The following article contains discussions about sexual assault and trauma.
The article contains major spoilers for Blink Twice ending.With Blink Twice now in theaters, director Zoë Kravitz broke down key moments in the thriller’s ending. Kravitz’s directorial debut follows a cocktail waitress, Frida (Naomi Ackie), who gets invited to a luxurious island by billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum). While initially considering it a paradise, Frida slowly recalls the traumatic events each night, as Slater and his friends sexually assault the female guests. The Blink Twice ending reveals that an amnesia-inducing perfume is used to erase their traumatic memories during the night until, eventually, Frida and the remaining victims counteract those effects with snake venom and seek revenge against those involved.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Kravitz hoped Blink Twice‘s wild ending would spark debates, which included Frida and Sarah (Adria Arjona) surviving the bloodbath and Frida controlling Slater with the same amnesia-inducing poison. The director also broke down key sequences in the movie’s conclusion, particularly finding Frida and Sarah’s rivals-to-allies relationship to be a “really interesting arc to explore.” She also elaborated on the movie’s ending with the action-packed bloodbath, wanting to make sure the focus was on the traumatized women. She also singled out Vic’s (Christian Slater) death as a highlight. Read her full quotes below:
“There’s a lot of open-ended questions that I hope spark conversations. Is this the beginning of something or is this the end of something? Is it the continuation of something? I think those are all up for debate, and I’m curious what that makes people feel.”
“I’ve had that situation happen where there’s jealousy and competition because whether it’s true we both want the same thing or something, or we know we’ve been trained to think there’s not enough room for both of us here or whatever it is. I’ve had that experience where I realized, ‘Wait, do I actually dislike this person, or it’s just this thing getting in the way?’ And those have led to some of my best friendships when I stopped playing the jealous game and actually got to know somebody.”
“It can feel so small, but it’s something that happens in these micro-waves all the time that we don’t really get to explore so much. And on top of that, I was interested in the situation where maybe we don’t like each other at first, maybe there’s this catty thing happening, but when s— hits the fan, none of that matters. And then we get to really see each other and take care of each other.”
“Action is a whole different beast. So to go from not directing anything to directing action sequences that have blood, and you want it to feel real, that was really difficult. It was trying to ride that line of making it what it needs to be, but not to the point where it’s too much and makes people want to look away. Making sure we really keep the real emotion, specifically in the women, in their eyes and everything. Trying to really keep it grounded in a way.”
“Because there’s a sweet revenge. It’s something that we like culturally, which is also kind of complicated and interesting, but trying to balance all those things together was quite a journey.”
(Regarding Vic’s death) “That whole sequence is pretty amazing. I think he probably wins the death scenes or the gruesome scenes, and then the whole bit with him continuing on the couch for so long is just so funny. The guy that just won’t die. He takes the cake there. You’re like, ‘You’re still here?’ It’s one of those jokes that, when we wrote it, we were like, ‘This could be funny or very, very stupid. We think it’s funny, but I don’t know.’ And he kind of saved that bit, and you need that — you need that release, even for a moment. I think it’s important to have.”
How Blink Twice’s Ending Opens Up A Deeper Conversation About Its Social Themes?
Power Seems To Be A Key Element In Blink Twice, Not Necessarily Empowerment & Justice.
Blink Twice‘s final act is where the prominent themes start to unravel, such as the role of power dynamics, sexual exploitation, and revenge. With the snake venom undoing the amnesiac effects, all the ladies seek revenge against their abusers, resulting in a massive bloodbath. Frida and Sarah are two of the three survivors by the end, alongside the perpetrator, Slater. While the alliance between Frida and Sarah may seem to highlight the essence of female empowerment and justice, a more underlying theme takes center stage in the epilogue via power, which becomes intertwined with revenge.
One of the biggest twists comes at the conclusion, where Frida recalls that she had been on the island the year before, which explains how she got a scar near her left eye and how Vic lost half his pinky finger. This points to an even more harrowing realization that the primary Blink Twice character has been assaulted twice on the island under Slater’s influence. This leads to a recurring conversation with him, who reasons that forgiveness is nearly impossible to achieve, leading to the mantra “forgetting is a gift” as a way to erase traumatic memories, with Slater being the manipulator.
In a way, Frida extends her revenge against Slater, as she now holds power in the relationship while fulfilling her desire to be noticed in the public eye.
The movie has a triumphant but disturbing conclusion, where instead of killing Slater, Frida alters the power dynamic with her now controlling Slater with the same amnesiac-inducing poison. This leads to her eventually becoming the head of Slater’s company. The conclusion highlights a changed role between the abuser and the victim, with Frida now exploiting Slater with the same tactics used on her and continuing the abusive cycle. The director previously stated how she was careful about the movie’s themes, wanting to focus on the idea of power rather than empowerment, stating the following to NBC News:
“I wanted to explore power, not necessarily empowerment, but power as an entity, and what that does to us, what people will do to get it, and what people do once they have it, the abuse of power. It’s oppressive by nature. In order to be at the top, someone has to be at the bottom or below you, and it’s something that we all want, but to want something that is oppressive is so complicated.”
In a way, Frida extends her revenge against Slater, as she now holds power in the relationship while fulfilling her desire to be noticed in the public eye. With Blink Twice getting generally positive reviews, particularly for the movie’s climax, there have been questions about potential sequels, especially as Sarah’s whereabouts remain unknown and whether Frida’s manipulation can last long. Kravitz stated that she has not thought about expanding the story with more movies, although she is not totally against the idea. In the meantime, the ending will open up a deep conversation about those important topics, as the director herself hoped to achieve.
