Goodnight, Mommy! is something we all said when we were kids. But what if that phrase was bastardized and meant to denote something sinister and cruel? Director Matt Sobel’s film called Goodnight Mommy is precisely that.
A reimagining of a 2014 Austrian horror film by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala tells the story of two twin boys who think their mother has been replaced by someone who hates them and wants them gone. However, the truth is more gruesome than just that.
In Goodnight Mommy, Elias and Lukas think their mother has been murdered and replaced by an imposter. But nothing as such happened. Instead, Elias mistakenly killed his brother and now suffers from DID (dissociative identity disorder), where he imagines Lukas alive. His mother can’t pretend everything is right and tries to make him remember. But he mistakenly pushes her off the barn’s balcony, and she dies.
What Actually Happened in Goodnight Mommy?
At the end of Goodnight, Mommy, we see Elias untie his mother from duct tape. He realizes that the woman he has been tormenting for a long time is his mother and not an imposter. He apologizes and says his brother Lukas forced him to do everything.
His mother embraces him without question. But she has finally had enough and takes her son to the barn. They climb up to a loft, and there, the mom shines her lantern on a reddish stain that Elias had found earlier.
However, back then, he thought it was a stain that marked the spot where his mother had been killed, which ultimately led him to mistakenly torture his mom. This time, Elias sobs and refuses to look at the blood splatter.
He even refuses to identify that as blood. Meanwhile, His mom begs him to stop pretending and tells him that he wasn’t at fault because he didn’t realize the gun was loaded. The camera pans, and the audience finally sees a previously hidden hole on the wall.
All this indicates that the hole was made because Elias accidentally fired the gun, which killed Lukas. But he doesn’t want to believe that his brother is dead and he is the one who killed him.
The Lukas he has been seeing all this while is only a figment of his imagination. In his manic denial, Elias shoves his mom from the balcony. Due to the push, her lantern breaks, and the hay catches fire.
Elias manages to run out before he sees the barn get engulfed in flames and collapse completely. His mother is dead now if that initial fall didn’t kill her. But right then, Elias’ mom and Lukas approach him.
They tell him he hasn’t done anything wrong and is so strong. Then they hug him and wipe his tears away. It shows that Elias hasn’t recovered mentally yet from the fact that he has accidentally killed two of the closest people in his life.
This is why he keeps hallucinating Lukas and sees his mother after her death. Another theory says that Elias also died in the barn fire, and the three of them are finally reunited. Throughout the film, there are clues that Lukas isn’t real.
None of the other characters that Elias interacts with ever talk to Lukas. Also, the revelation that Elias mistakenly killed his brother is probably why the mother becomes cold toward him.
It is her way of coping with the grief of losing one of her sons while still pretending that everything is normal for the other one. While it’s not right that she holds Elias down in the shower and then pours cold water on him, her mental breakdown is understandable.
What Happened to the Real Mom in Goodnight Mommy?
Elias (and his imagination/ hallucination of Lukas) thought their mother was not real and had been replaced by an imposter because of how cold and cruel she acted. Also, her always wearing the mask (due to cosmetic surgery) made her look more sinister.
But there was no imposter. The audience initially believes Elias because we are watching the events unfold from his point of view. For example, When Elias and Lukas get returned by the police after they run away from their mother, she remarks to the officer that the line between fantasy and reality has been blurred.
At that moment, the audience is meant to understand that it references an imposter taking over the mother’s place. Ultimately, it’s a hint that Elias is the one who has lost touch with reality and has no idea that he mistakenly killed his brother, who he is now imagining.
Also, when Elias overhears his mom talking on the phone about how she can’t pretend anymore, the audience thinks that it’s a hint that the boys are correct and that she’s an imposter. However, later on, when the truth is revealed, it’s clear that the mother is the sane one.
She was tired of pretending everything was fine for Elias when it obviously wasn’t. It’s possible that she was talking to her son’s therapist, who had advised her to play along with his hallucinations.
In the end, when things go out of hand, and her son tortures her because he thinks she’s someone else, she decides to take matters into her own hands and show him what he has done. She takes him to the barn and shows him the red blood stains and the bullet hole.
But Elias refuses to accept that he had fired the gun which killed Lukas. So he pushes her over the railing, and she falls. The lantern she was carrying with her breaks and lights up the entire barn. Elias escapes, but she doesn’t.
Later, Elias hallucinates her with Lukas, and she forgives him for killing her.
Who Is the Real Villain in Goodnight Mommy?
Two main characters can be called a villain in Goodnight Mommy- one is the mother, and the other is Elias. The mother because she is the one who tortures Elias by putting him in the shower and pouring cold water on him. Also, she locks his doors and abuses him in myriad other ways.
Elias can also be considered a villain because he was the one who fired the gun, even though mistakenly, at Lukas. After being unable to accept that incident, he begins hallucinating his brother. When he feels that his mother isn’t the same anymore, he ties her up with duct tape and tortures her.
Along with this, he also pushes her over the barn’s railing. The lantern with her breaks due to the brawl, and the hay in the barn gets set on fire. Elias escapes, but his mom doesn’t. So, who is the biggest villain of the two?
It seems like no one is. Elias is a mentally disturbed kid who has retreated into the safety of his mind and recreated the reality that’s safe for him- with his brother. Also, when he sees that his mother isn’t the same as she was, he sets out to fix it.
But matters get worse when she pushes him to accept the reality of what he has done, even though mistakenly. He doesn’t have the mental capacity for that, so he again commits a murder- this time of his mother.
As for the mom, even though she shouldn’t have been abusive towards Elias, it’s clear that she is affected because she can’t grieve the loss of Lukas, whom his own brother killed. All of this is because she has to pretend that everything is normal. This affects her immensely. So she lashes out at Elias, who had committed the crime.
All in all, the mother should probably have been able to control her emotions better for the sake of her son. So she can be called the real villain. However, calling her a straight-up antagonist won’t be justified since she was also emotionally disturbed and suffering.
What Was the Skin Peeling Scene in Goodnight Mommy?
In one scene, the mother peels her skin off, and we see that it’s all black or charred underneath. This is just a figment of Elias’ imagination because he fears her and thinks she is a monster who isn’t his real mother.
After all, when the scene ends, it cuts to Elias waking up. So it was a dream. Also, the scene is a foreshadowing of how she is going to die by the end of the film- by burning. So her skin is going to be charred.
Why Does the Mother Cover Her Face in Goodnight Mommy?
The mother covers her face with a mask because of cosmetic surgery. It’s implied that she is an actress whose career is fading. So, to rejuvenate her looks, she gets plastic surgery.
It’s also possible that since she is famous, the news of her son killing his brother made it into the news and made life difficult for her. This possibly made her get surgery to alter herself in some way to avoid public speculation or scrutiny.
Why Is Elias the Villain in Goodnight Mommy?
Elias suffers from DID, or dissociative identity disorder, in the film Goodnight Mommy after mistakenly shooting his brother Lukas dead. He imagines his brother alive instead of dead because his brain can’t accept the reality of what he has done.
He also tortures his mother by tying her up with duct tape when he feels she isn’t as caring as before. Later, he mistakenly kills her after she has had enough of his delusions and tries to make him face the reality of what he has done.
Due to these main reasons, Elias can be considered the film’s villain. However, it doesn’t feel right to call him a villain because he’s just a kid who isn’t being deliberately malicious. The fact that he hallucinates his mother and brother forgiving him means that he also feels immensely guilty for his actions.
What are your thoughts on the film Goodnight Mommy? Who is the villain of the movie, as per you? Do you think that the ending was good?
Let us know in the comments below.
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