Mothers' Instinct ending explained: What happens to Céline in the end?

Benoît Delhomme-helmed Mothers' Instinct was recently released in March 2024, and is a psychological thriller which stars two obvious superstars in the lead. Boasting Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, the two Oscar-winners star in a mysterious thriller which is adapted from a 2018 Belgium-released movie of the same title.

Hathaway and Chastain play the characters of Alice and Celine, two next-door neighbors who have been close friends for years, in Mothers' Instinct. However, when Celine’s youngest son Max dies after falling off the balcony, things go awry speedily. Alice fails to act quickly enough to save her friend’s son, who she spots moments before the disaster occurs.

While one friend is consumed by guilt, Alice distances herself from Celine and her entire social group and is shown to be aghast. Mothers' Instinct has a peculiar ending which has confused fans ever since the movie came out.

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What happened in the end, in Mothers' Instinct?

Overtaken by grief, Celine is seen undergoing an extreme breakdown in the aftermath of Max’s death. However, she grows closer to Alice’s son Theo, which is followed by the death of her mother-in-law. At the same time, Celine also gets into a number of violent fights with Simon, which leads to a complete breakdown of her relationship, apart from the one she shares with Theo.

Regardless, due to Alice’s suspicions, Simon (Celine’s husband) carries out a biopsy of his mother, which reveals that the heart medication she had been taking never made it to her bloodstream. As her medicines were managed by Celine herself, this led to a confrontation between him and his wife.

Celine eventually sedates her husband in his sleep, which leads to another confrontation, this time with Alice. As the two fight, Celine eventually manages to overpower Alice, and then stages a gas leak to murder her along with her husband.

Towards the end, she is shown clutching Alice’s son, Theo with herself, and keeping him safe through the explosion. The movie then pans out to months later, when Celine is seen adopting Theo. This means that while she murdered Theo’s mother, along with her husband, she did have a genuine relationship with Theo, whom she adopts.

The movie’s final scene pans to the two eating ice cream on a beach, which effectively means that she can escape the consequences and has a new life with ‘her son.’ Regardless, there are plenty of reasons why the ending is bound to have confused fans.

Despite starring two obvious stars, Mothers' Instinct failed to make a stellar box office run, and grossed around $1.8 million at the box office, also owing to a limited release. However, its run on streaming platforms have led to some appreciation, with its IMDB rating currently at 6.3.

Rotten Tomatoes has given Mothers' Instinct a score of 55%, which is slightly favorable. It will be interesting to see whether the audience's interest leads to the movie getting its due in the coming time. On its own, Mothers' Instinct proves to be a mysterious, thrilling ride starring two of the best female actors in the industry.

Released in March 2024, the movie is available to be streamed on Prime Video, and has been distributed by Neon Pictures.