Netflix’s Delicious ending explained: What happened to Esther and John?

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Netflix's Delicious. Reader discretion is advised.

Netflix's Delicious is another addition to the recent list of Eat the Rich-themed projects. Unlike Parasite, Triangle of Sadness, Saltburn, or The Menu, it takes a rather literal approach to exploring this phenomenon related to class conflicts.

Delicious is written and directed by Nele Mueller-Stöfen and stars Carla Díaz, Valerie Pachnerm, Fahri Yardim, Naila Schuberth, and Caspar Hoffmann in key roles. This German drama film, set in France, premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival ahead of its streaming release on Netflix on 7 March.

Its official logline, per IMDb, reads,

"A German family vacationing in a French villa encounters a mysterious injured woman and takes her in, leading to unforeseen consequences."

At the end of Delicious on Netflix, Esther learns Teodora and Lucien's true motives. Teodora and her pals take Esther and Jonn's lives and leave the villa with their young daughter.

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What is the story behind Netflix's Delicious?

Delicious, the new Netflix release, revolves around a wealthy German family coming to France for a getaway trip. John (Fahri Yardim) and Esther (Valerie Pachner) take their kids, Alba (Naila Schuberth) and Philipp (Caspar Hoffmann), to their French villa.teodora

At night, they have a meal at the local hotel and drive home. On their way, they hit Teodora (Carla Díaz), a local woman. Esther offers to treat her in their villa, but Teodora rejects it. The next day, she shows up at their villa and asks for a job as a housekeeper, claiming she lost her previous job due to her injuries.

Esther and John reluctantly hire Teodora, who slowly becomes a part of their family. She realizes the cracks in Esther and John's picture-perfect marriage. She encourages them to pursue other relationships. She also creates distance between the parents and the children. While doing so, she hides the fact that she faked the accident.

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Why does Teodora fake the accident?

To understand the reasons behind Teodora's actions, one must understand the societal critique in Delicious. Teodora is originally Andolasian and is an underprivileged French resident. Esther and John are rich German tourists in France.

The German family comes for a vacation on their property in the French outskirts. They appear either ignorant or oblivious about the problems the locals face due to inflation. That is likely why Teodora fakes her own accident to seek revenge.

It doesn't end there. Esther and John try to take care of Teodora's situation to protect themselves more than to help her. Philipp becomes socially conscious but isn't ready to lose his familial privileges.

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Do Esther and John die at the end of Delicious?

Esther meets Lucien (Julien De Saint Jean) and falls for him. She grows distant from John, who starts spending more time with their family friend, Cora (Sina Martens). Neither Esther nor John realizes that Teodora manipulated them into this rift.

Esther doesn't know that Lucien and Teodora work at the hotel she visited the first night of her vacation. She even stood right next to Teodora in the hotel washroom but didn't notice her. So, Esther considers Teodora a friend and ignores that Lucien has meat packets in his freezer.

At a birthday party, Esther learns that Lucien and Teodora are colleagues. In the washroom, she notices blood oozing out of a basin. Soon, she sees a woman devouring the meat of another guest. She realizes Teodora's cannibalistic motives but gets killed on her way out.

Later, Teodora and her pals kill John at his villa. The next morning, they leave with Alba in the backseat. They do not take her life or Phillips'. Phillip wakes up to find a plate of steak. While eating it, he realizes that it is his father's. The sinister ending shows Teodora giving the kids another chance while killing their self-serving parents.