There's a lot to love about this story, but it belongs to a very sad club: movies that are ruined by their endings.
It began with a desperate parent killing his child because he couldn't see any other way out, and the wrongness of that act is the movie's central theme. Edith saves these new children from the harm she inflicted on her own, then the climax brings us full circle as she finds herself driven again to the same desperation, taking them to the clifftop. This time, though, the aunt and uncle are also there, offering the chance to break the cycle. It looked set to be an ending with real meaning and creative integrity. Instead it went completely off the rails and took a turn so out of line with its message it's hard to believe it was written by the same author. At the moment of her redemption, upon being reunited the remains of her child and having a transcendent moment, at the sound of Lilly's voice she thoughtlessly tosses the bones aside and renews her dedication to killing the kids. What? One imagines it was meant to be surprising, and it was... because it was foolish and completely out of character. An hour and a half of excellence, then two minutes of nonsense, and one depressed walk out of the theatre.
It began with a desperate parent killing his child because he couldn't see any other way out, and the wrongness of that act is the movie's central theme. Edith saves these new children from the harm she inflicted on her own, then the climax brings us full circle as she finds herself driven again to the same desperation, taking them to the clifftop. This time, though, the aunt and uncle are also there, offering the chance to break the cycle. It looked set to be an ending with real meaning and creative integrity. Instead it went completely off the rails and took a turn so out of line with its message it's hard to believe it was written by the same author. At the moment of her redemption, upon being reunited the remains of her child and having a transcendent moment, at the sound of Lilly's voice she thoughtlessly tosses the bones aside and renews her dedication to killing the kids. What? One imagines it was meant to be surprising, and it was... because it was foolish and completely out of character. An hour and a half of excellence, then two minutes of nonsense, and one depressed walk out of the theatre.