Anna Kendrick explains the final moment of the Woman of the Hour, and it still haunts me

Before text scrolls across the screen explaining what happened to Rodney Alcala after the events of Woman of the Hourthe final moment of the film shows Amy, the woman who called the police and had the killer arrested, gasping. It’s a shocking and unsatisfying way to end the film. That’s the point though, as a director Anna Kendrick explained as she discussed the ending of her film Netflix’s 2024 release schedule.

Woman of the Hour is easily the scariest movie I watched this year, partly because of how it ended. While Rodney was arrested, the last instance is a sigh before it’s revealed that he didn’t go to jail until a while afterward. Although the woman he took was safe, this story was not finished or happy. Anna Kendrick discussed that creative choice to end on a sigh and its meaning Tudumsaying:

As incongruous as it is, that’s (Stephen) Sondheim. That’s the chord that resolves at the end of Into the Woods, and then there’s a final “I wish.” Because there’s no perfect solution: that character survived, but it’s not as simple as “she’s okay now.” At the very least, it is intended to evoke dissonance.

In In the forestthe closing song – “Finale: Children Will Listen” – is all about the characters reflecting on what they’ve been through and how they move on after tragic events. Although it seems like the song will end with the lyrics “and happy ever after,” the last line of the song and the show is actually Cinderella singing “I wish.” To me, that choice encourages the audience to think about the good and bad that came with everything these characters wanted. It also puts an exclamation point on the idea that even though the show is over, the story isn’t.

Anna Kendrick in particular was part of the In the forest movie castand she played Cinderella. Therefore, she is very familiar with this line and its meaning. So I love that she also used it as a way to end her film, because it’s incredibly effective.

I find it terrifying and brilliant that Woman of the Hour ended on this note, especially considering what happened to this serial killer after the teen runaway escaped him.

After you hear the runaway Amy gasp, text scrolls across the screen indicating what happened to all the people after the events of the film. It includes the fact that “a teenage runaway escaped Rodney Alcala by asking him to keep the meeting a secret,” which Amy did in the film. However, the following information is then revealed about what happened to the serial killer after he was arrested:

He was released on bail pending his trial. Once released, he murdered a 21-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl. Alcala was arrested again in 1979. Only then did authorities begin to uncover the extent of his crimes. For more than a decade, Alcala had been reported to the police by survivors and other private citizens without any consequence. He was eventually convicted of the murders of seven women and girls. Some authorities estimate the actual number of victims at 130.

Then the credits explain that the runaway appeared in court 31 years after Alcala went to prison to testify against him. As Kendrick said, she was safe in the film’s final scene, but her story didn’t end there — as she testified so many years later — and the trauma didn’t go away.

Woman of the Hour is received with praise because of Kendrick’s vision and the way she handles this chilling, terrifying and vulnerable story. While she made this film about a murderer who harmed so many women, she also made it a fantastic commentary on the fear women feel every day and the terror and abuse that comes with institutionalized misogyny and sexism.

While the stories of Rodney’s victims extend beyond this film (hence the last gasp), so do the larger issues and themes presented within it. That’s an important reason Woman of the Hour has been haunting me for weeks; I also think that’s why it’s so brilliant.

To go back and see this final moment that Kendrick was talking about, you can watch Woman of the Hour immediately Netflix subscription.