Curious to know how the British thriller-drama movie Dark River ends? Then you have come to the right place! Inspired by the novel, Trespass written by Rose Tremain in the year 2017, Dark River achieved so much admiration and appreciation because of the simple yet dark plot that it followed and the meticulous cast, which includes Sean Bean, Ruth Wilson, and Mark Stanley. But what fans are most confused about is the end of Dark River because it has been kept pretty ambiguous. So, what happens at the end of Dark River? Let us find out.
Released in the year 2017, Dark River follows the story of a girl who decides to go back to her native place, which she left many years back. When she gets back, she meets her brother, who becomes her biggest enemy but also has a soft corner for her. The protagonists who have suffered a lot during their childhood recall all of the traumatic moments and try to face reality. So are these siblings able to reconcile at the end of the movie? Or something more traumatic has been written in their fate?
Not only in Britain but all around the world, Dark River received fame, and as a result, it won several awards as well. Dark River was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, and then it was officially released in the UK in the year 2018. So let us learn more about this award-winning British movie. Just to let you know, there are many spoilers that you will come across in this post, so if you haven’t watched Dark River yet, we suggest you watch it first, or if you are fine with the spoilers, then continue reading till the end.
Dark River: Plot Summary
Dark River encircles the story of Alice Bell, a sheep shearer who has been enjoying her life away from her home. She has the utmost love for animals, and when it comes to sheep, she cannot bear any violence against them. This cheerful girl, however, has faced a traumatic past, and getting away from it is the only way to her happiness. But soon, after her father’s death, she decides to move back to her house based in Yorkshire, where her brother handles the family farm.
After the whole 15 years, when Alice goes back to her house, she feels happy when she sees her brother, Joe. However, he does not seem happy seeing her and questions why she came back after so many years. Alice, who is a warm-hearted girl, immediately receives an apology from her brother Joe and soon both of them start living lovingly and work together as Sheep Shearer with the sheep that their family-owned.
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Both Alice and Joe’s life turn upside down when Joe gets to know that Alice has not only come back to reconcile with him but she has some undue motives that she wants to fulfill. Alice wants to claim the inheritance on the family farm, which was owned by Joe and Alice’s father. Joe again gets furious with her and stops her in every way from getting the claim on the property because she never came back when their father was alive and immediately showed up when she discovered their father was dead.
The reason why Alice wants inheritance is that she wants to stop the mistreatment that Joe has been performing on the animals on the farm. She wants to treat them well and start living a new life on her family farm while conquering the past fears and traumas that she has in that place, and she even gets to know that if she incurs the loss that her family suffered after she left home 15 years ago, she can get the inheritance.
While she prepares very well for everything that she has to do with getting the farm, Joe plans something else that ruins her plans. Joe tries to sell the property for a good price to someone else, but he is stopped by Alice. As a result, Joe gets more furious and tries to kill Alice, but Alice is saved, and Joe is sent to Jail.
Dark River: Ending Explained
When Alice left her house 15 years ago, even though she did not show up, she always lived in trauma and depression. She used to get flashbacks from her past when she used to get sexually abused by her father, but she never dared to speak up, and she silently suffered all the abuse and violence for many years of her life. When she got bigger, she finally decided not to endure more violence and parted ways with her brother and her father.
For all these years, she blamed her brother for not saving her from her father, and she finally burst out in tears and expressed her feelings to her brother when he got out of jail on probation. She tells everything about the sexual abuse to Joe after they fight, and Alice falls unconscious. Joe, who did not know that his father used to rape his sister, gets guilt for not saving his sister as even he used to get abused by their father, and that is why he was scared to save her and himself. Suddenly they hear a voice from outside.
Suddenly, they hear a voice from outside. Both Joe and Alice run to the farm and find out that a dog killed one of their sheep. Alice cannot control her anger towards the dog because of her immense love for sheep and runs behind the dog with a gun. However, her depression is so severe that she loses her control and accidentally shoots one of their neighbors instead of shooting the dog. Joe takes the blame on himself and turns himself in.
In the end, Alice leaves their farm based in Yorkshire, and no one knows if she will claim inheritance on the property or not in the future. However, the relationship between these siblings starts to repair as she frequently visits her brother in jail. So, who gets the property? Do Joe and Alice sell the farm? Or is Alice still working on the farm and waiting for her brother to get out of jail?
Well, there are many possibilities that we can rely on. The ambiguous end of the Dark River lets fans decide what the end could be, so fans can assume the happy ending to the Dark River and come up with unique theories which can change the fate of Joe and Alice. As there is no announcement about part two yet, it is uncertain that Dark River would renew following the further story of Alice Bell and Joe Bell.
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