Psychological thrillers or even films with unexpected endings are treats to watch. From Psycho to Sixth Sense and more, these films perfectly mess with our understanding of the film.
One such film in this broad genre is What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. Made in 1962 by Robert Aldrich with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in the lead roles, the film introduced a new kind of subgenre in Hollywood- psycho-biddy.
The film itself was macabre, sad, emotional, and deranged. So it was pretty adored by critics and went on to get five Oscar nominations. Made on a budget of $900,000, it grossed $9m at the box office.
Adjusting for inflation, that would come to about $90 million today. Fans of old classic Hollywood hold this film in high regard for its subversive ending that blurs the line between hero and villain in the end.
At the end of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, Joan Crawford’s Blanche confessed that Jane wasn’t responsible for her paralysis. Instead, the opposite happened. Blanche tried to run Jane over and kill her after she humiliated her at the party they were returning from.
However, Jane had moved out of the way of the car even in her drunken state, and that had caused Blanche to crash it into a metal gate and paralyze herself. Blanche dies after this confession, and even though Jane dances after learning the truth, the police come to arrest her for Elvira’s murder.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Ending Explained
The titular Baby Jane Hudson, played by Bette Davis, was once a successful child star who performed on stages with her father, who worked as her manager and pianist. This led Blanche, played by Joan Crawford, to grow up resenting her sister. Jane, too regarded Blanche with disdain. But a few years later, things changed.
Now, Jane’s style isn’t in trend anymore. So her career fell into ruin, and she drowned herself in alcoholism. But she couldn’t let go of her former glory and still dressed up as the nine-year-old girl who got all the attention. It made her look garish, misplaced, and deranged. Yet, audiences sympathized with the lost star.
But Blanche finds favor in Hollywood as a successful actress. One evening, when she and Jane return from a party, things turn. She crashes her car and gets paralyzed from the waist down. Jane escapes unharmed. As expected, rumors and speculations point to Jane being the culprit, who was found drunk three days after the accident.
This accident ended her acting career and confined her to her wheelchair on the mansion’s upper floor, bought with her money. Over time, Blanche planned to sell the house and commit her sister to a mental institution. When Jane learned about this, she took the phone out of the house.
Thus, cutting Blanche’s only contact with the outside world. That’s not all. She also starved her paralyzed sister by preparing food she knew Blanche wouldn’t eat- dead rats and their pet parakeet. Their servant, Elvira, learned about this and planned to tell everyone about Jane’s actions. So Jane murdered her and hid her corpse.
A couple of days later, Jane gets a call from the police informing her that the servant has been declared missing. This makes Jane panic, and she decides to leave. One last time, she takes Blanche, who is on the verge of death due to starvation, to a beach. Blanche confesses something that changes the game. She says that Jane was never responsible for her paralysis or the car crash that night.
Instead, Blanche wanted to kill Jane for insulting her at the party they had been to earlier. So that fateful night, when Jane exited the car to open the mansion’s gates, she planned to run Jane over. But Jane saw the vehicle coming even in her drunken state and moved out of the way. This made Blanche crash into the metal gate.
This confession frees Jane. She begins dancing with two ice cream cones in her hand- like she had done in her childhood. The police, who had been looking for her, spotted her as a crowd had gathered due to her antics.
Even though it wasn’t confirmed whether Blanche died, it’s pretty clear she died due to starvation. Also, she could die in peace since she had confessed her sin. As for Jane, she descended into a mad joy after realizing she was innocent of one incident.
However, it didn’t discount the fact that she had killed Elvira and now will have to face the law. As such, there’s no psychological betterment for her because, throughout the film, Jane doesn’t come out of her childish mentality.
Does Blanche Die at the End of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Yes, Blanche dies at the end of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane because of the constant abuse and neglect meted out by his sister Jane. Even though the film doesn’t confirm whether she died, it’s pretty clear that starvation took her. Also, there’s a thematic parallel that hints at Blanche’s death too.
When Jane dances without abandon as she did as a child after hearing that she didn’t paralyze her sister, it’s a callback to when her sister didn’t exist in her eyes as more important than her.
After all, she was the star back then, and her sister was a nobody. As such, it makes sense that Blanche wouldn’t exist in the word’s literal meaning this time. So, in her mind, she’s the star again.
What Is the Twist in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
The plot twist in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane is that in the end, Blanche revealed that she didn’t end up paralyzed due to Jane crashing the car. Instead, she was the one who tried to kill Jane after she had humiliated and insulted her at the party they were returning from that fateful night.
Blanche wanted to run her sister over when she went out of the car to open the metal gates of the house. But even though Jane was drunk, she saw the car coming and moved out of the way, letting Blanche crash and paralyze herself from the waist down. But she never revealed this to Jane till she was on the verge of death, instead letting her stew in self-hatred.
Who Was the Villain in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
At a glance, it’s clear that Jane is the villain of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. After all, she kills her servant, starves her sister, tries to feed her dead rats and her pet bird, and tortures her.
Also, not to mention the fact that she cut off any contact with the outside world and refused even to install an elevator so that her sister could access the downstairs of her mansion.
But the biggest reason is that throughout the film, it’s believed that she caused the car crash that resulted in her sister, Blanche, getting paralyzed from the waist down. The audience bought this reasoning because she was remarkably jealous of her sister’s Hollywood success. However, in the end, it was revealed that Blanche wanted to kill her sister Jane.
But attempting to run her over, she crashed the car and ended up paralyzed. However, she hadn’t confessed it for decades and only admitted it because she was on her deathbed. So who is the actual villain of the film? It’s both in some ways, yet Blanche could have prevented it if she hadn’t tried to kill her sister.
So she’s the real villain and the root cause of her and her sister’s significant misfortunes. Both siblings had an intense rivalry and an almost hatred of each other, but as Jane says at the end, if Blanche had told the truth about the crash earlier, they could have been friends.
So, what did you think of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Who do you think is the villain- Jane or Blanche? And did Blanche die in the end? Or did she somehow survive?
Let us know in the comments below.
