The Privilege Ending Explained: Who Is Hiding Behind The Trondthal? Spoilers

The diabolical presence of an occult elite ready to dominate the world under the radar haunts the few German horror films that have appeared on the screens since Anatomy. The Privilege, the film by Felix Fuchssteiner and Katharina Schöde, available on Netflix from February 8, is no exception. The couple of the Ruby Red trilogy continues to address the Young Adult audience and creates a product that is a candidate to become one of the absolute “sculptures” of 2022.

To give birth to this result they even put in four Fuchssteiner, Schöde and the “accomplices” Sebastian Niemann and Eckhard Vollmar. But what exactly does The Privilege say and why does its ending feed the suspicion that it was the screenwriters and not the unfortunate protagonists of the film that got the “stuff” coming from the Czech Republic? Let’s find out together.

The Privilege: The Plot

Finn Bergmann (Max Schimmelpfennig, Dark’s 1921 Noah) is a problematic teenager. The son of a wealthy Berlin family, as a child he suffered a shocking trauma: the death of his older sister Anna, who stayed at home with him while his twin sister Sophie ( Milena Tscharntke ) went out with her parents Martin (Roman Knižka) and Yvonne (Lise). Something strange and supernatural had “possessed” Anna: a frightening creature that the girl, bleeding from the mouth, tried with all her might to expel from her body. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do: in front of little Finn, Anna jumped off the gigantic Rappbode dam in Harz, the highest in Germany.

Since then Finn has lived on psychiatric drugs prescribed by Dr. Steinke (Nadeshda Brennicke), is teased by the bully Leander (Maurice Lattke), has relationship problems especially with girls he likes like Samira ( Tijan Marei ) and has only bonded with best friend Lena ( Lea van Acken , also in Dark), brilliant lesbian and alternative classmate.

For some time Finn has started a new cure that gives him strange visions. Are they hallucinating or are his parents performing devilish rituals worthy of Rosemary’s Baby? Finn is also worried about the health conditions of his grandfather (Horst Janson), hospitalized for a delicate operation and of his sister Sophie, engaged to Ramin (Rojan Juan Barani) and suddenly passed out during a physical education class. What is really going on in their lives? What terrible secret lies in the past of the Bergmanns and behind the seemingly idyllic facade of the family? Finn tries to find out with the help of Lena and Samira.

The Privilege Ending Explained: Who Is Hiding Behind The Trondthal?

After Ramin’s mysterious death, Finn uncovers a curious presence in the pills: a filamentous mushroom known as “Necrofungus psilocybelis” that normally grows on the bodies of corpses. The psilocybin present in these mushrooms produces delusions and psychedelic experiences: the “black magic mushrooms” were widely used in the Middle Ages by witches and shamans as a gateway to the world of spirits because of their hallucinogenic properties.

To find out more Finn and Lena turn to a real authority on the subject: Russian expert Eliska Novak (Jeanette Spassova) who lives with her son Jiri (Oleg Tikhomirov) in an old suburban warehouse. The woman immediately senses that Sophie is in danger: Finn’s sister is also taking Trychozepam, the drug with Necrofungus produced by Trondthal, a powerful pharmaceutical company that is planning its large-scale launch. The fungi inside the medicine spread to the “hosts” by nesting in the brain and manipulating it. This is how the evil entity that sees Finn and that caused Anna’s death is possessing Sophie.

In view of the exams, almost all the parents of the students are giving Trychozepam to their children: Leander had a pack in his backpack before committing suicide by jumping from the roof of the institute. After discovering that his grandfather performed an exorcism when he was a young shepherd to “face the devil” Finn takes advantage of his parents’ absence and organizes a séance with Eliska, Jiri, Lena and Samira to “eradicate evil” from Sophie. The shadow manifests itself and promises that they will all die. Unfortunately, the Bergmanns return home before the ritual is completed.

Convinced that it will be their last hours, Finn, Lena and Samira consume a night of passion together and then split up. Lena pretends to be a reporter and goes to the Trychozepam launch conference. Surprise: the CEO of “Big Pharma” is Martin, Finn’s father. Trondthal presents the pill as a miraculous science breakthrough that improves concentration and social interaction, but it takes thousands of Necrofungus and corpses to make it, as Lena discovers by sneaking into the secret dungeons where the compounds are prepared.

The revelation of Finn and Samira is even more shocking: as emerges from the documents obtained by Leander, all the boys have been adopted and used as “recipient” guinea pigs for spirits. Trychozepam helps the transition process so that “shadows” can move more easily between bodies. The adoptive parents are part of a sinister Satanic cult that hides behind the mighty Trondthal and breeds a global conspiracy. Finn’s father was also adopted: his grandfather saved him with his exorcism of him. It was then that the Trondthal group was born, elite that will change the destinies of the world.

By now Finn, Lena and Samira can’t trust anyone, neither their parents nor the adults in the area. When he goes to the hospital to see his dying grandfather for the last time, Finn is drugged by the surgeon who is a member of the devil worship cult, kidnapped, taken to his home and gagged: during a transitional rite he will become the replacement “container” for the demonic spirit that resided in the grandfather. It is only thanks to Lena’s raid that she, Finn and Samira manage to save them and defeat the sect, setting fire to the coven’s den and its devotees: Martin and Yvonne, Sophie, Dr. Steinke, the father by Leander.

Pursued by the spirit, the three survivors get into their car and arrive at the Rappbode Dam, where they crash into a bridge guardrail. Despite the incident, they are safe and sound: at this point they cannot go back they must stick together and fight because Trychozepam is ready to invade the market. However, Lena and Finn are completely oblivious to the fact that the demon is now in Samira, as her eyes show. A final scene that leaves a lot of unresolved questions and opens with contempt for ridicule to a potential sequel.