‘The Woman in the Window’ Ending, Explained

Published

The Woman in the Window is strongly bound together by the stellar performance of Amy Adams as Dr. Anna Fox. She suffers from agoraphobia. It’s the fear of going out in open spaces where an individual might experience a feeling of panic and anxiety. But sometimes it becomes more complex than that. In this case, Dr. Fox couldn’t step out of her house after the occurrence of an incident. She consults her psychologist on a regular basis. But still, there isn’t any progress. She often pries upon her neighbors as a pastime as she stays at home all time. But this time it has become more than that. She observes a family that had moved recently in the neighborhood. And one day she witnesses a terrible incident happening in their house. A Murder !!


Major spoilers – If you haven’t seen The Woman in the Window, please don’t scroll further.

Dr. Anna Fox and her Family

There was a growing rift between the spouses. They had decided that for once they would make a trip for their daughter and try to bear with each other for her sake. But that doesn’t happen. They enter into a disagreement and somehow Anna gets distracted. She loses control of her car and they fall off a cliff. The husband and the daughter don’t make it while Anna survives. Her mental health is really affected after this incident. She sometimes hallucinates that her husband and daughter are still alive and are not mentally capable of differentiating reality from imagination. 


The Murder 

A woman comes to Anna’s house whom she believes to be Jane Russell (Julian Moore). On a Halloween night, Anna gets scared by people knocking and throwing things at her door and this woman comes to her rescue out of nowhere. They sit and chat and have a good time together. She believes her to be the mother of Ethan Russell and wife of Alistair (Gary Oldman). One fine day she sees from her window that this woman is stabbed by somebody. Anna has every reason to believe that her husband Alaister killed her. She calls the police to find out that the reality is a bit convoluted. 


Who was the real Jane Rusell?

Julian Moore’s character was actually not Jane Rusell. Her name is Katie. The confusion arose because she said that she was the mother of Ethan which made Anna believe that she was Jane Russell i.e wife of Mr. Alistair Russell. 

She is actually the biological mother of Ethan. But Alistair left her after she gave birth. She was a drug addict and he knew that he couldn’t bring up his child in her presence. So he runs away without telling her their whereabouts. And then he marries this woman who is named Jane Rusell (Jenifer Jason Leigh). And that’s why the whole fiasco is created in the first place. 

The Woman in the Window Ending Explained 2021 Film
Netflix

The first Police Interrogation

When the police come for the first time they are convinced that Anna is mentally not stable. It is only because Anna persistently says that she saw Jane being killed while the real Jane Rusell was standing alive in front of them. Anna actually saw Katie meeting her end. But due to the confusion of name she makes a mockery of herself in front of the detectives. She herself starts believing that she is hallucinating stuff. 

But then a miracle happens. The night Katie came, Anna had clicked some pictures of her cat. In one of the pictures, she sees a reflection of Katie. It gives her proof that she was not hallucinating. 


Did David murder Katie?

David was Anna’s tenant. He did sleep with Katie. But then after a night or two abandoned her which made Katie lose her stability even more. Katie wanted to meet her son, Ethan which her ex-husband was not letting her do. She sought some emotional comfort in David. 

Even when the detectives come to Anna’s place he tells them that it was Katie with whom he spent the night. He was unaware that whom Anna is referring to as Jane Russell is actually Katie. The confusion of the name did not let the truth come out. David had nothing to do with Katie’s murder. 


The Curious Case of Ethan Rusell

Ethan seemed to be a sweet and innocent lad with some behavioral complexities. Anna thinks that he behaves in a psychologically deranged manner because his father abuses him and his mother. But that is not so. Ethan had killed his father’s secretary by pushing her from the sixth floor. After that, he had realized that there was a sort of pleasure in killing someone. When Katie, his biological mom had come looking for the Russel family, he had told her to go back. But when she didn’t listen he killed his mother.  Also, he thinks that due to David abandoning her, she became even more emotionally vulnerable. That’s why he killed David too. The film does not substantiate these actions of Ethan with some in-depth cause and leaves us to ponder over what we have seen. 


The Woman in the Window lacks the nitty-gritty of a good thriller and is unable to hold you. The actions are never backed by concrete reasoning which makes it a frivolous affair. The film is available on Netflix. 

For more Quality Content, Do visit Digital Mafia Talkies | DMT

- Advertisement -
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Sushrut Gopesh
Sushrut Gopesh
I came to Mumbai to bring characters to life. I like to dwell in the cinematic world and ponder over philosophical thoughts. I believe in the kind of cinema that not necessarily makes you laugh or cry but moves something inside you.

Must Read

DMT Guide

More Like This