With an all-star cast and an intriguing premise, the 2006 film Irresistible has a lot going for it. The psychological mystery drama delves into themes of mental health, parentage, and loneliness – while also being captivating enough to keep viewers on the edge of their seats and then some. As the tension rises, all of the pieces of the plot fall into place, leading to what feels like a satisfying ending — but then we get a big twist that blows everything we thought we knew about the characters out of the water.

Some critics and viewers found the unexpected climax to be an incredible finish to a powder keg of a film, whereas others felt it was clumsy and didn’t really fit the rest of the movie. A few were just plain confused by it all, which is fair enough. If you’re one of the latter, then read ahead for our guide to the Irresistible movie ending.

Who stars in Irresistible?

Irresistible has a truly incredible pair of leading ladies, with the cast buoyed by some other brilliant actors from Down Under. Susan Sarandon plays Sophie, an American illustrator living in Australia with what seems to be her idyllic family: her husband Craig (Sam Neill) and their two daughters Ruby and Elly. However, when Mara (Emily Blunt) — a colleague of Craig’s — comes into their lives, everything begins to change.

By this stage of her career Sarandon was by far the most established name on set, having already won an Academy Award for Dead Man Walking and been nominated for four others. Blunt was still a fairly new up-and-comer, but the Brit had already made waves with her performance in The Devil Wears Prada, and had been in a few other fairly large television productions in her native U.K. Neill was also well known to international audiences, with the Kiwi actor having appeared in Jurassic Park.

What’s the plot of Irresistible?

Sophie (Sarandon) is an American illustrator who one day rushes home from walking her daughters to school as she’s sure she’s left the iron on. However, when she returns the device is switched off, but still hot. After doing some more work and a romantic surprise gift from her husband Craig (Neill) to celebrate their anniversary, she forgets all about the weird happening. The next morning she comes downstairs to find ink spilled all over one of her paintings, and blames it on her cat.

A few days later the happy couple go to a party, where Sophie meets Mara (Blunt), a new co-worker of Craig’s. The two seem to hit it off and eventually go for a walk on the beach, where Sophie reveals she is still reeling from the recent loss of her mother. Mara sympathizes, telling Sophie about how she too has just lost somebody close – her best friend Kate who had been like a sister to her. Kate was an aid worker who had been killed while helping at an orphanage in Kosovo which had been set ablaze by a Molotov cocktail.

Items continue to go missing from around the house with increasing pace, and Sophie becomes incredibly paranoid. One day, she sees Mara wearing a dress that looks exactly like one that was stolen from her house. She begins to suspect Mara, and breaks into her home in search of proof, only to be caught and served a restraining order. Craig — embarrassed — doesn’t back her up in court, and Sophie suspects an affair between the pair. Sophie leaves the city to clear her head, and during this time has a conversation with her father in which the audience discovers Sophie had a child as a teen that she was forced to give up, against her wishes.

Upon returning to the city Sophie finds her cat missing. Despite the risks, she sneaks into Mara’s house to check, where she finds her pet. However, the alarm goes off before Sophie can get away. Seeing that a neighbor is watching the property from afar, Sophie decides to run and hide in the basement. Mara comes home and picks up a hammer, before methodically moving through the house to find the intruder. Sophie continues to hide, only for Mara to then lock the basement from the outside, leaving Sophie trapped.

As Sophie scrambles to find a way out she discovers many of her missing items, including family photos with her face cut out. However, it’s more complex then just a simple case of crazed jealousy: Sophie also finds a birth certificate and a letter from an adoption agency that’s addressed to Mara, informing her that her biological mom had asked for a closed adoption. Sophie quickly realizes that Mara may very well be the baby that she gave up all those years ago.

All the while, Mara is attempting to seduce Craig, only for her plan to be scuppered when Ruby and Elly’s school rings to tell him that they haven’t been picked up by Sophie. Craig, still unaware of Mara’s past, is busy with an important meeting, so when she says she’ll happily take the kids to her house to wait he jumps at her offer.

As Mara, Ruby, and Elly arrive at the former’s home, Sophie has managed to worm her way into the air ducts. She sees her daughters and tries to get their attention, only for Mara to notice her first. The two have a confrontation in the basement, and even though Sophie tries to apologize for abandoning Mara, a fight breaks out, leading to the basement being set ablaze. Mara almost gets caught in the fire, only for Sophie to save her. The two women are taken to hospital.

Craig rushes to the hospital and is given what was on Sophie’s person as she was taken in, including the birth certificate and adoption agency letter. The couple then have a long talk and decide to work on their relationship. Sophie then visits Mara in her room, and asks her for forgiveness. The pair then hug.

What would be a neat ending isn’t the climax of the film, though. We later see Mara recovering at home, where she is looking over various pictures and news clippings about Kate. The camera focuses on a picture of Mara and Kate as kids, and Kate looks exactly like Elly, Sophie’s daughter. It then pans to a picture of Mara and Kate as adults, with Kate being near-identical to Sophie. The film ends with Mara cutting out the face of Ruby from one of Sophie’s family photos, before replacing it with her own. The haunting caption she’s given this section – “Mother and Me.”

Irresistible movie ending, explained

The ending to Irresistible certainly annoyed some viewers, with the additional twist seen as unnecessary and a bit confused. The idea of Kate being Sophie’s daughter and a slightly unhinged Mara then taking that mantle on after Kate is murdered is a stretch to say the least, but given what we know about Mara it’s not out of the question. Throughout, Mara is methodical, manipulative, and appears to have little to no conscience, while also being clearly desperate for some kind of love.

Then there’s the implication that Mara may have killed Kate and tried to take over her life. The photo of the two friends appears to have been taken in Kosovo, which implies that the sociopathic Mara may have attacked the orphanage, knowing it would lead to Kate’s death. The letter from the agency isn’t dated and it could be inferred that Mara’s real mother’s rejection drove her to these actions. Or, perhaps, in Mara’s grief-stained mind Sophie is directly responsible for Kate’s death, which explains why Mara was initially trying to ruin Sophie’s life. However, the “irresistible” pull of a real family meant that once Sophie had revealed she thought Mara was her daughter, the latter simply went along with it.

The only things we can be certain of are that Mara isn’t Sophie’s daughter, and that she’s very unwell mentally.

What did critics think of Irresistible?

Ambiguous ending aside, most critics thought the performances in the film make it well worth watching. However, others felt the strange plot holes can’t be too widely ignored, as the premise of the film hinges on its logical construction, meaning it doesn’t do exactly what it set out to. A mixed bag, all in all.

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