A Day and a Half on Netflix ending explained: Did Artan get arrested?

Netflix's new Swedish film, A Day and a Half, was released on the streaming platform on Friday, September 1, 2023. Directed by Fares Fares and starring Alexej Manvelov and Alma Pöysti, the film narrated the story of a man who took his ex-wife hostage at gunpoint because he wanted to reunite with his estranged daughter.

At the end of A Day and a Half, Artan got arrested for kidnapping his ex-wife, Louise, and infant daughter, Cassandra. With the cops managing to keep the females safe, officer Lukas' mission proved to be successful.

As per Netflix, the official synopsis of A Day and a Half read:

"To reunite with his daughter, Artan takes his ex-wife Louise hostage and embarks on a thrilling and emotion-charged road trip with her and police officer Lukas. The journey takes them through rural Sweden during a hot summer, all while having police on their heels."

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A Day and a Half on Netflix ending explained: Did Lukas speak with his son?

The story of almost every criminal ends in either him or her getting killed or getting caught. At the end of A Day and a Half, Artan was apprehended by the Swedish police for holding his ex-wife and infant daughter hostage.

Artan had kidnapped his ex-wife from her workplace (she was a nurse at a hospital) and demanded she take him to his baby daughter, Cassandra. He even had a gun with him, so everyone knew that he was dangerous. To find a solution to this problem, a senior cop named Lukas got in touch with them.

Interestingly, it was revealed that Lukas also had a similar story. He had a poor relationship with his family, especially his son Theo. Lukas took Artan and Louise to his car and drove them across the country. While Artan had his gun pointed toward his ex-wife throughout, Lukas talked to him and tryied to make sure that nobody got hurt in that critical situation.

Artan told Lukas that he wanted to flee with his daughter, which is why he needed to be taken to the port because he wanted to leave on a cruise ship. Obligingly, Lukas took them to the sea, where the ship was waiting for them. However, Artan was moved by Lukas's tragic story and realized that what he was doing was wrong.

While Lukas was driving the trio to the port, they were being followed by several cops in cars. It is revealed that Lukas had informed his teammates not to get violent as the situation could be solved by just conversing. After they reached the port, Artan asked Lukas about the ship, to which the latter called his teammate and learned that the ship was being made ready for use, but the captain was not willing to let anyone in with a gun.

Artan understood that it was time to surrender himself to the cops as there was no other way to get out of there alive. He requested Lukas to call his son Theo and wish him on his birthday. After that was done, he asked Lukas to give him and Louise some privacy, so the former left and let the estranged couple speak to each other.

Following this, Artan and Louise said their emotional goodbyes. Louise also gave his ex-husband a necklace that had an engraving of Cassandra's heartbeat. Artan then removed the bullets from his gun and handed the weapon to Louise, after which she dropped the gun out of the window to indicate that her ex-husband was ready to surrender.

When the cops saw this, they headed over to the car and instantly arrested Artan. Louise and Cassandra were also rescued, but the mother was overwhelmed with emotions. A Day and a Half ended with the cops taking Artan away in handcuffs, but before he was put in a police car, he looked at Louise and Cassandra one last time and smiled.

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A Day and a Half is currently streaming on Netflix.