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‘Verity’ ending explained: Who dies, and what’s real?
Confirmed
In Short: Verity Crawford, played by Anne Hathaway, is a bestselling author who appears to be paralyzed after a car accident, but the film's ending reveals she has been faking her condition.
Lowen Ashleigh, played by Dakota Johnson, is hired by Verity's husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) to complete her book series. Lowen discovers a manuscript that reveals Verity's darkest secrets, including her resentment towards her children.
After finding the manuscript, Lowen and Jeremy confront Verity, who confirms she has been faking her paralysis. Verity explains that she was pretending to be paralyzed to stay safe from Jeremy, who she claims had found the manuscript and believed it to be true.
The film's ending includes a letter from Verity, hidden under the floorboards, which reveals that Jeremy had attempted to kill her after finding the manuscript. This twist leaves the audience questioning the true nature of Verity's condition and the events that transpired.
Director Michael Showalter and author Colleen Hoover altered the ending based on feedback from focus group screenings, aiming to leave the audience in a place of uncertainty.
The film's costume designer, Jacqueline Demeterio, used clothing to reflect Lowen's character development, from her initial dark New York wardrobe to her final transformation into Verity's lifestyle.
Despite the alterations, the film's ending raises questions similar to those in the book, leaving the truth about Verity's condition ambiguous.
Verity's final letter casts doubt on Lowen's self-righteous ending, suggesting that the truth may never be fully known.
Verity, directed by Michael Showalter and based on Colleen Hoover's novel, is a twisty ride that challenges the audience's understanding of the characters and their motivations.
Background
However, the film's ending was significantly altered after focus group screenings.
''Verity'' is an English-language female given name derived from the Latin ''veritas'', meaning "truth". It is also used as a surname.
What's confirmed
- SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “ Verity,” now playing in theaters.
- Lowen also discovers the devastating truth that Crew’s twin sister, Harper, died in a canoe accident with Verity and Crew.
What's still developing
- When Jeremy catches Lowen spying on Verity, he blows up at her, and, out of desperation and fear, she shows him the manuscript.
- That warning comes courtesy of the eponymous author at the center of Verity, the new romantic thriller from director Michael Showalter.
- Verity is a huge departure from Hoover’s typical work, featuring a story more in line with Freida McFadden’s page-turners than the drama of It Ends With Us.
- Below, Entertainment Weekly breaks down every shocking twist of the Verity ending, including the key ways the film differs from the book.
- The titular Verity is the mastermind behind a highly successful book series, notable for its point of view: She writes from the villain’s perspective.
- It’s there that Lowen discovers a secret manuscript: Verity’s autobiography, which reveals some disturbing things about the enigmatic woman.
- In it, Verity wrote from the villain’s perspective to better write the characters that made her novels so famous.
- The letter also shows a much darker side of Jeremy, who, so far, had been depicted as one of the primary victims of Verity’s cruelty.
- The story follows Lowen Ashleigh (Johnson), a struggling writer who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when Jeremy Crawford (Hartnett), the husband of famous author Verity Crawford (Hathaway), offers her the chance to complete Verity’s successful book series.
- As the film unfolds, Lowen and Jeremy fall in love, while Verity, paralyzed after a car crash, lives in the same home.
- The text reveals Verity’s darkest secrets, including the fact that she finds no joy in motherhood and resents her twin children, Harper and Crew.
- The most shocking part of the manuscript is the revelation that Verity orchestrated the boating accident that resulted in her daughter’s death.