Home
cinema

The Ending of the Movie Dual Unpacked and Explained

Taylor Holmes
cinema
The Ending of the Movie Dual Unpacked and Explained
Acting
100
Screenplay
100
Direction
100
Mindjobness
100
Editing
100
Reader Rating0 Votes
0
100

The Ending of the Movie Dual Unpacked and Explained. I loved the movie Dual. But I also adored Riley Stearns’ other brilliantly meta flick – The Art of Self Defense as well. So, I had been anticipatorally awaiting the drop of this movie for quite some time now. But, similarly to Self Defense, this is a meta-ironic-apocalyptic-adjacent-car-crash-of-a-non-funny-comedy. Unsimilarly to The Art of Self Defense, Dual has an ending that is DYING to be discussed. But first, before you go any further, before you join in on the comment battlefield that is about to open up, you have to watch the film.

Detailed Dual Walkthrough – Please Pay CLOSE Attention

The setup here is crazy, but simple. In the near future, science has figured out how to clone individuals, and present the clone into the place of the dearly departed’s place so as to give a gift of themselves, and to keep their family from grieving, etc. It’s a clever twist in that other sci-fi and similar movies use the double as a medical farm for parts. Right? But instead, the dearly departed leaves the gift behind as a gift to loved ones.

Sarah (Karen Gillan) learns she is terminal, with a 98% she’s dying and a 2% statistical rounding error in there. But the doctor is certain. So Sarah purchases a clone of herself… and she begins teaching it about herself. Only, the problem is, Sarah’s husband, Peter, falls madly in love with Sarah’s Double (which, is, ironically, the double’s name… literally, “Sarah’s Double”) and this sort of chafes a bit. As it would. But when Sarah goes into remission, completely, 100% well, Sarah begins the decommissioning process for Sarah’s Double, but Sarah’s Double files for a legal – and literal – stay. Push comes to shove, and the duo are going to fight to the death in a year’s time.

Sarah? Trains all year. Non-stop. She is paying divorce fees, medical fees, double fees, legal fees… and she is determined to fight her way back into her husband’s life. But Peter makes it clear (and this is the most important thing I’m going to say in this write up) that there is NOTHING that Sarah can do to get back into his life. The two of them are done. Okay? Scribble that down somewhere… because we will come back to this point in a minute.

Okay – so as time goes by, and Sarah is training and training and training – eventually Sarah and Sarah’s Double connect and they begin to wonder why can’t both live. And eventually a plan is hatched that the two of them should ditch everything and make a run for the Canadian border together. It’ll blow away the authorities, and really confuse everything as to what could have possibly happened to send them both on the lamb. And as they head off into the woods together, just shy of the Canadian border, they both stop for a drink. And it is a really stupid, and OBVIOUS play on the double’s part. So ham-fisted, I wrote it down when Sarah’s Double said it: “Let’s drink some water – let’s take another bigger drink just to be safe.” I mean, come on. Sarah saw this a million miles away. Obviously her double is poisoning her. Right? Then a few minutes later, we watch as one of the Sarah’s is crashing her way, this way and that in the car as she heads back to the field, where she says to everyone that she is The Original. Right? The ORIGINAL WON! Then, we watch as Peter, and Sarah’s mother, assist with the winner… getting her colored contacts to hide her blue eyes. And she hates Mexican food right? It’s obvious that it wasn’t the original that won. But rather it was Sarah’s Double that actually outwitted Sarah… poisoned her, and crashed her way back to the field and announced herself, in a lie, as the original. Right?

But wait.

Let Me Explain Why You Are Wrong About the Ending of Dual

Let’s begin by going back to Sarah’s problem. She learns she has a terminal illness, and she is 100% going to die. She then does a very sweet (if misguided) thing and purchases (through an enormous loan) a clone of herself in order to extend herself beyond her death. And, to her surprise, her husband and her mother adore the dual more than they love the original. It breaks her heart. Right? Sarah even reaches out to Peter almost a year later and attempts to insinuate herself back into his life… but it’s clear that this isn’t going to work. A date, a nice meal? That’s just not going to cut it… he is really in love with Sarah’s Double. Hrm.

Now, Sarah’s Double? She knows that Sarah has been training an entire year straight. She knows that there is literally no way that she is going to beat the original Sarah. No way at all. So instead, she comes up with the plan that she will out connive the original Sarah. Thus the manipulation tactics and the idea that they could “run away” together. No, stop for a second, and think… why would Sarah agree to this? She doesn’t like anything about Sarah. She is desperate for Peter to love her again… for her mother to love her again. (Regardless of the rightness, or wrongness of this… it still remains to be the truth.)

Then Sarah’s Double hands Sarah her a water, from her own backpack. HERE DRINK A LOT OF THIS! Sarah sees this coming. And Sarah outmaneuvers this ham-fisted play. I don’t know how exactly, but she does not get poisoned by Sarah’s Double. Instead, Sarah murders her double and buries her in the woods. Then she gets in the car, and drives it into absolutely everything on the way back to the field. Why? Because she needs to convince two people that she isn’t Sarah, but rather, Sarah’s Double. Peter and her mother buy it, hook, line, and sinker. So much so, her mother buys her the contacts she doesn’t need in order to NOT hide her eye color. Also, notice the way in which Peter talks to who he thinks is Sarah’s Double… “you need to take care of yourself, women peak earlier than men… ” etc., etc. He’s talking down to her. But you can see that Sarah isn’t having it… “Where do you want to go for dinner? Mexican?” “You know I hate Mexican” Sarah says… enjoying the irony of being able to throw that back in her husband’s face. But here is the piece de resistance…

Mom is calling … oh, wait, what is that? The screen is all mangled. JUST LIKE Sarah’s phone, remember!? Hold on. Does that mean Sarah is the one that survived through to the ending? Huh. Who knew? But let’s consider the two possibilities and what they actually might mean for the movie’s meaning if either one was the correct ending.

What Does the Ending of Dual Mean if Sarah’s Double Survived?

If Sarah’s Double survives – what does that mean for the movie Dual? Well, it’s actually a very tragic ending if Sarah’s Double is the one that wins the day. It means that no small kindness of a terminal person goes unpunished. It means the world is horrific in pretty much every way possible. It means that Sarah, the only really well prepared person in this movie is out maneuvered by a lazier, but more clever opponent. It means that this already dark movie just spiraled completely down the toilet and is enveloped by it’s own darkness.

What Does the Ending of Dual Mean if Sarah Survived?

I personally think it’s extraordinarily clear that it is Sarah that survived… but I’m excited to know that 90% of the people coming to this page will disagree with me. (It is what it is… I still am outnumbered in my belief that the machine in the movie The Prestige didn’t work.) But what would it mean if I am right?? Well, it means that Sarah is desperately broken, and desperately in need of being loved by her husband and her mother. So much so that she outwits her clone, kills her, and acts like she is the clone in order to act like she is herself… and that she enlists her mother and husband so that she can convince everyone that she is actually Sarah. But it also means that Peter wants to baby Sarah. It means that Peter, more than anything, wants to baby his wife… tell her what to do, and care for her like she is a new born.

Both are sad possibilities. Right? But Sarah’s Double winning are infinitely sadder in every possible way. Regardless of which person wins, whether it is the clone, or the original, it literally can go either way. If you believe that the original wins, you have to explain the bad driving, if you believe the clone wins, you have to explain the phone. Right? But trust me… TRUST ME, Sarah is acting like the Double in order to insinuate herself into her husband’s life again. And she’s done it… she figured it out. But… as the movie ends, she is in her crashed car, in the round about, crying because she was done exactly what she shouldn’t have. She is back inside the trapped relationship, and trapped chaos, she was dying to get out of at the very beginning of the film. What has she done?!?

Think I’m wrong? Let me hear about it in the comments. Think I’m right? I want to hear about it doubly in the comments! hahaha.

And with that?? Dual is our new King of the Hill for 2022!

Edited by: CY

Previous Top 100 Movies Young Frankenstein
Next Love Death & Robots Season 3 is Mental
Taylor Holmes

Related Posts

27 Responses

  1. Just FYI, they aren’t married, so you’re wrong on at least one point of your opinion on the movie.

  2. I agree with Sarah winning 100%

    Wrote too much deconstruction to put here, but check this out. Glad to see someone else agrees Sarah made it out alive and that’s the dark-comedy of the ending

  3. I totally agree with this. The ending was done in such a way especially with the clothes, car and phone to insinuate that any of them could have won and there was a “clear” explanation to support either one. Brilliant movie but I would have to lean on the side of the original Sarah winning as it was suggested she was prepared for everything including the poison. She “reclaimed” her life just to realize she is depressed, maybe at the fact that her “loved ones” preferred a clone.

  4. Thats not her husband – Did I miss something?

    But beyond that, I thought the same- its the original playing the double. The round about at the end is a metaphor. She’s gone the wrong way round. Going forward swims against the flow of everything/the natural way of flow. So we see her stopped – the car angled implying that she acknowledges continuing on is a nightmare and “killing” her(the real her)but just w/ just enough there (the angled car) to leave room for her possibly going another way. Or is she trapped?

  5. I’m surprised all the previous comments missed this but it’s obvious she is the original Sarah because it was foreshadowed during her training when she learned from her combat trainer about all the different weapons. Poisoning was actually discussed as too slow but still made a comeback in the end. Sarah the original knew to look out for it.

  6. Actually, I’m not caffeinated enough yet as someone did mention it! But that makes it more than obvious that Sarah the double was easily defeated with her lame poison attempt!

    But T, I’m actually surprised you didn’t mention it because her combat training was such a huge chunk of the film. The dialogue they have about poison being too slow directly correlates to the ending.

    What I don’t get is why she bothers to play along for her mother and boyfriend after how they treated her. I would have just joined another hip hop class and run off with Aaron Paul!

  7. I disagree with all the comments above. The double wins. Why? 2 reasons. If the original Sarah one then why continue the bad driving even when no one is watching her in the end, makes no sense. 2. In the woods, we see the original Sarah start to bleed again from the mouth signaling she was dying. She was poisoned! The double took her place, geez! Prove my points wrong.

  10. Hello to all

    There is a third possibility too:

    I think real Sarah survived. But his boyfriend and mother knew that too and even helped her. At the end, Sarah decided to CHANGE herself a bit. (the hair and the eye color).

    Reasons behind my analysis:
    1) Her clone does not necessarily like Mexican food but she liked it and the boy-friend offered Mexican at the end in order to make her happy.
    2) Her mother told her “Back to the life” and Sarah have been out of the life for 1 year.
    3) The smashed phone
    4) And the most important reason: The judge (of course) investigates if she is wearing eye-contacts or not since the difference in eye-colors is medically recorded. So she was the real Sarah otherwise the court would have known.

  11. I like Abolfazl Danayi comments. I think it’s good thinking. What I noticed was Original Sarah becoming more like the clone all along. I think Sarah pretended to be like the clone, she literally said “i’ll do anything” ie to be what the people in her life want her to be. With the clone saying “lets drink a lot more water” what does that say,,,about the clone. Quit naive yes?? Can’t even drive, but she’s suppose to outwit someone?? Here’s what I saw, I saw Original Sarah poisoned, and when her mouth started to bleed, I saw original sarah PISSED. She’s not dead yet. I’d say Origina Sarah would’ve killed the double at that point. The issue with the poisoning, that could’ve played out a number of ways. Poison is SLOW. Antadote, may have had an antadote on her just in case, could’ve called her instructor etc. When Sarah comes back she says she’s the Original Sarah, what’s the point in lying?? There’s a reason for original sarah to pretend to be the double, but there’s no reason for the double 2 b original sarah. Now-, i have had a moment to think while i was talking, and,,,i called the clone naive because of the way she said to drink more water. Interesting. From the moment the clone arrived in the world it was quit intelligent and picked up things very quickly. She was also very manipulative. That can be seen by the things she does to take over sarah’s life. very interesting plot twist. the cracked phone could’ve just been a souvenir, but both trained for the dual. The double would’ve had a better trainer, Sarah had to get a cheap one. The double would not have, because she had the stipend Sarah had to pay and split bills with the boyfriend. In the end, i’m still going to go with Original Sarah won. However she averted the poison she did. The police found the body in the woods (thus the police and dogs, i mean – i can’t see sarah hiding the body from a k9 nose). I think all the rest is just to fool her boyfriend and mom into believing she’s the double. That’s my 2 cents. I’ve said how it could be the Original Sarah, but I haven’t said how it couldn’t be the clone. The tears, the emotion at the end. That clone,,,had like NO feelings. Never cared about Sarah or anyone/anything else. She’s been trying to kill Sarah for a year and then she’s going to start crying because she’s dead and life sucks. I don’t buy it. All that clone ever did was try to give people what they wanted. I DO feel like, in the end, they didn’t want the clone as much. They wanted parts of her. mom even could’ve been buying blue contacts. Mom did call the busted phone, original sarah’s phone. I’m sure they had different numbers. Of course, sim cards can b switched out 2, but why go through the trouble?? fake sarah’s dead!! they found her body and thus a trial of identity.

  12. I read somewhere that there was some kind of Q&A after a viewing of this film and really, it’s meant to be ambiguous. You can really make a case for either of them to have survived. Remember, there is a lot of info we aren’t given about how Double Sarah trained for the fight. She could have had an awesome trainer that set her up for all situations. I’m still sticking with OG Sarah as the winner, though.

  14. Actually i think it’s both.

    I desperately wanted Sarah to win to the point i believed she tried to impersonate her dual, so she’d get back to her husband etc. But then these details like broken car, phone, name on the water bottle etc.. I think it’s made to confuse people, we all try our best to find the ”real” ending, but what if there’s no real ending at all. Maybe both endings are the real ones and we just have to choose the one that fits it better in our eyes.

  15. Purposely watched the last 15 minutes again. When the 2 Sarah’s are going over the list of things for their run to Canada, why does the clone have BOTH bottles of water? Why does Sarah (either one) show up at the Duel with a limp? Did it come from a fight between the 2 Sarah’s or from when the original tripped in the woods? Why does the court have to “certify” a Sarah when the whole point was one MUST die? The original hated her mother, so why try to pretend she’s the clone? When the mother is going to order contacts, NO color is specified. The car is badly beaten up from obviously BAD driving, why keep up the charade if the matter was already decided in court? The real Sarah’s instructor made note that she had indeed MISSED poisoning as she mistook it for electrocution in the slideshow. Would it have been necessary for Sarah to switch clothing after the poisoning when NO ONE knew what they were wearing to begin with? Lastly, when sitting on the bed, Peter tells Sarah she has to take better care of herself. Sarah was rubbing her stomach a bit. So was this the REAL Sarah or did Clone Sarah inherit the same disorder that was 98% killing the real Sarah?

  16. Just a follow up for Gillan stan. Peter was NOT her husband. There were NO names on the clear water bottles with Red Tops.

  17. I think the cause of all of this is that Peter and Sarah’s mother was a clone and they didn’t tell her, and their clone play it bad so Sarah got a lil bit depressed (blame her self). That is why Sarah comes up with the thought about making clone without telling anyone bcs she thinks that she isn’t good enough for the people she loves.

  18. I like both theories. One thing I noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned is they’ve both been training, but possibly not in the same ways. In the scene where the original is looking up the self defense options the one above Trent’s is called “Heart and Mind – Duel tactics for pacifists. Use words not Weapons. Manipulation theory.” It is possible the double was training there and had been studying manipulation tactics. The fact that her ex mentions on the date says something about the double not talking about the duel makes me lean more towards that idea as well as the group therapy bit. The couple of mentions of poison earlier in the film could be foreshadowing for either outcome but it’s doubtful that the original Sarah would have been developing an immunity to whatever poison it was and more likely she keeps missing poison as she was more focused on fighting tactics. While the films ending is meant to be ambiguous I like the fact that the initial response is it’s the double, then thinking about it, it’s the original but then… back to the double after more pondering. Also I saw someone mention the water bottles and they do indeed have initials on the side of the bottle.

  21. I agree its the original Sarah too, the trainer trained her to be prepared for anything he even gave her DVDs I think to prepare her just in case her family might try to kill her and yes someone said above, he mentioned poison. She was way too prepared and she said to Sarahs Double that we will look through our back packs later to see if we have weapons, why did she say that? I think because she had weapons on her. She also was throwing up blood in the beginning with her illness,I know this is far fetched but maybe it prepared her for poison,I don’t know but the whole phone thing really clinched it,why would they make a point of her breaking her screen earlier and showing the viewer the broken screen. Also the picture she liked of the forest, was it showing she knew the forest well?

  22. Both girls are alive. Poison is a red herring, Sarah bled out of her mouth even at the beginning of the movie, it is symbolic to represent that she is returning to her old life.

    They were talking about being hunted if no one showed up and the clone agreed. Sarah went back wearing her own shoes (since they would be uniquely broken in) and the clone continued across the border, since she did not like Sarah’s life (the clone put Peter’s photo face down at the beginning because she does not want the life).

  23. Thank you T! I had to find someone who agreed that it’s Sarah who won while respecting the possible dual ending choices. I love the clever Dual Sarahs. Duel to the death. Dual ways to see the ending. Double crossing the double cross. Twice as thick irony. Fresh take on paying for a fight class with a dance class! love love.

  24. For me it was ambiguous until the end when she’s sobbing in the roundabout. At that point I realized it could only be the clone. Because while it sucks to do something you regret just to put yourself in a place you don’t actually want to be is devastating, Sarah while having a hard choice, still had a choice to walk away at the end. The clone would be stuck in the choice she made. She had previously stated that things weren’t what she thought they’d be. Then ended up making choices that got her trapped exactly where she didn’t want to be. She wanted to live, but didn’t fully consider what that meant for herself.

  25. I have a different take on the ending. I believe that the writer/director were trying to show that noone gets what they really wanted out of that ending (assuming Sarah’s double survived):-

    a) Sarah wanted to be cremated – and she got buried in the woods instead.
    b) Sarah’s double did not want a life with Sarah’s bf and mom, but she is stuck with them – and the guilt of killing Sarah and possibly getting the same disease that Sarah had.
    c) System wanting to see the dual and not getting it as one participant was a no-show.
    d) Sarah’s bf and mom trying to get their Sarah’s double back but Sarah’s double turning into Sarah due to the guilt.
    e) Audience clearly wanting to know who survived but not getting the clear answer.

  26. Anyone please explain the coins scene. I think over and over and do not still get it! Please…

  27. I think it was the clone who won. But one doubt. Why she has to claim that she us original. She can shy that she us the clone. The government will still allow her to live.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.