The following article discusses elements of depression and suicide, as depicted in The Woman In The Yard
The following contains spoilers for The Woman In The Yard, now playing in theaters
The ending of The Woman In The Yard has generated a lot of controversy. The Blumhouse horror film focuses on Ramona, a recently widowed mother of two who is struggling to raise her children while contending with her own lingering injuries and internal grief. The film is driven by the arrival of the тιтular figure, a shrouded woman who steadily stalks Ramona and her family through their home. Much of the film focuses on the drama between the family before shifting into more overt jump scares and tense beats in the latter half of the run-time.
For the most part, The Woman In The Yard works as a grounded and mysterious horror film that tackles painfully real emotions and fears felt by parents, similar to movies like Hereditary or The Babadook. However, the ending of The Woman In The Yard has left a bad taste in some audiences’ mouths, as the ambiguous nature of the climax has led some to interpret the ending in a far bleaker way. Here is why the ending of The Woman In The Yard is so controversial and the different interpretations of it seen by various horror fans.
Ramona Seemingly Dies By Suicide In The Woman In The Yard’s Ending
The Woman In The Yard Might Leaves Ramona’s Final Fate Ambiguous
The Woman In The Yard ends with the apparent suicide of Ramona, which has garnered a great deal of controversy among horror fans. The Woman In The Yard‘s third act reveals that the woman stalking Ramona and her children is a manifestation of Ramona’s sadness, as she believes Ramona’s earlier pleas for “strength” as a request for help ending her own life. The shrouded woman convinces Ramona, who has been trapped in a deep depression following the death of her husband, that her children can only lead fulfilling lives if she’s gone, causing her to push them away.
If you or someone you love is experiencing suicidal ideation, please call the crisis H๏τline at 988 (US) or visit 988Lifeline.org (US) or FindAHelpline.com (International) for help.
Initially, the ending suggests that Ramona found the resolve to ignore the shrouded woman. She is reunited with her kids and their dog as the power finally returns to their home. However, the final sH๏τ of a reversed signature suggests Ramona is actually in one of the fabricated worlds constructed by the shrouded woman. Although the film never shows Ramona pulling the trigger or features a sound effect indicating she went through with her suicidal inclinations, this twist suggests Ramona did kill herself and is now within the false world the shrouded woman trapped her within earlier in the film.
The Woman In The Yard Has Been Criticized For Its Messaging
The Woman In The Yard Has Generated A Lot Of Discussion Among Film Fans
The Woman In The Yard is commendable for attempting to tackle subjects like depression and suicidal ideation, but the execution of the concept has led to a range of reactions. As seen in the Reddit discussion of the film, some viewers have taken the ending to be a validation of the shrouded woman’s belief that Ramona can only be free if she ends her own life. Some interpret the overtly happy ending, with Ramona reunited with her children and the dog that was implied to have been killed earlier in the film, as a “reward” for a character dying by suicide.
Others argue that Ramona did survive the night, taking her acceptance that the shrouded woman is a part of her and that she can combat those dark thoughts every day at surface value. In this interpretation, Ramona didn’t kill herself and has decided to keep living, with the reversed writing symbolizing that she’s not separating the worlds of her family and her internal pain anymore. Others have argued that the film’s ending doesn’t make sense or fails to reckon with the potentially unintentional message it conveys about suicide sometimes being the right decision, regardless of the intentions of the filmmakers.
The Woman In The Yard’s Ambiguity Around Ramona’s Fate Adds More Complications
The Sheer Ambiguous Nature Of The Ending Makes The Woman In The Yard Tricky To Discuss
The biggest thing about The Woman In The Yard‘s ending that makes it so hard to discuss is the ambiguous nature of the ending. There are too many positive turns in Ramona’s ending for it to feel believable, especially the sH๏τ of a sign naming the farm after Ramona, as she repeatedly remembers her husband lovingly discussing the concept throughout the film. It feels like a facade in the moment, which is seemingly confirmed by the ambiguous nature of Ramona’s signature being backwards. However, this would give the film a very bleak message, one that some audiences have bristled against.
If Ramona did kill herself in the ending of The Woman In The Yard, then either she’s depicted finally being at peace with herself and her family — a likely unintentional but very problematic moral of the story — or the shrouded woman achieved her goal by manipulating her into taking her own life. The Woman In The Yard wants to tell a powerful story about a woman wrestling with suicidal ideation, but executing it as a twisty prestige horror film muddies the themes of the story. The Woman In The Yard’s ending doesn’t benefit from the ambiguous nature of the scene.
Source: Reddit
