Borderline (2025) ending explained: What really happened in Paul Duerson’s marriage?

Borderline is a horror comedy thriller directed by Cocaine Bear writer Jimmy Warden. The film explores the dynamic between a pop star and her mentally unhinged stalker. It stars Samara Weaving as Sofia, who finds herself as the object of desire of Paul Duerson, brought to life by Ray Nicholson.

Disclaimer: This article contains the author's opinion and spoilers from Borderline. Reader's discretion is advised.

The movie begins at the climax, with Duerson getting married to the love of his life Sofia. It is his narration that takes audiences back to the beginning of their story when he first attempts to be united with her. Paul Duerson’s marriage to Sofia was purely an illusion, a product of his obsessive delusions and mental instability.

The vividness of Duerson's imagination is established at the onset, leading to reasonable doubts about his version of all events.

Duerson's first attempt to woo Sofia goes off the rails from the very onset when he loses himself while play-acting with Sofia’s head of security, William (Eric Dane), outside the pop star's home. He proposes to William, convinced that he is Sofia, and ends up stabbing him with his 'rajput knife.'

Unfazed by his own action, Duerson waltzes into Sofia's home and has the time of his life before calling the police on himself.

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Does Paul Duerson succeed in marrying Sofia during his second attempt?

Duerson lands in prison for the attempted murder of William. However, he escapes after six months with fellow inmate Penny (Alba Bapista) to satiate his obsession with Sofia. Apart from Penny, Duerson is also aided by his childhood friend JH (Patrick Cox) this time around.

Meanwhile, Sofia has been dating athlete Trevante Rhodes (Jimmy Fails) and has William back in her service.

William fails to stop Duerson and his pals once again and faces yet another near-fatal attack. Duerson manages to trap Sofia in her home and makes arrangements for their wedding. However, in a twisted turn of fate, he suffers the same delusion as in the past, this time convincing himself Rhodes is Sofia, even in the presence of the real Sofia.

Forcing Rhoddes into the wedding dress he has picked for Sofia, Duerson takes him to church and marries him in spite of repeated objections from the real Sofia. He then stabs him like he did William, before getting punched in retaliation, and kicked unconscious by Sofia.

Borderline ends with Duerson seeing himself walking out of the church and getting in a limousine after marrying the love of his life. However, the entire setting of the beginning and the end is a vivid hallucination of his disturbed mind. The limousine is a police car in reality, which takes Duerson back to the prison he escaped from.

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Was Paul Duerson in love with Sofia in Borderline?

Duerson's obsession with Sofia drives the narrative of the film, Borderline. It begins with him losing his girlfriend in one of her concerts and replacing his sorrow with an overbearing attachment with the pop star. Duerson's unresolved grief and vivid imagination lead to the loss of his sanity and his deadly determination to marry Sofia.

It can be argued that Duerson was essentially in love with the idea of Sofia rather than with the person herself. He fails to recognize her on two separate occasions and convinces himself that William and Rhodes were Sofia instead.

In the end, Duerson is seen holding on desperately to the world of his imagination, where he is happily married to the love of his life, instead of the bleak reality where he is being driven off in a police van to be locked up in an asylum.

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Borderline is available exclusively in theaters right now.