Sandra Bullock leads the cast of new Netflix film The Unforgivable – which boasts a premise that might be rather familiar to fans of British TV drama.
The feature, directed by German filmmaker Nora Fingscheidt, is adapted from Sally Wainwright’s 2009 ITV three-parter Unforgiven and tells of a former cop killer who is desperate to make contact with her younger sister after serving a twenty-year prison sentence.
As with the series before it, the film throws in a shocking twist towards the end of its runtime, so if you need a little help unpacking the ending, read on for everything you need to know.
The Unforgivable ending explained
Throughout the film, we are introduced to various different characters – several of whom end up playing a key part in the dramatic final act.
The central character is Ruth Slater (Bullock), who has just been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for murdering a cop. Throughout the film we see several flashbacks that appear to reveal she had been living in an old farm house with her much younger sister Katie, following the death of their parents, and had shot and killed an officer who had come to evict them from their house.
Meanwhile, Katie (Aisling Franciosi) is now living as the daughter of a middle-class family and shows great promise as an aspiring pianist. She appears to have little knowledge of her life before her sister’s arrest and her foster parents Michael (Richard Thomas) and Rachel Malcolm (Linda Emond) are determined to stop Ruth from seeing her, although her adoptive sister Emily (Emma Nelson) is a little more intrigued when she discovers her sibling’s past.
Then there are brothers Steve (Will Pullen) and Keith Whelan (Thomas Guiry), the sons of the police officer Ruth had killed all those years ago – who fancy seeking their revenge when they learn of Ruth’s release. Although initially Keith is the more bloodthirsty of the two, eventually it is Steve who begins to enact a plan of revenge, aiming to kidnap Katie.
About 80 minutes into the film, Ruth arranges to meet with Emily, who tells her that Katie has a piano rehearsal later that day which might give her the chance to see her. As she leaves she appears to be being pursued. Meanwhile, Ruth makes plans to attend the rehearsal, but she needs advice from her lawyer John (Vincent D’Onofrio) before she can do so, and is unable to track him down.
She travels to his home – the same house where she had once lived with Katie – but only finds his wife Liz (Viola Davis), who is initially angry with Ruth and tells her to get off the property. It’s at this point that Ruth lets slip the big secret – it wasn’t actually her that had shot the cop all those years ago, but Katie, and she had taken the blame to stop her little sister’s life from being ruined.
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Liz then drives Ruth back to the location of Katie’s piano rehearsal, but as she arrives she receives a call from Steve – who says he has kidnapped Katie. Panicking, Ruth travels to the location he claims to be holding her, and finds that rather than Katie, it is Emily that he has captive.
Steve confronts Ruth armed with a gun, and Ruth apologises for what had happened 20 years ago. Initially, this isn’t enough to dissuade Steve, but he eventually backs down and the police arrive on the scene, where he is arrested. At the very end, Katie appear with her adoptive parents, and as soon as she and Ruth lock eyes it is clear she does remember her after all. The film ends as they share an embrace, and we see some footage of their time together before the arrest.