Year: 2016
Runtime: 76 min
Language: English
Director: Nicolas Pesce
Growing up in isolation on a secluded farm, Francisca is raised by her mother with a unique focus on anatomy and mortality. Their quiet existence is shattered by the arrival of a stranger, an event that irrevocably alters Francisca's innocence. As loneliness takes hold, a dark curiosity develops, leading her on a haunting and unsettling search for human connection and understanding.
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Read the complete plot breakdown of The Eyes of My Mother (2016), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Francisca and her parents are settled on a farm where they raise various animals. Her mother, a skilled surgeon, imparts her knowledge to Francisca, teaching her how to remove the eyeballs from the livestock, while also sharing the tale of St. Francis of Assisi. One fateful day, a door-to-door salesman named Charlie arrives, requesting to use the restroom. Despite her instincts telling her otherwise, Francisca’s mother permits him entry into their home. Unfortunately, Charlie reveals his sinister intentions by brandishing a gun and dragging Francisca’s mother to the bathroom. When her father returns home, he is horrified to find Charlie brutally attacking his wife’s body in the tub. In a fit of rage, he knocks Charlie unconscious and confines him in the barn, while the family mourns the tragic loss of Francisca’s mother by burying her in the backyard.
As time passes, Francisca visits the captured Charlie, who intrigues her with tales of the thrill associated with taking lives. In a shocking act, she removes Charlie’s eyes and vocal cords, preserving them in a bag within the refrigerator. She reassuringly tells him that he was spared because he is her only friend, and she vows to protect him.
Years later, after the death of her father, Francisca chooses to preserve his body as well. She later meets a young woman named Kimiko at a bar. As they connect, Kimiko becomes uneasy upon learning about Francisca’s dark past, especially when Francisca makes a chilling joke about having killed her own father. Attempting to flee, Kimiko meets a tragic fate as Francisca murders her, dismembers her, and stores her organs away in the refrigerator. Following this, she bathes Charlie, who remains shackled in the barn, and brings him into her bed. However, when Charlie tries to escape, Francisca stabs him repeatedly. With eerie confidence, she acknowledges that he was right—killing is an exhilarating experience.
Yet, consumed by solitary despair, Francisca wanders through the woods until she stumbles upon a highway, where she gets a ride with a woman named Lucy, who has a baby son named Antonio. Upon reaching her home, Francisca seizes the opportunity to kidnap the baby, brutally stabbing Lucy and praising her deceased mother for guiding them together. True to her twisted nature, she removes Lucy’s eyes and vocal cords, chaining her up in the barn as well.
As Antonio grows and approaches 8 or 9 years old, his curiosity piques about the barn, which he is explicitly told to avoid. One night, upon seeing Francisca asleep, he bravely ventures inside, only to be horrified at the pitiful sight of his biological mother, chained and blind, moaning in despair. Lucy eventually manages to escape the barn, wandering blindly until a truck driver finds her on the road. However, Francisca soon learns of this escape, prompting her to unearth her mother’s remains, cradling the skeleton while lamenting her loss.
In a climactic turn, as police arrive at the house, Francisca rushes to awaken Antonio, dragging him into the bathroom while brandishing a knife. In a frantic plea, she insists that the authorities will never take her baby away. Just then, a gunshot echoes in the air, leaving the film’s tragic conclusion shrouded in mystery.
Last Updated: November 03, 2024 at 13:11
Still wondering what the ending of The Eyes of My Mother (2016) really means? Here’s a spoiler-heavy breakdown of the final scene, major twists, and the deeper themes that shape the film’s conclusion.
*The ending of “The Eyes of My Mother” is intentionally ambiguous and chilling, leaving viewers pondering the fate of its tragic characters. As the film builds to a tense climax, Francisca, who has been deeply traumatized and isolated from society, finds herself in a harrowing standoff with the police. She is seen holding a knife to Antonio, the orphan she raised as her own after kidnapping him, and the tension is palpable. Just as it seems she might commit a violent act, a gunshot echoes off-screen, leaving the outcome uncertain. This sudden noise sparks confusion—did the police shoot her, Antonio, or someone else? The film chooses not to reveal what exactly happens, emphasizing the cyclical nature of trauma and violence that defines Francisca’s life.
Throughout the story, Francisca’s actions—kidnapping, mutilating her victims, and keeping organs—are manifestations of her fractured psyche and her desperate attempt to control and fill the void created by her traumatic past. Her decision to bring Charlie, the man responsible for her mother’s murder, back into her home as her “son” reflects her distorted yearning for family and connection, even when these desires are expressed through horrifying means. Her keeping and mutilating of organs symbolize her twisted way of understanding life and death, further underscoring her psychological instability.
The ending’s ambiguity reflects the complex morality of Francisca’s character, torn between being a victim of her circumstances and an active agent of violence. It leaves the audience with unsettling questions about whether violence has been perpetuated by external forces or if Francisca’s inner demons have finally claimed her. The final gunshot, unresolved and silent, reinforces the themes of unresolved trauma and moral ambiguity, making the conclusion as haunting and devastating as the story itself. In the end, we are left to interpret whether she survives or succumbs to her own darkness, with the film’s silence symbolizing the elusive nature of justice and mercy in a world scarred by trauma.*
Last Updated: June 25, 2025 at 08:59
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