Sarah Snook’s Run Rabbit Run Explained. Been waiting rather impatiently for this film, “Run Rabbit Run” to finally drop on Netflix. This Australian psychological thriller, manages to weave a captivating tale that will leave you guessing as to what it is that just happened as the movie ends. For some of you? That’s the worst critique possible. For others of you – like me, who loves to get my hands dirty and to try and figure out what is going on – you enjoy a challenge. Better though than the twists and turns that get thrown at the viewer, is the extraordinary performance of Sarah Snook, a brilliant actress known for her unforgettable role in the critically acclaimed series Succession. I can’t drop enough superlatives about the show Succession, and better yet? I can say enough good things about Snook. So, in this blog post my attempt will be to delve into the intricate layers of “Run Rabbit Run,” while also unraveling its enigmatic ending and exploring the profound themes of mental health and redemption this movie provides the viewer with.
Run Rabbit Run – The Beginning:
A Twisted Tale of Grief and Unsettling Behaviors: Run Rabbit Run introduces us to Sarah, portrayed with brilliance by the aforementioned Sarah Snook, a fertility doctor, and her daughter Mia, played by the talented Lily LaTorre. As the movie opens, the duo are suddenly hit with the loss of Sarah’s father, which plunges both characters into a sea of grief. As the movie progresses, Mia’s behavior takes a disturbing turn, with her adopting the identity of her long-lost aunt, Alice, and exhibiting eerie actions reminiscent of Sarah’s past. These unsettling behaviors ignite memories and suspicions in Sarah, as she becomes haunted by the unresolved mystery of Alice’s disappearance.
Run Rabbit Run – Unveiling the Truth:
As the tension escalates, Run Rabbit Run skillfully adds mysterious elements to intensify the suspense. Mia begins having completely unexplained injuries and nosebleeds. There are photographs that begin reappearing on the walls. And there are hauntingly eerie banging noises that work to push Sarah’s grip on reality to the brink. The brilliance of Run Rabbit Run is that the movie tries really hard to only give us reality through Sarah’s perspective. And in so doing, the film casually blurs the lines between fact and fiction. Worse, when Sarah accidentally injures Mia, it is the catalyst for jump starting suppressed memories back into her psyche, as flashbacks… as nightmares… and as hallucinations… which flood her consciousness and threaten to completely overwhelm her as the truth about what happened to Alice is revealed.
Run Rabbit Run – The Revelation:
The Heart-Wrenching Fate of Alice slowly comes to the forefront piece by piece. The poignant climax showcases a young Sarah locking Alice in a cabinet during a childhood game of hide-and-seek. Trapped and panicked, Alice’s desperate actions lead to a tragic confrontation between the sisters near a cliff. Sarah, overwhelmed by fear and instinct, ultimately pushes Alice off the edge, forever altering the course of their lives. The guilt and remorse that follow shape Sarah’s estrangement from her mother, portrayed by the remarkable Greta Scacchi.
But What About Run Rabbit Run’s Ambiguous Ending?
In the final moments of the film Run Rabbit Run leaves us with a truly horrifyingly haunting scene… Mia, lured away from her bed by a white rabbit, she ventures off towards a cliff with another girl. Now Sarah? She sees clearly that this other girl is Alice as impossible as that might sound. The worst, most terrifying bit? Sarah’s desperate attempts to intervene prove futile. Wait. What? How is that possible? Exactly. What are we seeing here? Is it a horrible coincidental reality? Reality meets horror? Or Is it a hallucination caused by repressed grief? Worse, could it be Alice possessing a girl, and enticing Mia to her death as revenge for her own horrible death years ago? If you were paying attention, that’s three theories that could explain this dark twist of an ending. Let’s talk through each one now:
Run Rabbit Run – Can Stupid Coincidence Explain It?
So question one – what are the odds that some little girl, completely innocently, wanders by and entices Mia off the cliff to her death? Zero. I mean, maybe it’s a thin non-zero chance… but the odds are lottery ticket low. So let’s just shelve this one as it just doesn’t make any sense at all.
Run Rabbit Run – Can Demon Possession Explain it?
My personal favorite theory is this one. And I’m going to sell this one hard… so know this going in. (But it isn’t what happened… but I don’t care, I’m still right.)
Look. If I had a brother that was extraordinarily mean to me – who locked me into a cabinet, and left me to languish? And then in a rumble and a fight afterwards he pushed me to my death? I PROMISE YOU, that I would find a way to haunt the hell out of my brother as fast as I possibly could. Heck, I’d even find another kid that looked just like me to demon possess, and then, in a shock that would make him thinking he’s going mad? I’d convince him to join me in skipping our way off the edge of that very same cliff. I would. I’d get that bastage any way that I could! Hahaha. No? But you would too! Is there another possible explanation for this crazy movie?
Run Rabbit Run – Can Sarah’s Madness Explain it?
The main theory that settles over the audience is the fact that Sarah is obviously in a truly awful place. Why? Well, when Sarah cooped up her sister, and it culminated in a fight that caused Sarah to push Alice off the cliff to her death there were enormous repercussions that would soon come crashing down. Her mother could never forgive her for one. But worse? Sarah could never forgive herself. And even worse than that is the fact that she worked so hard to never talk about the trauma in her life. This is the most repressed woman to have ever existed. And when pressure is suppressed… it finds unique and rather troubling was to vent out into the world.
There are numerous subtle hints that all allude to Sarah’s deteriorating mental state. Mia’s ambiguous references to herself as Alice, unnoticed by anyone but Sarah, and the peculiar way Mia switches pronouns provide early indicators of Sarah’s influence on her daughter’s behavior. The disappearance and reappearance of Mia’s injuries, the uncanny recurrence of photographs, and Sarah’s auditory hallucinations intensify our understanding of her fragile grasp on reality. Even the disturbing drawings initially attributed to Mia are eventually revealed to be Sarah’s own subconscious creations, highlighting the depths of her psychosis. Translation? Sarah is unwell.
Run Rabbit Run: The Hand of Guilt:
There is one scene in particular that gives us a decent vantage on what is really going on within Sarah’s head. When Sarah accidentally hurts Mia, Sarah reproduces/mimics her daughter’s smashed hand by deliberately trapping her own hand in a car door. Yes. That is a mental psychosis. It’s a literal Old Testament “Eye for an Eye” being played out right in front of your eyes. This disturbing act exposes the extent of Sarah’s damaged mental state, her desperate attempt to mirror her daughter’s pain and find solace through shared suffering… and to attempt to make amends in a frail and flawed way.
The Real Explanation for the movie Run Rabbit Run
Let’s just jump to the crib sheet. Run Rabbit Run’s ending is all an attempt at redemption – a desperate attempt at restitution and forgiveness. Sarah screwed up years ago and it has ruined her daily ever since. All she wants is forgiveness. She wants her family to forgive her, and more importantly, she needs to forgive herself. But her buried past is finding a way to inflict as much pain on its victim as possible.
Healing requires honesty and discussion about these traumatic moments in our lives. Rather than avoiding these traumatic moments, she needs a counselor, like yesterday. A friend. Someone that will get her to talk through the pain of the loss of her sister. It is because of her inability to do this that she has spiraled so violently into this dark hellscape. And out of this trauma? It begets more trauma… Mia finds herself in this exact same mental maze insanity.
But EXPLAIN THE ENDING OF RUN RABBIT RUN!
The movie ends ambiguously for a reason. You have spent time in the mind of a mad woman, and she is probably just as curious as you are as to what happened to Mia. Worse, the most realistic answer for what probably happened is actually pretty dark. But my money is on the fact that Sarah… mentally broken, walked Mia off the cliff herself.
Let’s walk it through together. Sarah, the night before, joins Mia in bed, and weirdly caresses her hair. In the morning, Mia sees a rabbit in the other room, and walks out to join it. When Sarah wakes up she seems a little stiff. Snook is a world class actor… she is giving us infinitely small clues with each movement. It’s almost as if she had already gone off for a walk this morning. No? Could it be that she already walked Mia off the cliff and returned back to the bed to wake and realize, in her horror, what she had already done? And in so doing, she sees it as herself and Alice?
Final Thoughts on Run Rabbit Run
The movie Run Rabbit Run is a deep dive into psychological disorder. 100%. It’s a story about trauma that is buried, manifesting itself in horrible and very real and tragic ways. The saddest part about this movie is that it isn’t strange or rare. This sort of thing (with less tragic consequences) happens every single day. This is truth. Heck, it’s probably happening to you in very small, and micro-trigger sorts of ways. Yeah, I’m a ray of sunshine aren’t I? Hahaha. But I loved how eerie this movie was. I loved Sarah (SARAH I will give you my car if you agree to an interview! SARAH?!) in this role, and really think that she is due for more, to helm even more enormous roles going forward. She deserves all the accolades we can give her. So good. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the movie even half as much as I did.
Sarah Snook’s Run Rabbit Run Explained – a movie so repressed that it literally manifests it’s own nightmares. If you are interested in watching other movies like Run Rabbit Run, you should probably try out the aptly named… also Australian film, Rabbit? Want a movie with a little more in the way of teeth? Try out Hereditary maybe? My own personal favorite though? Maus. You are welcome. Not only did I give you the explanation for the film you were looking for, you also go 3 more movies you can check out. Yes, yes I am fantastic. Happy viewing.
Edited by: CY