask but she wakes up and warns him to respect her. Elias then confronts her and claims that she is not their mother. She becomes defensive and slaps him and forces him to say that she is her mother.
The boys decide to escape from her and spend the night at an abandoned place. Elias also has recurring nightmares about the imposter. A police officer finds them. They tell them the truth but the police do not believe them and drop them back at their house.
The apparent mother, now unmasked, pretends to care for the boys and acts worried in front of the police to fool them. She lies about Elias’s lip wound which actually happened when she slapped him. She also put up a sob story to convince the police.
Instead of running away, Elias decides that they need to find their real mom now in order to put an end to all this.
She visits the boys’ room when the police leave and tells them that she is not going anywhere and that the boys will have to love her someday.
Goodnight Mommy ending explained in detail:
How do the boys fight back?
After leaving the room, she goes into her room and wipes her make-up as she cries to herself. She has a rough skin texture and signs of ageing which she hid with make-up.
The boys use bandages and tape to bind the woman to the bed and refuse to let her go until she tells them where their actual mother is. The woman insists on being their mother.
They confront her with evidence about how their mother would never throw away their drawings and even about the colour of her eyes. She tells them she wears contacts during photoshoots and the boys were too young to remember that. They can check her purse for the same.
Lukas urges Elias to run away to their dad but Elias has reservations. He is confused about what to believe but Lukas convinces him to leave. He tells Elias how she also lied about contacts in her purse as they weren’t any when he checked.
Before leaving he visits her where she tells him she has not been herself but she will be better for them.
Do the boys leave her and run away?
She is about to convince Elias with her words to untie her but Lukas enters and stops him. He decides to tape her mouth so she won’t be able to lie with her words and confuse them.
Just when they are leaving, the police arrive to check up on the family. The police ask them about their mom but the boys tell them that she is out. One of them is suspicious and asks Elias to tell her if something is wrong but he says everything is fine and they leave, informing the boys they’ll be back later in the night.
Just as the boys are about to leave, Elias goes back to the house one more time and finds the contact lenses in her purse.
What is the truth?
Seeing her lenses makes Elias realise she was telling the truth and she is their mother but instead Lukas is the one who lied. As Elias runs away to untie her, Lukas follows and stops him.
Elias is able to untie her and cries in her arms while apologising to his mother. She accepts and takes him somewhere. Lukas is nowhere to be seen.
She takes Elias to the barn and urges him to look at a wooden pillar there. He cries and denies but she pleads with him that he has to face the truth now and accept what is real. She tells him that he did not mean to hurt him but it happened to imply Lukas died in an accident and is now only a figment of Elias’ imagination. He is unable to accept his demise causing him to hallucinate Lukas.
She tells him they need to start over but he is unable to take it all in. He tells her to stop and pushes her. She is holding a lantern and this causes the barn to be burned down with the mother in it and dying as Elias runs away.
As he comes out in the field crying, he sees his mother and Lukas. In truth, he is only hallucinating them.
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