The Meaning Of The Movie & The Explanation Of The Ending Of Last Night In Soho. The title of the psychological thriller Last Night In Soho refers to the song of the same name, recorded in 1968 by the beat group Dave Dee. The movie is dedicated to the swinging decade, which made history with colorful fashion, the cult of The Beatles and films about James Bond. The project of the British director has everything – historical memory and modern agenda, cinephilism and genre synergy. Playing with the theme of the main character’s journey through time, Edgar Wright was inspired by horror films that were filmed in London: Don’t Look Now by Nicholas Roeg and Repulsion by Roman Polanski. The choice of the scene is not accidental: the Soho district, where entertainment is concentrated: clubs, pubs and brothels. Londoners have long been rumored about ghosts and spirits living in the Red Light District.
An orphan named Eloise, who remained in the care of her grandmother after the death of her mother, leaves the provincial Cornwall. In London, she wants to realize her dream – to become a significant figure in the fashion industry. The girl goes to study at a fashion college, gets a job at the Toucan pub, starts a romantic relationship with a sensual student John. In search of housing, Eloise ends up in Goodge Place. The room she rented in a bohemian area of London belongs to a strict lady, Miss Collins. Once upon a time there lived a young singer Sandy, who also came to conquer the capital.
Life in Fitzrovia attracts a provincial retrograde who admires the 1960s era through books, music and movies. At night, Eloise plunges into retro dreams, where she is Sandy. Delving into the past, Eloise enjoys a glamorous life and an affair with a handsome man. Returning to reality, she makes her dreams come true and cuts a little pink flowy dress (just like Sandy’s!). And he also discovers strange things: in the morning he sees a hairstyle under Sandy on his head, then a hickey on his neck left by Jack from the 1960s. The past flows into the present, serial dreams become nightmares. Sandy’s life ceases to seem attractively poetic to the heroine when it turns out that Jack, who seduced the singer, is forcing her into sex work. Eloise sees where her idol is moving, but she cannot influence the situation in any way: in visions, she is only a reflection in the mirror. Over the course of the story, Sandy transforms from an overbearing coquette into a broken doll. And Ellie’s innocence and fragility develop and show true strength.
One day, Eloise dreams of Jack killing Sandy in bed. Confusing fiction with reality, she goes to the police to report the crime. No wonder they don’t believe her. She starts her own investigation. At the Toucan Pub, Eloise meets a grey-haired, sinister gentleman. She believes that this is Jack, and tries to get him to confess to the murder of the singer. He does not confess, and soon dies. The owner of the establishment informs the girl that this man is Lindsey, a former undercover cop. He rescued women who were victims of manipulation and abuse by men. And Miss Collins is the same Sandy who half a century ago, instead of show business, got to a pimp. It turns out that in the nightmare, Eloise did not see the murder of Sandy, but how she dealt with the trickster Jack. And in the walls of the room are buried the bodies of other men whom the woman took revenge for insults and harassment. And now the ghosts were trying to inform Eloise about the crimes and asked to “save them.”
To prevent the truth from coming out, Sandy poisons Eloise and stabs her friend John. But this is again a terrible vision of a girl. In reality, Miss Collins intends to commit suicide, confessing to Eloise that she did not want to do this with her offenders, but “they deserved it.” Suddenly, a fire starts. Sandy refuses to follow Eloise out of the burning house and dies in the flames. It could be considered that this is the denouement of a story about a naive girl with a tragic fracture in her psyche, who discovered the other side of the London club scene. When behind the scenes of trendy bars someone is put on a vein or sells the body for money. Then Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho is a statement about victims and their oppressors in a society of violent gloss and systemic sexism.
But the ending of the picture adds a deep psychological meaning to what he saw. Now it doesn’t seem like Last Night in Soho is a metaphor for the growing up of an infantile girl. Eloise, on the verge of a mental breakdown (the same as happened once with her mother), does not part with her fantasized delights from the time that she considered ideal for herself. At the end of the film, the heroine, who has completed her first year at the London College of Fashion, demonstrates her models. Despite what happened to her, the outfits are made in the style of the 1960s. This suggests that Eloise has not yet found a balance between past and present. She still longs for the perfect place and time that doesn’t really exist.
The viewer is left to guess what is more here – the heroine’s unwillingness or inability to avoid stupid looking back and phantom nostalgia. In the last frames, Sandy appears to her in the mirror again. But the appearance of the glamorous star now seems to Eloise not demonic and sinister, but sweet and harmless. The finale of the picture illustrates the danger of one of the serious psychological problems of a person: an obsession with the past. We often forget the bad and cling only to the good memories. We must be able to let go of the past, learn from it and move on. Will Eloise be able to get rid of Sandy, or will these memories remain forever in her life. This question remains open in Last Night in Soho.
