Warning: Spoilers for Luckiest Girl Alive
Luckiest Girl Alive, starring Mila Kunis, has ranked in Netflix’s Top 10 movie list since its release on October 7th. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Jessica Knoll. The film follows TifAni (nicknamed Ani), a magazine writer with a seemingly perfect life who has a troubled past. As a teenager, she was subjected to a number of traumas after being enrolled at a private school.
We first learn that she was a survivor of a mass school shooting. A documentary being done on the topic stirs up everything from her past that she desperately wants to leave behind. One of her peers, Dean, who suffered paralysis from the waist down, writes a book about the experience and speaks up about gun control. However, Dean was a perpetrator of another trauma that Ani suffered. Dean and a couple of his friends who were killed in the shooting assaulted Ani after a party. The boys responsible for the school shooting were Ani’s friends, whom she had confided about the attack, which led people to speculate that she was also in on the plan to shoot up the school.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
By the movie’s end, after everything is revealed, Ani realizes that she has been avoiding dealing with her trauma. She then makes a series of choices that alters the direction of her life. Let’s explore what her choices mean and unpack the ending of the film.
Breaking up with Luke and Moving to New York
Netflix
Throughout the film, Ani had been obsessed with achieving a perfect life, believing that it would allow her to move on from what happened to her and leave behind “TifAni” and become someone new. With a new last name, a prestigious job, and a luxurious life. This was an attempt to show that she wasn’t just a victim and wouldn’t allow herself to be defined by her past. In doing this, however, she failed to deal with her trauma, and the PTSD remained with her, interfering with her relationship and mental and physical health.
Upon coming to the realization that she had never dealt with the hurt and faced what happened to her, she wrote an article and submitted it to the New York Times. The story had been accepted and was going to be published. However, when she shared the news with her fiancé Luke, he was not supportive of her speaking out about what happened to her. Ani decided then that she didn’t want to marry Luke after all and came to terms with the fact that she had been using him to achieve her “perfect life.” She didn’t want to move to London with him; instead, she wanted to accept the job she had been offered to write for the New York Times.
Ani, at this point, finally abandons this idea of perfection and takes a serious look at what she really wants for herself and her life. She takes the first step in figuring out who she really is and no longer holds herself back for other people, whether it be Luke, her mother, or Dean. Instead, Ani embraces the dream she had been working for and doesn’t settle for something less than what she wanted.
Confronting Dean and Telling Her Story
Ani also gets the chance to confront one of her attackers in the end. While Ani had followed Dean’s career in speaking out about gun control and his experience as a survivor of a school shooting, Ani had never confronted him or opened up about what had happened to her in high school.
During the interview for the documentary, Dean shows up, and Ani begins to panic and flees the scene, unable to face Dean. As she comes to accept her trauma and deal with it, Ani confronts Dean about what he did to her and gets a confession out of him. Unbeknownst to him, she recorded their conversation, and Ani got him to admit that he had assaulted her. This is key to her telling getting closure.
When her essay is published, she celebrates with her close friend. While we don’t know if she ever released the audio of her conversation with Dean, we can assume that she will use this to support her story and dispel any doubt that she is lying. Or perhaps she will keep it to herself, as its sole purpose was to help her heal and move on. The film’s final scene involves a woman working closely with Dean throughout his career, confronting Ani on the streets about using him to get her fifteen minutes of fame. Instead of walking away, Ani stands up for herself.
Ani has received a closure that many survivors don’t get. Her attacker owned up to what he did and confessed. Although she never sought for him to be punished legally, she has the opportunity now to ruin his career and reputation. Whether she will do it or not is left unsaid, but from her new-found confidence in facing her truth and standing up for herself, we can assume that she will expose Dean.
By publishing her story, Ani also reached an audience of fellow survivors inspired by her story to speak up and tell their own stories. The film ends on a positive note, with Ani finally being able to face her trauma and help others by telling her story.
