The Woman in the Window Ending Explained [SPOILER!]

SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!

Anna Fox (Amy Adams) is an agoraphobic child psychologist who finds herself keeping tabs on the picture perfect family across the street through the windows of her New York City brownstone. Her life is turned upside down when she inadvertently witnesses a brutal crime. Based on the gripping, best-selling novel and adapted by Tracy Letts, shocking secrets are revealed and nothing and no one are what they seem in this suspenseful psychological thriller starring Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Julianne Moore.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The Woman in the Window Plot Summary and Synopsis

Anna Fox is a child psychologist in her 40s, living alone in her Harlem brownstone apartment, aside from her womanising downstairs tenant David. Anna is separated from her husband Edward who lives away from her with their daughter Olivia, though she talks to them on a daily basis. Anna suffers from severe agoraphobia that prevents her from leaving, all the while she drinks wine and consumes a hefty amount of medication. Anna’s housebound state leads her to observe all of her neighbors, who include the recently transplanted Russell family, consisting of Alistair, his wife Jane, and their teenage son Ethan. Both Jane and Ethan take an interest in Anna and she soon befriends them.

One night, Anna witnesses Jane apparently being stabbed to death in the living room. When Anna contacts the police, they don’t believe her. Alistair soon arrives along with “Jane” who, to the shock of Anna, is a different woman than the one she met. Convinced this Jane is an impostor, Anna begins spying on the Russell family, suspicious that Alistair killed and replaced the original Jane and that he’s abusive to Ethan. She also searches through David’s apartment while he is away, discovering an earring from the original Jane, and David returns when she finds he has broken the conditions of his bail in Massachusetts.

Anna becomes suspicious someone is breaking into her home while she is asleep, which is confirmed when she receives an anonymous e-mail containing a photo of her sleeping. Anna calls the detectives investigating, who are soon joined by the Russells and David, where she has a nervous breakdown in front of everyone. The detectives calm her down and reveal that her husband and daughter are dead, having died in a car crash and that Anna’s use of her medication is causing her to have imaginary conversations over the phone. In a flashback to the previous year, Anna has an argument with Ed while driving with Olivia on a Christmas vacation, and it is implied that Anna had an affair. Anna’s phone calls but it drops into the back seat. When Anna tries to retrieve it, she drives the car off a cliff. Anna survives the wreckage but Ed and Olivia do not.

Back in the present day, Alistair continues to deny the existence of the original Jane Russell and warns Anna off. Anna stops pursuing her suspicions and records a video will on her phone, planning to commit suicide by overdose. Anna soon discovers a picture of the original Jane on her phone reflected in a photo of her cat, proving she was real.

Anna shows the photo to David when he appears in her apartment where he confesses the original “Jane” who Anna had met was Ethan’s birth mother Katie and that Jane had adopted him as a child, and that he had a one night stand with Katie earlier in the week. Katie had been lurking around the family, trying to get close to Ethan, hence why they had to move. David refuses to corroborate Katie’s existence to prove Anna’s story when he is suddenly attacked by Ethan, who had been lurking in the apartment.

Ethan reveals that he murdered Katie and is a budding serial killer, having also killed Alistair’s secretary and intends to kill Anna as well. He admits visiting her at night using her house key. Anna tricks Ethan into watching her take the overdose, allowing her to flee as the wounded David grabs Ethan to stall him and is killed as a result. Ethan chases Anna to the roof where they fight until Anna gets the upper hand, pushing Ethan through the skylight to his death.

As Anna recovers in the hospital, Detective Little states they have arrested Alistair and Jane for helping to cover up Katie’s murder, with Jane confessing. Little admits he watched Anna’s video will, handing back her phone to allow her to delete it before she has to return it as evidence.

The Woman in the Window Ending

Nine months later, the Russells home is empty as Anna says her last goodbyes before she moves out and on with her life.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).