Yahoo Lifestyle OMG, I Did Not See the ‘Opus’ Ending Coming
Okay, so you're probably here because you just watched Opus, the new Ayo Edebiri movie, and you're absolutely gagged at the ending. Like, did that actually just happen? Maybe! The final moments leave the viewer to fill in a lot of the blanks, but we'll do our best to explain things here. After the police find Moretti sitting at his piano alone, the viewer is led to believe that he killed all the cult members. The police take him into custody, and it feels like the movie is over. But there's more!
[There are spoilers ahead for Opus, obviously.]
So how does the movie end?
We fast forward a few years and Ariel has made a career out of her experience at Moretti's compound. She wrote a book about the whole ordeal that is now a bestseller, and she's on a media tour to promote the novel. Sure, she went through an absolute trauma, but she got the career she wanted out of it. Worth it?? Probably! Just kidding, she almost died multiple times.
While writing the book, she never got a chance to interview Moretti. He's in prison somewhere, and her requests were always denied. But, being the attention hog that he is, he finally agrees to let Ariel come to the prison to interview him. When she gets there, she's surprised to find out he's doing... well? And he even, like, has orchids? This isn't exactly the punishment the audience was hoping for.
Their conversation is brief, but Moretti basically reveals to her that she is part of an elaborate plan to get the gospel of his movement to the masses. She is simply a pawn in his game and she was selected for a reason. She's obviously distraught and confused by this, but she leaves the prison determined not to fulfill the role he set out for her. But it's also revealed to the audience that the people we thought died at the compound didn't actually die. The reason the bodies were never recovered is because those people are now out in the world, also preaching the gospel of the Moretti cult. Spooky!!!
Um, is there more!?
Yes. We see Ariel doing another press appearance for her book. She's on a talkshow, and she notices the interviewer is wearing a necklace that looks a little familiar. She realizes it's a symbol associated with Moretti. She's literally on TV with one of the cult members, and she's trapped. Stephanie Suganami, who plays Emily in the film, told Cosmo in a separate interview that she loved the ending the first time she read it. "I love the moment where Ayo as Ariel is sitting in the interview, and they pan to the news correspondent and she's got the little necklace on. My reaction was Ariel's reaction, where she was kind of like, Wait, what did I do? That clearly was never her intention. And I think everybody has that same reaction, which I think is fun to experience with the character."
The movie ends there, not giving the audience any sort of resolution about what happens after that. Did Ariel make it out alive? Did the movement continue to grow? Was the Moretti album even any good? We'll never know!
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