Goodnight Mommy ending explained: Was Mother the real mother?

Goodnight Mommy brought us a thrilling story that left us wondering all the way to the end. Was Mother the boys’ real mom?

If you saw the 2014 Austrian movie of the same name, you’ll have already had an idea as to how the reboot would end. Of course, changes can always happen to keep us on our toes. Was the ending to Goodnight Mommy the end?

The movie started with questions immediately. When Elias and Lukas’s father took them to their mother’s house, he didn’t go in. The boys didn’t initially think much of it, but it was clear there was something big going on.

It didn’t take long for the boys to see that Mother was acting strangely. She didn’t know things that she should, and she acted very differently from the way she used to. It was hard to see who was under the white mask, something that had to be there due to some sort of accident.

Was Mother the real mother in Goodnight Mommy?

The boys soon started to question whether Mother was an imposter or not. While they were told not to go to the barn, they eventually headed there. They both found blood, leading to questions about what was going on.

When Elias makes claims to Mother’s face, she drags him to the bathroom and abuses him with icy water until he changes his mind. The two decided to run away, but they’re picked up by police and taken home. That’s when we find out that Mother is an actress and the cops want a selfie with her, even with the mask on.

When Mother goes to sleep, the boys tie her to the bed and get her to confess that she’s not their real mom. She refuses to do so, though, trying to play the twins against each other. She asks Elias to untie her, but at first he refuses.

When Elias eventually checks on some of the “lies” Mother has told him, he realizes that Lukas has been lying to him. He unties Mother, but now they can’t find Lukas.

What happened to the twins in Goodnight Mommy?

That’s when we learn about the accident in the barn. Elias had found a gun that he didn’t know was loaded. He accidentally shot and killed his brother, Lukas. Lukas had died, and now we see that the adults only ever interacted with Elias. He’s seeing his brother, forgetting with the trauma that he’d killed Lukas.

Elias can’t handle it. While in the barn, he pushes his mother off the second story and she lands in the hay with a lamp. She’s knocked unconscious and the hay catches fire. Elias runs from the barn. Sadly, Mother dies, but she does tell him that none of this was Elias’s fault.

Everything about Mother finally makes sense. We can assume that it was Father’s gun Elias had grabbed and Mother can no longer look at him. Elias had signed the photo from himself and his brother, which would have led to Mother being triggered and ripping up the picture in her grief. Lukas couldn’t find the contact lenses because Elias wasn’t ready to see the truth—and because Elias hadn’t seen them yet.

It’s a heartbreaking story in the end, and we can only wonder what’s next for Elias after Goodnight Mommy‘s ending.

What did you think of the Goodnight Mommy ending? Did you piece it all together? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Goodnight Mommy is now available to stream on Prime Video.