The Big Picture
- Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho challenges conventional ghost story dynamics, where the ghosts seek revenge on their killer, by portraying the killers as bad men deserving of their fate.
- The film's conclusion may seem ambivalent, but it highlights the complexity of the past and the inability to categorize people and events as purely good or bad.
- Last Night in Soho encourages the audience to wrestle with the complicated nature of the past and embrace its romance while acknowledging its dark complexities.
Edgar Wright has developed plenty of unpredictable stories throughout his career, including Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Baby Driver. But a particularly haunting plot from the filmmaker is Last Night in Soho, which tells the tale of an aspiring fashion designer named Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) who has to solve a murder that took place in her house decades before she even moved in. Through a collection of visions, it appears that Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy) is trying to tell her that the man known as Jack (Matt Smith) murdered her, and it is up to Ellie to find her killer in the modern day. However, things aren't what they appear to be, and the conclusion of the film includes a major reveal that changes the entire context of the story.
Eloise's Dreams Become Nightmares in 'Last Night in Soho'
The entire conflict for the movie would've never happened if Eloise hadn't moved to London while chasing her dream of becoming a fashion designer, but when it was time for college, she would cross paths with devastating events from the past. While Eloise didn't have to find a place for herself given how her school offered students a place to stay, she had to after her classmates were bullying her. With a student's budget, Eloise could only afford a small room inside the building owned by Ms. Collins (Diana Rigg).
Another crucial factor that would place Eloise in the situation she finds herself in at the conclusion of the film is the fact that she's able to see ghosts. After her mother took her own life when she was younger, Eloise has been able to see her in mirrors, windows, and other surfaces. The connection she has with people from the afterlife is mostly harmless until she starts seeing the ghost of Anya Taylor-Joy's Sandie. Apparently, the ghost has been the victim of a brutal murder, and it is up to Eloise to find the person who is responsible for her death all those years ago.
The main suspect is Jack, the man Sandie was seen falling in love with in Eloise's visions. Since the crime took place decades before Eloise even got to London, it is hard to locate Jack by his appearance from the modern day. But Eloise is determined to bring justice to the killer, allowing the ghost of the sweet young lady in the mirror to find peace. However, things can be easily manipulated when it comes to visions, and Eloise isn't ready to face the truth.
Anya Taylor-Joy's Sandie Gives Us a Major Plot Twist
Eloise's visions lead her through a complicated narrative where she struggles to find answers. How is she supposed to find Jack if he is going to look like an old man? How is she going to let the police know what he has done without concrete evidence? Is he even alive? (She mistakes the creepy guy at the bar (Terence Stamp) to be Jack, but he is actually a cop who was looking into vice in the 1960s.) The questions torment the girl's mind, while Sandie's ghost continues to appear wherever she goes. Eloise doesn't know how to help, and she is slowly losing her grip on reality. Soon enough, the truth is revealed to her, even if it doesn't turn out to be what she was expecting.
In the climax of the movie, Ms. Collins reveals that she's actually Sandie, and that she had been alive the entire time. It turns out that the real victim of the crime had been Jack, who was killed decades prior due to forcing Sandie into a life of prostitution. Hating what had happened to her, Sandie took men similar to Jack home, only to kill them and hide them within the structure of her house. While her motives were completely understandable, she has been the killer the whole film, and the ghosts Eloise kept seeing were her victims pointing her in her direction.
The older version of Sandie attempts to kill Eloise with poison, but in the middle of their struggle, a burning cigarette causes a fire inside the house. Eloise manages to escape, but the killer stays in the house where she had taken so many lives after the ghost of Jack incapacitated her. In the end, everyone is a victim of violence, with the entire cycle starting when Jack didn't allow Sandie to live a decent life. But after decades of horror, the story is over, and Eloise tries to move on while still receiving visions of Sandie through mirrors.
RelatedHow Quentin Tarantino Inspired Edgar Wright’s ‘Last Night in Soho’
Edgar Wright got some help from the fellow music-loving filmmaker.
Does Thomasin McKenzie's Eloise Get a Happy Ending in 'Last Night in Soho'?
With the mystery revealed to Eloise and to the audience, what actually happened to the major characters of the movie becomes clear, and it all started when Sandie moved to London. Just like Eloise, she was following her dreams and the possibilities the big city offered, and she quickly fell in love with Jack. While Sandie believed she was starting to form a relationship with a man she adored, she was actually being lured into a prostitution ring, where she would be forced into a tragic life she didn't want for herself.
Only knowing violence during her time in London, Sandie knew she had crossed a point of no return, killing Jack and hiding his body in the walls of her house. After she was liberated from her captor, Sandie realized she couldn't stop, and she wanted to get rid of any man who reminded her of Jack's evil ways and explosive personality. She continued to kill the people she brought to her place under the pretense of still belonging to the prostitution network, hiding their bodies beneath the floorboards.
Decades later, Eloise moved to London to become a fashion designer, and when she moved into Sandie's house, she was able to receive messages from her victims because of the ability to communicate with ghosts she had had since she was little. While other people had lived in the house, no one had been able to hear the screams coming from the walls. Thanks to Eloise being sensitive towards voices from beyond the grave, Sandie's crimes and story come to light decades after they had taken place, in one of Edgar Wright's most intriguing movie plots to date. In the end, Eloise does seem to get a happy ending... for the most part. Eloise successfully designs clothes like she always dreamed, with her grandmother and friend John cheering her on. In the end, she sees her mother smiling at her in the mirror, as well as Sandie, who blows her an ominous kiss.
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