Resurrection Ending Explained (Spoilers)

Margaret's life is in order. She is capable, disciplined, and successful. Everything is under control. That is, until David returns, carrying with him the horrors of Margaret's past.

Resurrection: Spoilers Below

In Ressurection, we enter Margaret, a biotech executive, as she lives an everyday life with her 17-year-old daughter, Abbie. Margaret is very protective, which shows that something terrible happened to her in the past. Although her frequent requests for Abbie to keep in touch may stem from sincere love, they can become overbearing. This is especially apparent when Margaret and Abbie shop and the mysterious David keeps appearing outside her work. Margaret was only 19 when she became involved with the much older David. However, the rules she has followed for the past 22 years have helped her stay away from David's control and manipulation.

It's not enough. Margaret's strength rapidly diminishes when David reappears. "I just feel a bit unwell," she says as she hears imaginary knocking on her apartment doors, imagines a cooked but still living baby in her oven, and limits Abbie's time outside their home. A skeptical viewer might think that the characters are overreacting until Margaret has her first interaction with David. This interaction suggests that David has a history of manipulating people and that they have suffered the death of their newborn son, Benjamin.

The actual fate of Ben is the crucial enigma at the heart of the film, and Semans offers a few possible interpretations. According to Margaret, David tried to convince her to have an abortion, but when she decided to keep the baby and loved him more than David, he murdered the child while she was away on an errand. Two of Ben's fingers were on the counter. That was all that remained, Hall says in a lengthy speech that perfectly conveys her acting style, as seen in the 2020s The Night House. In the film's only, and welcome, humorous moment, this speech is delivered to an intern at Margaret's work who did not need to know this about her boss. David's story is more unsettling and inexplicable: he says that Margaret abandoned Ben, so he kept their son safe by putting him in his stomach. "Ben is with me right now, here," David tells Margaret while pointing to his torso. He claims to hear Ben crying for his mother and feel him reaching for her. "I did a good job. He's here, thanks to my goodwill," David says. In the second half of Resurrection, he forces Margaret to do some of the same things he made her do in their previous relationship - like endurance tests and stress positions - in exchange for his keeping Ben safe.

This psychological manipulation works on Margaret because she's been conditioned to believe it, right? Ben isn't alive inside that man's stomach, is he? As Margaret begins to unravel, she inadvertently pushes Abbie away. This is despite Margaret's vow to keep Abbie safe and referring to her as one of her "children." This is all part of David's plan so that Margaret will belong to him and only him. Roth is most horrifying when he casually speaks the language of domestic abuse. This includes threatening Ben, blaming Margaret, and attacking her core identity. This culminates when David invites Margaret to a hotel room so she can finally be with Ben because "nothing will heal you, nothing except him." The dreary atmosphere of that darkly lit, uninviting hotel room starkly contrasts the hostility between the former lovers.

The last scene before the climax of "Resurrection" turns to literalism, which sharply contrasts the uncertain reality established earlier. This change is very effective. In the shot, David invites Margaret to touch his stomach. At first, Margaret is horrified at what she feels, but then she breaks down into sobs, calling him "my baby." As Semans watches, Margaret's grief turns to anger, and she attacks David with knives. They struggle, and Margaret quickly gains the advantage, tying David up and slicing open his stomach to pull out his intestines. Blood stains the hotel sheets and carpet. As Margaret rummages inside David's stomach, we finally confirm whether David was telling the truth: A baby's face peeks out from the guts. "It's good to see you again. I saved you," Margaret says as she lifts out infant Ben and calms his cries. What "Resurrection" affirms is the experience of this present moment. There's no wispy, otherworldly music from composer Jim Williams to make us question Margaret's state of mind, and no false-alarm, not-really-dead scene from David. Ben returns to life, and he and Margaret are reunited--her madness was a strength, not a weakness.

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