Comments on: The Ending of Kristen Stewart’s Personal Shopper Movie Explained

By: Sara Collier-Byrd

Sara Collier-Byrd — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 17:20:36 +0000

Maureen is not dead – she even drinks water in the cafe with her brother’s partner later in the film. She drinks many times throughout the film, so I don’t believe it’s of significance when she is shown with beverages that she doesn’t imbibe on screen.

It’s difficult to notice, but at the hotel she enters room 330 which is next to 329. When she hears the door next to her open, she is clearly anxious because she realizes how close she is to the murderer, but this is not the sound of her door opening in room 330. She’s there to watch him leave the room so that she can place the Cartier bags in the murderer’s room (329), for which she has a keycard. Upon rewatching you will notice that there is a specific shot framing the two doors side by side.

The ghost that leaves the hotel? Well, as we have seen elsewhere in the film, “ghosts” are all around Maureen and apparently everyone else. We have no proof that any of the entities shown in the film are Lewis (or Kyra). We have no actual proof in the film that the entities are the spirits of people that have passed away. The entities that we encounter in the film are impossible to fully identify. Just as Ingo toyed with her through her phone, we possibly see an entity toying with her at the end of the film through a different method of communication. She does decide that this entity is not Lewis, but in reality we can never be certain that the sounds she believes are in response to her questions are meaningful at all. Much in the film is shown to be significant or insignificant without anyone being aware.

At the end of the film, when Stewart breaks the fourth wall, she is meeting the eyes of the viewer – we, the audience, are also playing the role of a ghost, closer to death than we can ever know, following her and spying on her private moments, witnessing her fear.

By: vada l. howell

vada l. howell — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 06:16:38 +0000

Honestly, I loved the blog- and I loved the movie it’s very nostalgic to me I don’t know what more to say then I would honestly rate the movie a 3.5 to a solid 4 star review.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 04:45:54 +0000

I loved this film. The theory that Maureen was dead towards the end of the story is an interesting one. One detail that makes me suspect she might have been dead– did anyone notice that while in Paris and London she dressed in all dark colors- grays and blacks. And then at the end as she travels to Oman, she’s wearing all white? For me that was a shock. As for all the theories- I’m sure it was Ingo text-stalking her. When they first met in Kyra’s apartment he took a really intense interest in her. I’m pretty sure all the commotion in Kyra’s apartment after the murder was Kyra’s spirit raging around. As for the 2nd hotel, no we never did see Maureen leave. The last we saw was her at the bed, dumping the Cartier boxes and looking up when she heard the door open. Who passed through the elevator and glass doors? I love that we’ll never know….I am most unsettled by the conversation Maureen had with the new boyfriend in the yard. He said the most odd things. Remember when he changes subject and says something about the dead protecting the living? For me that was a red flag. Also, he spoke to her so intimately for having just met her. I think that was super strange and worth noting. My theory is that he was channeling Lewis: that was actually Lewis speaking to her, hinting (not so subtly) that he was there. As for the apparition who dropped the glass….most likely it was Lewis but we can never be sure because we don’t know what he looks like. I read several of the first comments back in 2017 and I loved the person who remarked on all the open doors. I noticed that too- such strong symbolism and obviously important to the story- thats all Maureen does in the first 10-15 minutes of the movie is walk around the house in the dark and open up doors that are pretty hard to get open. The jarring sound of each door punctuates the silence of the film. I thought it was really emotionally effective. As for the ending, my mind is still working hard on that one. It may speak to the power of grief and the human imagination. It may speak to philosophical/spiritual questions about the nature of reality– how much of what the mind perceives/interprets is created by the mind itself? Very nice work.

By: Jellibeen

Jellibeen — Sat, 19 Dec 2020 03:25:19 +0000

First I would like to say that I love the movie but I was a bit disappointed at the ending. At the same time I was highly intrigued by the ending and I kind of expected it to be an open ended thing. The first question I would like to ask is how did Ingo get her number? They didn’t exchange numbers at Kyra‘s house. And considering she was going to dump him I don’t think she would’ve gave him Maureen‘s number. I can kind of get behind the theory that she died at the hotel but I didn’t see her leave. The only reason why I could get behind that is because I saw a spirit leaving (hence the doors opening and closing by themselves). But that also leaves the question of what spirit entered? If you look at the movie a spirit entered the hotel and then they showed Ingo leaving and then they showed and another spirit (or the same spirit) exiting behind him. Who was that? Also the theory that the boyfriend of Luis‘s wife was a ghost and connecting to the broken glass could also be a hit or miss. When the glass broke Lewis’s widowed wife asked if Maureen was outside and she mentioned she was outside with the boyfriend *but to note the wife only asked Maureen if she was outside*. But on the other hand if Maureen mentioned the boyfriend the wife would have probably asked questions if the boyfriend was supposed to be there. Also the guy with the cup looked a little bit like Maureen but not like the boyfriend. I could also get behind the theory that spirits are just messing with her off her vulnerability. At the end it kind of seemed like a couple of ghosts just messing around. That would explain why there was that one random ghost in the house that just disappeared after she noticed it wasn’t Louis inhabiting it. My first glance was that the ending was quite lazy but then I opened my mind up to the abstract way of making a movie I guess. After all it has sparked plenty of conversation. Back to the spirits entering and exiting the hotel there is the possibility that it could’ve been Kyra. Also I would’ve like to have more information on the boyfriend. He just seemed like a useless add on to me. Before the ending I was going with the theory that she was just going crazy and grieving and that she had killed Kyra herself after being drunk. I was convinced she was just chasing her own tail and was going to find out at the end that it was all her after all like in the movie ‘The Wind’. (Great movie by the way it reminds me a lot of this one) but of course that theory was proven wrong. Also it kind of seems like they went dead with the parents as well. After a while they kind of just faded off the plot Overall 8/10 movie. Only because when the movie first ends it kind of seems like a waste of an hour and 50 something minutes. A lot of things just seemed unfinished but of course that may have been for reason. Hell, there may be even a part of the brain that enjoys seeing incomplete things and making theories up in your own head

By: SahiL

SahiL — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 10:56:41 +0000

What an awesome blog so well reverted wit awesome explanations!
I hv literally spent 3 hrs reading all ur comments!
Now I just had a few questions:
– We know t whole movie is centred arnd Maureen, like 99.8% of it.
— I think the director is trying to show us something when her BF from Oman does these things:
– VCs her & shows around a beach…. if u notice it….it was completely completely empty.
– again why does the dir want us to know what the BF does, a full explanation of his job he is doin in Oman to a personal shopper profile gf is given. U know 2 vry diff lifestyle. Did not add upto me.
—The VC calls only happen wen
Maureen is in self doubt, stressed maybe?
— Lastly it looks odd to me that u wait for ur girl & then never wait for her to arrive at oman and just jump off to mountains on ur own.
I also think t guy in garden breaking cup was her bf.
The part of her bf plays a larger role , the dir trying to maybe tell us how efficient a medium Maureen is while she herself not knowing that.
When she gets t knock once: Maybe her bf says yes I am Lewis to get her out from her pain, she is unsure and hence when she asks again, he doesnt knock back thinking she know its not Lewis.
And thats why the last Q;
is it just me?

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 15:51:46 +0000

In reply to Hemant.

Great thoughts,
I’m so far removed from my last viewing, that I can’t really argue with you! hahah. But I will say this, my minor case of OCD really got me when you gave us 2 number 4’s! hahaha GAH!

Your ending comment I agree with 100%. It is such a wide open movie. Very tricky to pin down. Elusive really. But that was the fun of it. Need more movies like this one in my life.

Taylor

By: Hemant

Hemant — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 09:52:39 +0000

In reply to Taylor Holmes.

(1) I really believe she didn’t die. If you noticed, when she and her brother’s girlfriend meet at the cafe after the hotel scene, Maureen clearly says that “Ingo confessed everything”. It means that scene happened after the police captured Ingo, not the night before the hotel as some people are saying. It indicates that she didn’t die.
(2) She is also not insane as there are many clues (physical and in conversations) that ghosts exist in the movie’s world.
(3) According to me, when she found the jewellery in her apartment, she freaked out. Now whether she suspected Ingo and then went to the police or just went to the hotel directly, I don’t think she gave the sim card to the police or told them about the jewellery as some people like to believe.
And that’s it. I am not thinking about this point anymore. It could mean anything and I think I’ll go real crazy if I keep thinking that.
(4) Finally, what I am making of this movie is this: she leaves the hotel unharmed, Ingo is captured. Her brother’s spirit helped her. After the conversation with Erwin and the ghost at that window- I am believing that to be of Lewis. Same with the spirit at the end (not some unknown spirit messing with her).
Lewis’s spirit is worried about her and therefore is not at peace. I think it wants to tell Maureen that she must internalize to find her own peace and think about her own future. (After all, there is this constant theme of pain and there are indications that she is traumatized about her brother’s death.)
(4) I also don’t know what to make of that vomiting spirit in the movie.

Man, I have to say I enjoyed this movie. There can be so many interpretations of it and that’s the real beauty of it, I think.

By: W

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 00:38:10 +0000

Came here to say that Senta already vocalized so well the basic idea and feeling that I got from this film. Yes, different cultures have different traditions when it comes to art, and the style of Hollywood film making is so ubiquitous that it is good to be aware of this. Does it make Hollywood film somehow inferior? No, of course not, but we can always educate ourselves a bit more. And that’s why I love films like Personal Shopper because they sharpen our tastes to different sorts of storytelling – not better, just different.

Like Senta said the key to watching Personal Shopper is in just being and feeling. The movie uses the forum of emotions a lot, and emotions usually carry the story in a different way than the (straightforward) plot. In Personal Shopper, you often find yourself feeling sorrow, suspense, guilt, peace, etc., but can’t quite put your finger on the cause of those emotions as the film doesn’t do that either. Somehow, for me, the most fulfilling part of watching the movie was feeling those emotions. For example, the character of Ingo was an example of a nasty guy that makes you want to run away and lock your doors. Did he kill Maureen? Perhaps, but I think the point of him in the story was something else or more – to be one of those threatening presences in Maureen’s life. And what did Maureen do? She didn’t run away but was intrigued (at least initially). What does this tell about her?

Having gone through a massive trauma myself I think Personal Shopper is a great study in grief and all the different aspects of it (not all of them are nice or necessarily non-violent). Of course, when I watch the film, I wonder about that invisible elevator ride in the hotel as well :D But afterwards, what really stays with me the longest is this feeling that reflects the last images of Oman: melancholy and the white vastness of mysteries.

By: Senta´s fan

Senta´s fan — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 01:35:45 +0000

Another point: I loved the idea that her bfriend was travelling to the mountains and told her to join her there because it´s very realistic: she is a foreigner living in Paris, first loving the idea of living in Paris, then hating it because she does a job that seems meaningless to her and she doesnt even speaks the language. Her day to day is mundane even if living in Paris, she still has to spend most of her day going from one place to another and struggling with the traffic and meanwhile she looks very lonely. And this sounds so real and so modern, I was an expat myself in another country and not speaking the language and met a lot of people, specially millenials in the same situation, and it feels like many people can relate to this, that there is a layer of international people? Not sure how to call it. And usually people I met had been expats in another country or were travelling often or planned to look for a job in another place. Like this international mindset that looks very modern and maybe new. So it makes a lot of sense to me that her bfriend is in Oman working for some months with several projects and as he´s in a foreign country it´s very realistic that he is going to travel around, to know the place and live experiences over there and that it´s very natural for her to join him and start a new phase.