We discuss the ending of the 2023 Netflix film Run Rabbit Run which will contain spoilers.
In Run Rabbit Run, Sarah Snook plays a fertility doctor named Sarah, who firmly believes in life and death. Still, noticing the strange behavior of her young daughter, Mia, challenges her values and forces her to confront the ghosts of her past.
The film is plodding and does have trouble finding its footing in the middle as Sarah’s secrets come to the forefront. Sarah has an enjoyable and loving relationship with her daughter at the beginning of this. Still, as she spirals out of control, Sarah loses herself while trying to help her daughter.
It plays out as an art-house horror film that builds on themes of grief, mental health, and past decisions. It feels directionless because the story doesn’t do anything that audiences haven’t seen before. It does fall into generic territory in the end.
Run Rabbit Run (2023) Ending Explained
What happens to Mia?
If you’re a fan of an ambiguous ending, then you will appreciate Run Rabbit Run. As Sarah gets to her old family house with Mia, things start to shift dramatically. At first, Mia was the one seeing things and questioning if people were alive. She wanted to be near people she had never even met before. Once that rabbit showed up at their doorstep, this is where things changed within the household.
Sarah even mentioned that Mia had some traits from her sister Alice. She enjoyed nature and animals as well. Her sister would bring back strays and look after them when they were little, and Sarah would be totally against it. She was the older sister, and all she wanted to do was be on her own, so Alice felt like she was annoying her. She felt ignored.
A prime example of that is when Sarah mentions that she and her sister would play hide-and-seek all the time. Since it’s implied that Alice is speaking through Mia, Mia changes her attitude and says that she’s against hide-and-seek because Sarah never wants to find her.
The lines continue to blur as Sarah sees blood on Mia’s forehead, and as she goes to check it and cut her hair to see where it starts, Mia fights her. And in doing that, Sarah accidentally cuts Mia’s arms with the scissors. Then she looks back at Mia’s head, and there’s no blood there. She then sees Alice jump out of nowhere, and she starts attacking Sarah.
Luckily she found an old bunny trap, and she attacks Alice with it, and she disappears. This is all in the mind of Sarah facing the ghosts at her old family home while her daughter acts as the conductor to the spirits in the house.
While Sarah’s in a dream state, she sees that Mia is out of bed and she’s walking towards the cliffs with Alice. She remembers that this is the cliff Sarah pushed Alice off of when they were younger. Sarah bangs on the door to get their attention, but then it fades to black. No one knows the fate of Mia, and it’s up to the viewer to interpret the ending.
The ending can be interpreted that Sarah should have been the one to go off the cliff instead of her sister because Mia is a piece of Sarah. The fade to black could mean that she often thinks about and could possibly have nightmares about that particular moment in her life. Or it could mean that Sarah is losing her daughter because she’s so much like her sister Alice and that she’s taking her away from Sarah as well. There are many ways to interpret this, and an ambiguous ending will always be subjective, and that’s what makes these stories stay with audiences.
What did you think of the ending of the 2023 Netflix film Run Rabbit Run? Comment below.
