Last night at the end of Soho, explained

Image source: Everett Collection

Last Night in Soho (2021), with Anya Taylor Joy and Matt Smith in the lead roles, is finally here and it certainly lives up to the hype. The thrilling horror film follows a country girl with a sixth sense named Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie), who moves to London to attend fashion design school, only to be sucked into the 1960s through visions of a mysterious and beautiful lounge singer. The end of the film left viewers with some questions and I have answers for you.

When Ellie decides to move out of her school, she rents a room in Soho from an elderly woman, Miss Collins (Diana Rigg). The first night Ellie lives in her new place, she experiences a vivid dream about a blonde woman named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) who lives in the 1960s. For several nights, she dreams of the apparent glamor of the strong, beautiful, confident singer’s life, while pursuing her dreams of becoming a famous lounge singer. Sandie (in Ellie’s visions) soon meets a young man named Jack, who claims he can get her on stage. He fulfills that promise, but hides the sinister truth that he plans to pimp her out to other men. Ellie believes that Jack killed Sandie, and goes on a mission to find Jack and avenge her, and this is where things start to get complicated.

Wait … Sandie is not dead ?!

After being terrorized by visions of the past and ghosts of Sandie, Jack and the men who exploited Sandie through Jack, Ellie decides to leave London. She goes to Miss Collins, who puts her down and forces her to drink some tea. Only when Ellie sips her tea does Miss Collins reveal the truth about the woman who died in the bedroom she rented out. Sandie, she explains, died in that room 100 times. Every time a man came to her, she died a little more until there was no Sandie left, only Alexandria Collins. When her passion and love for life died, Sandie was no longer Sandie. Miss Collins confirms that Ellie has witnessed the events of her past, not the life of a ghost.

Image source: Everett Collection

Why did Sandie kill Jack and the other men?

Miss Collins admits that she killed Jack in Ellie’s room because he was the cause of her suffering and the man who ruined her life. Eventually, her hatred and anger toward him for all his transgressions caused her to stab him repeatedly. 100 times, she says. After Jack, she killed all the other men who came to exploit her, believing that they deserved to die for what kind of men they were and that she was doing the world a favor.

Why Miss Collins Try to kill Ellie and then change her mind?

Miss Collins tells Ellie all about her past because she has poisoned her tea and plans to tell everyone that she has killed herself. Ellie unknowingly discovered a lifetime of Miss Collins’ crimes while trying to avenge Sandie’s death, so it’s not ideal to get the police to sniff around the home where she has hidden the bodies of her victims. Letting everyone believe that Ellie is delusional solves her problem.

But Ellie does not go down without a fight. She and Miss Collins have a quarrel that overturns an ashtray with a lit cigarette and causes a fire. Before you know it, first aiders knock on the door. When she hears the sirens, Miss Collins mumbles something about her refusing to go to jail because her whole life has been a jail and she tries to kill herself. Ellie stops her and asks her not to. Miss Collins says she never wanted any of this horror to happen, and Ellie replies with a soft, “I know.”

Despite trying to kill her, Ellie still shows compassion for the woman who has been terrorizing her all evening. When Miss Collins sees Ellie’s empathy and understanding, she changes her mind and tells her to save herself. It’s too late for her, but it’s not too late for Ellie.

Why does Ellie still see Sandie in the end?

The film’s final scene finds Ellie attending her college fashion show. Her design is based on her dreams of Sandie, a representation of acceptance and growth. The film ends with Ellie looking in a mirror backstage. She first sees her mother smiling at her, but when she disappears, a young Sandie shows up. She is wearing the same pink, flowing dress she wore when Ellie first saw her. She waves and winks at Ellie.

Image source: Everett Collection

Because Ellie has always seen her mother, we are led to believe that the people who touch Ellie’s life will stay with her. The people she loves, the people she misses, and the people who shaped her into the woman she is do not leave. Sandie, despite all the crimes she committed, still had a positive impact on Ellie. She taught her about the horrors of the real world and inspired her to become braver, stronger and more confident.

The best parts of Sandie live on through Ellie, and for that reason Sandie will always be with her. Sandie, the woman she was before so many men hurt her and killed her spirit, not Miss Collins.