Resurrection ending explained: What happened to Margaret?

Resurrection is a psychological thriller released on July 29, 2022, after the film's Sundance premiere. The film is written and directed by Andrew Semans, and features Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth in important roles.

Here's the synopsis, according to Letterboxd:

A woman’s carefully constructed life is upended when an unwelcome shadow from her past returns, forcing her to confront the monster she’s evaded for two decades.

The film's producers include Tory Lenosky, Drew Houpt, Lia Buman, Tim Headington and Lars Knudsen, and it was released by Shudder and IFC post Sundance premiere. Along with Hall and Roth, the cast also includes Grace Kaufman, Michael Esper, and Angela Wong Carbone.

The ending of Resurrection was a much-discussed subject when the film released, given the fact that it was controversial, violent and highly abstract. Let us take a look at the film's plot and ending.

What is the plot of Resurrection?

Resurrection is about Margaret (played by Rebecca Hall), who is an entrepreneur in Albany, New York. She is a single mother and has a daughter named Abbie (Grace Kauffman) who goes to college. Margaret lives a quiet life, which is upended after her abusive ex, David (Tim Roth), shows up in her life.

How does Resurrection end?

Towards the end of Resurrection, David asks Margaret to meet him in a hotel room. There, David claims that he has Benjamin, aka Ben, inside him. When the two were together, Margaret had given birth to their child, Ben. David told her that he had eaten Ben, and that the boy lives inside his body. While initially she is apprehensive, Margaret eventually begins to feel that David is not lying. She touches his belly and feels small hands. Prior to going to the hotel, Margaret sends a goodbye message to Abbie.

She ties David with a duct tape while holding a knife in her hand. Margaret then goes on to cut his stomach, which instantly kills him. She does this slowly so that he feels the pain. Then, Margaret manages to trace Ben inside his body. While trying to cut David's body, she pulls his intestines. She takes Ben in her hand and smiles at him. Ben is then brought to Margaret's house.

In the end, Abbie goes to college saying bye to her mother, while the latter holds a baby in her arms. Margaret then gives her the baby to hold. The final frame of the film showcases Margaret's smile turning into a gasp.

The film's ending has a sense of ambiguity because of how the protagonist got away killing David in cold blood. No one finds out the corpse of David inside the hotel room.

It's quite possible that all this was playing in Margaret's head. She wanted to get away from David but he wouldn't let go of her. So, she is possibly coming up with a scenario to end him. The angle of Ben might come from the revelation about his death. She thought her son passed away but David ate him.

In an interview with Slash Film, the film's director Andrew Semans said that he always had the ending clear:

"Always in, yeah. From the first draft to the last. There were many variations on that ending, but the actual, the action, what Margaret does to David and what she finds after she does it, that was always the ending. I did write a draft, because I was getting nervous or chickening out, where there was an ending that was a little bit more realistic, I would say, but that didn't survive very long. It always ended this way."

What do you think of Resurrection's ending?