The Best Offer is a movie about a person’s greed, want for love, and deception at every corner. The movie’s ending tries to conclude all of the above with its core characters.
Virgil was the one who was tricking a lot of people at all of his auctions. But in the end, he was the one who was tricked. Even after being tricked by Claire, Virgil still awaited her love. This shows how his want for love was more than the fact that he was fooled and tricked by her. Anyway, let’s do The Best Offer Ending Explanation and break down everything you need about the movie.
The Best Offer Movie Explained
While visiting Claire’s house, Virgil finds some great pieces that he thinks could be valuable. He takes these gear pieces to his engineer colleague Robert.
Robert excitedly tells Virgil that he has found Jacques Vaucanson’s signature on one of the gear pieces. Vaucanson was a famous maker of automatons in the 18th century. And this means that there must be an automaton among Claire’s possessions. Robert says that if Virgil can get the other pieces, he can rebuild the automaton.
Virgil’s assistant informs him that Claire has called and wants him to visit the mansion again to meet with her. He accepts and goes to her house again. She speaks to him behind a wall and tells him that she hasn’t left her house since she was 13 because she is agoraphobic.
Claire tells him that she feels like they are kindred spirits because he’s seen how he always wears gloves. And she thinks that Virgil is afraid of touching other people, the same way that going outside frightens her.
While talking to her, Virgil sees another metal cog and picks it up. He tells Claire that he’ll continue his partnership with her. Virgil later goes to dinner with Robert and hands him the newfound metal pieces. They celebrate the prospect of rebuilding a very expensive automaton.
As the inventory of the furniture starts again, Virgil begins to find more and more metal pieces strewn around the house. He talks to Claire again and sees that she has a hole in the wall to peep through. She comments that he dyes his hair, and she doesn’t trust people who dye their hair.
Virgil bristles at her insult and leaves. Outside, the caretaker informs him that Claire wants to give him the keys so he can easily access the house.
Virgil Brings Food For Claire
Virgil decides to get his hair back to its natural color. He then calls Claire and makes up with her. She compliments his gray hair this time, as she’s seen him giving an interview on TV.
Afterward, Claire doesn’t contact or respond to him again, and Virgil begins to be worried about her. He calls the caretaker, who, however, tells him that he’s been sick for days and cannot deliver food to Claire.
Virgil then buys some groceries and heads to Claire’s house. She’s been sick too and didn’t know who to call, and then she had a fall. Virgil tries to open the door to get her to the hospital. But she tells him to go away. Later on, Claire calls him and tells him that she is feeling much better. She also reveals that she works as an author and writes under a pseudonym.
Virgil Sees Claire
On the other hand, while Robert tinkers with the metal pieces that Virgil brings, Virgil asks him for advice on how to handle the growing closeness between him and Claire. Virgil pretends that it isn’t him but a friend who is falling for a woman trapped in a room.
After one afternoon of working on the inventory with Claire, Virgil tells her he’s leaving, but he hides behind a statue to finally see her. A pretty woman emerges from the room, and Virgil quietly leaves the mansion. Billy visits Virgil and gives him the painting they lost to the old woman. He tells him that he bought the painting from her because he knows how upset Virgil was when they couldn’t get it.
Also Read: Let Me In Ending Explained: The Dark And Sad Meaning Behind The Movie
Claire Opens Up To Virgil
On Claire’s birthday, Virgil visits her with a bouquet of flowers. But she is enraged over the low valuation of the pieces. He assures her that the bids will go higher than that, but she feels insulted.
Virgil is equally angry at her, too, and throws the flowers away. That night, she calls him while he’s eating dinner alone. She is crying and despondent at how afraid she is of going outside. He immediately comes over and tries to persuade her to see a therapist regarding her agoraphobia.
But Claire is much more comfortable speaking with him than a therapist. He notices that she moved one of the paintings, a portrait of a dark-haired woman.
She tells him that it was her mother. Once again, Virgil pretends to leave but hides behind the statue to spy on Claire. She walks out of the room in a bathrobe and talks to a director on the phone about Virgil.
But Virgil drops his phone, and she gets scared that there is someone in the house with her. He runs away, and Claire calls his phone to ask him for help. He returns and confesses that it was him spying on her. Claire gets angry at him and orders him to leave.
But as he’s walking down the stairs, Claire walks up behind him. Virgil tells her that he is compelled by his emotions to see her and that he will never hurt her. Thanks to that, she allows him to touch her face. Virgil later shares the developments with
Clair Open Ups To Virgil
Robert, as the young man, works on the automaton, which is almost completed. He encourages Virgil to surprise Claire, to make her feel his affection. Therefore, Virgil splurges on some clothes and make-up for Claire, and she wears a dress for him. She is delighted by his presence.
While putting on the make-up, she realizes that Virgil is trying to convince her to go out. She resents him for trying to fix her and so locks herself in her room. Virgil makes up for his mistake by preparing a lavish dinner for the two of them in Claire’s house. He allows Robert to hide behind the statue and see Claire for himself.
A few days later, Robert’s girlfriend speaks with Virgil and tells him that she’s worried that Robert is in love with another woman named Claire. Suspecting that Robert is trying to steal Claire, he confronts Robert in anger and takes back the automaton.
Virgil then shows the professional pictures of Claire’s art pieces to her. She then shows him her room, where he finds the remaining pieces needed for the automaton. He patches things up with Robert, and they agree to continue working on the automaton.
Claire Overcomes His Fears For Virgil
One afternoon, Virgil arrives at her house, but Claire is missing. Together with Robert and the caretaker, they search for her, but to no avail. Virgil gets the idea to search for more secret rooms in the mansion. And down in the cellar, he finds Claire hiding. He gets Claire to a bathtub so she can clean up.
Claire shared that she was in Prague with her first boyfriend, and they used to visit a local cafe there. Later, while walking, a car hit them and he died. She never went out since then. Claire and Virgil spend a fantastic hormone night together. He is now irrevocably in deep love with her.
One night, while walking home, some unknown men assault Virgil and beat him up. Claire finds him and overcomes her agoraphobia by accompanying him to the hospital, which deeply touches Virgil and gains his trust.
Later, after Virgil recovers, he and Claire are happy together. So besotted with her, he shows her his secret room, full of priceless portraits and his collections. Claire is amazed by all the art hanging on his walls. He then asks her to live with him, and she accepts.
Claire and Virgil go out to dinner with Robert and his girlfriend. Claire informs him that she does not want to sell her family’s pieces anymore. Virgil does not care anymore since he has Claire. He also announces that his auction in London next week will be his last.
The Best Offer Ending Explained
After concluding his last auction, Billy goes up to him and says he will miss Virgil. He has also sent him a painting of his to remind Virgil that he has what it takes to be an artist.
Soon after, When Virgil returns to his apartment, Claire is not there. He sees the painting that Billy sent and is puzzled because it’s the painting of Claire’s mother. He picks it up and is about to hang it in his secret room, but to his horror, he discovers that all his expensive portraits are gone. In the corner is the assembled automaton, playing a mischievous message from Robert taunting Virgil.
The stress of the deception is too much for Virgil, and he gets hospitalized. While convalescing in an asylum, he reminisces about how it all came together for him. He had rushed to the villa to find Claire, but the gates were locked.
He went to the pub across the street and saw a woman also named Claire, who was the true owner of the mansion. She mentioned that she’d been letting a young and nice engineer live in the house for two years now, which is probably Robert.
Virgil saw that Robert’s shop was now empty, too. And finally, the painting that Billy sent him had an inscription on the back, thanking Virgil for his best offer. It’s revealed that Billy, Robert, and Claire had been working together for a long time to con Virgil out of his private collections.
Claire was just a hormone trap meant to seduce the love-thirsty Virgil, obtain his trust, and get him to show her where his secret room was.
Sometime later, Virgil eventually gets discharged from the asylum. He moves to Prague, which is said to be the place where Claire met her first boyfriend, and still wonders if Claire’s feelings have been true. The movie ends with Virgil going to the cafe Claire told him about and waiting for her to appear, dining alone like always.
Also Read: The Truman Show Ending Explained: The Dark Hidden Meaning Behind The Movie
