Netflix’s latest horror hit is thrilling viewers even as it challenges the audience to figure out what the heck is actually happening. From blades to bugs and that wild final act, here’s our breakdown of what it all means in the ending of The Perfection. Spoilers ahead!
The Perfection’s story is told in fragments presented out of order. That first becomes clear when we see Charlotte and Lizzie’s trip through China first through Lizzie’s eyes, drugged and without context, and then from Charlotte’s perspective.
Telling the story this way was a risky move for director Richard Shepard and company, but non-traditional story structure has paid off in the past for movies like Reservoir Dogs and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind films for which planting uncertainty in the audience leads to a satisfying payoff and makes trying to guess what’s going on part of the fun.
The Perfection adds to this by attaching that uncertainty to what should be a pretty simple question in a horror picture: who’s the monster here? It’s only as the story nears its violent climax that we truly understand that the real monster is Anton, head of the Bachoff Academy.
The events of The Perfection may feature a ton of twists and narrative shifts, but the action and horror is all part of the journey to the end.
A decade after leaving Bachoff Academy, Charlotte is still trying to deal with the damage done to her at the school. From the start, we get the impression that this woman has unresolved, possibly dangerous mental issues. Keep watching the video to see the horrifying ending of The Perfection explained!
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Scrambled story | 0:15
A tangled web | 1:03
The final twist | 2:18
Duet | 2:53
Modern metaphor | 3:43
Misdirection | 4:30
Musical cues | 5:22