Talk to Me Ending Explained: Did Mia Die at End? Was The Spirit That Spoke to Mia That of Her Mother?
Talk to Me is a horror film by brothers Danny and Michael Philippou that marks their big debut on the big screen. After becoming famous thanks to their RackaRacka YouTube channel, the twins teamed up with A24 to present a story focused on the supernatural. Thus, perhaps you had the opportunity to enjoy it and you were left with some doubts about its outcome. For this reason, Mag presents you with the ending explained. It is worth specifying that the production exceeds 95% positive professional reviews on the specialized portal Rotten Tomatoes, which is why many consider it “the best horror film of 2023”. Throughout the 95 minutes of the film, we learn the story of a teenager named Mia, who becomes hooked on the emotion of invoking spirits through an embalmed hand. However, upon encountering a soul she claims to be her mother, she must debate whether to trust the living or the dead.
This is how we can recognize elements of “Insidious“, “Ouija“, “It Follows”, “Deadly Line” and any other work with spiritualist sessions that exists. Whether intentionally or not, there is a direct reference to the short story “Monkey’s Paw”, written by W. Jacobs in 1902. The script takes up old warnings: you do not return from the spirit world alone while reinforcing that of be careful with what you wish for, because if it comes true you will regret it for a lifetime. There is also subtext, as in “It follows.” In the latter, after the sexual encounters, the transformation of the characters began. In Talk to Me it is that shot of adrenaline, very similar to drugs, that becomes a dangerous journey that will change the protagonists. Now, if you’ve already seen the movie, you’re probably asking yourself a lot of questions. Here we are going to answer them, warning that spoilers come.
Talk to Me Movie Review: The Story Plot
Mia (Sophie Wilde) is a teenager who is going through a very difficult period she has not overcome the death of her mother which occurred – perhaps by suicide, perhaps by an accident – only a year earlier. After the tragedy, she distanced herself from her father, who like her was close in mourning. To try to overcome her grief, Mia spends a lot of time at the house of her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen), with her younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) and her mother (Miranda Otto), whom she considers a second family. Together with Riley, Jade, and her boyfriend Daniel (Otis Dhanji) one evening Mia goes to a party at the house of one of their school friends, Haley (Zoe Terakes): her parties are famous among all their peers for a very particular, a sort of séance that puts them in communication with the afterlife. Haley and their friend Joss (Chris Alosio) have come into possession of an embalmed hand – perhaps a medium? of a Satanist? – with which they carry out a frightening ritual: squeezing her and pronouncing the words Talk to Me you get in touch with a spirit from the afterlife, who will possess the unfortunate person in question for a maximum of ninety seconds. Why ninety seconds? Because more than that would make him want to stay.
Mia immediately decides to try, and, amidst the general enthusiasm, she becomes possessed by a spirit. The feeling of her is beautiful, but the entity that governs her body seems driven by evil intentions and is targeting Riley. The confusion of the moment is such that Mia shakes hands for more than the expected ninety seconds, and her friends manage to close the ritual only after some time. What will the consequences be for Mia? The young girl begins to be haunted by terrifying visions, in particular, she is convinced she is seeing the spirit of her missing mother. At another party, this time at Jade’s house, things got even worse. Among those who decide to face the ritual there is, with Mia’s permission, Riley himself; however, the entity that enters his body does something terrifying: he tries to kill him.
Talk to Me Ending Explained: Did Mia Die at End?
ATTENTION SPOILERS. Towards the end of Talk to Me, Cole confesses that it was Joss who gave Duckett the hand that led to his death and Mia deduces that they must save Riley by blowing out the candle to complete the ritual. Unfortunately, our protagonist can only contact a girl who shows her that the spirit of her friend is being tortured in limbo. Upon arriving home, Mia meets with Max, who reveals that Rhea ended her life and that he hid her suicide note so as not to make her feel guilty. Then, the supposed spirit of her mother claims that the man is lying. An evil being in the form of her father appears on the scene and Mia, without realizing it, stabs her true father in the neck.
Does Jade, Were You Able to Save Riley From Mia?
The young woman is visibly affected, even more so when we consider that Rhea told her that Riley needed to die to be freed. In this way, Mia distracts Jade and Sue to enter the hospital room, but she cannot kill the boy. Jade, for her part, finds Max covered in blood and immediately returns to the health center. There, she sees Mia heading with her brother, in a wheelchair, towards the road. The spirits want the girl to push Riley into traffic, but Jade finally arrives in time to save him. However, Mia throws herself into a vehicle and causes a car accident.
Did Mia Die in Talk to Me?
The short answer is yes. In the last sequence of the film, we see Mia coming to her senses and walking down the road. She is teleported to the hospital, while she watches Riley and her father recover. When she tries to reach Max, she is left completely alone in the dark. Then, a glow catches her attention, guiding her towards a hand hanging in the void. The young woman grabs it and is taken to a session where a group of people use this artifact to communicate with the spirits. In this way, our protagonist realizes that she is now a spirit condemned to darkness. In that sense, she is forced to join the souls who will take advantage of any opportunity to occupy someone’s body.
Was The Spirit That Spoke to Mia That Of Her Mother?
Everything seems to indicate NO. The film suggests that these spirits explore the traumas of their host, convincing them to kill others and end their own lives. In the case of Mia, she had serious abandonment problems, so this was taken advantage of by the evil being to manipulate the young woman.
What Exactly is the Hand?
The hand is an object that supposedly belonged to a medium or worshiper of Satan. It is speculated that it is human, but it was covered in ceramic. The inscriptions give an idea that it has passed through many owners. It works as the device that allows connection with souls in pain; dead that swarm without finding their resting place. The mechanism is as follows: a candle is lit to show the path of “the light” to the deceased. Whoever invokes it must pronounce the word Talk to Me. Once this is done, you should see the ghost who answered the call. Now, if he also wants me to take possession of his body, he adds: “I let you in”.
Once the spirit takes possession of the body that invokes it, no more than 90 seconds should pass to extinguish the candle, which in theory should end the paranormal encounter, returning the deceased to their darkness. If the time is extended, there is a danger that the spirit will take over the container, that is, the body that has invoked it. On the other hand, if the person making the connection dies with the spirit inside, he or she is also left in limbo, joining the lost souls.
Why Do They Possess Riley?
If you are a consumer of horror movies, you know that spirits usually possess the “weak”, those who go through crises (depression), and have negative thoughts or existential doubts. Riley (Joe Bird) fits perfectly into this spectrum because he seems to be misunderstood, always under the care of his sister. A misfortune also happens: Mia (Sophie Wilde) believes that thanks to him she has contacted her mother.
When Riley is finally allowed to use his hand, once he lets the spirit in, the way he addresses Mia, it seems like he was possessed by the young black woman’s mother. Therefore, Mia wants the time to be extended and does not blow out the candle (which would have ended the contract). In this indecision, Riley begins to hit herself, and everyone around panics. They do not know how to stop him, while at the same time, they want to erase evidence that could incriminate them (all sessions are recorded on video). All this makes us suspect that they forgot to blow out the candle or did so late and Riley’s soul was left in limbo.
Is the Was Ghost Mia’s Mother or Not?
This is one of the great dilemmas of the film. As we noted above, spirits often pick up on the weaknesses of those who invoke them. Mia has not closed her grief over the death of her mother, (Alexandria Steffensen), who committed suicide. The young woman believes that her parent did not want to end her life, but that she was unable to ask for help without strength and that is why she tore down the door to her room. Those scratches are what he starts to hear after his first ghostly encounter when using his hand. The evil of this soul of hers accompanied her by staying in contact with her for more than 90 seconds. And it’s basically what we’re going to see in the movie: Mia’s descent into hell from her first contact with her object. It is these spirits that begin to play with her mind. They make him believe that her mother did not commit suicide, but that it was her father, Max (Marcus Johnson), who hurt her.
There is even the first ghost that indicates what is going to happen if they continue playing: “They want Riley.” It is Mia herself who forces the young man to spend more time possessed, believing that she is the mother who inhabits this body. But there is a definitive detail that explains to us what happens, and it has to do with the scene with which the feature film begins. At the beginning of Talk to Me we meet the hand’s previous owner, Duckett (Sunny Johnson), who claims he’s been talking to his father. The spirit that resembles her mother convinces him to stab her brother, Cole (Ari McCarthy). The underlying reason is that the spirit assures that Cole will commit evil acts if he remains alive. So, it is quite clear that the spirits that are invoked, or some of them if they find the ideal recipient (weak, depressed, with doubts), will want to corrupt him to the point of suicide. To do this, they use traumas from the past and twist them. In this case, the ghost poses as Mia’s mother to carry out her plan.
Why is Riley Saved and Where Does Mia Go?
Again, you have to read the bold letters in the movie to understand some things. In Riley’s case, Mia redoes the hand contact at the hospital, and this time she does blow out the candle. So the door that had been left open when the young man began to hit his head was closed. If this didn’t work, you can remember what Cole told the group: the living body naturally expels dead spirits if given enough time. Now, why didn’t the previous rule happen with Mia and Duckett? The spirits likely became more infatuated with these two, who also did not have much family support and tended to act alone. In the film, it is noted that Mia has more family life with her friends than with her father, whom she ends up hurting. In any case, for whatever reason, Riley returns to normal d. Lego, in the last scene we see how the lighting of a match sounds and Mia appears who was summoned by a new user of the hand. She has become a spirit. How is it possible? Everything indicates that Riley was saved by his sister, while Mia, like Duckett, chose suicide by jumping onto the highway.
