‘Reminiscence’ Ending Explained: What Happens in the Hugh Jackman Thriller?

So you’ve followed the sound of Hugh Jackman’s voice and went on a journey by watching Reminiscence, the new sci-fi thriller on HBO Max and in theaters. But now that you’re at the end of your journey, you’re confused. What exactly just happened?

You’re not the only one. Many viewers were perplexed by the ending of Reminiscence, which takes place in the not-so-distant future when climate change-related flooding has put the city of New Orleans underwater. Jackman stars as a man named Nick, who makes a living by helping people forget the present-day and instead remember the past. His “reminiscence” technology allows people to relive their happiest memories over and over.

One fateful day, a beautiful and mysterious woman named Mae (played by Rebecca Ferguson) walks in to use the reminiscence machine to help find her keys. Nick quickly falls in love with her, and the two enter into a passionate affair, until Mae vanishes. Nick starts delving into his memories of her to try to figure out what happened and learns that Mae was a drug addict with a sordid past.

At the same time, Nick and his partner Watts (Thandiwe Newton) have been hired by the police to assist in the investigation of a drug ring. Nick learns that Mae was a mistress to a drug kingpin, and that she was sent to get close to Nick in order to steal the memories of a woman named Elsa Carine (Angela Sarafyan), a character that we met at the beginning of the movie as a reminiscence client who loves to relive her sexy times with an older, wealthy lover. Nick realizes his relationship with Mae was a lie. Here’s where it gets confusing, so read on for the Reminiscence ending explained.

How does Reminiscence end?

Through the memories of one of the drug kingpin’s henchmen, Boothe (Cliff Curtis), Nick learns that Mae did love him, after all. She betrayed Boothe: After she helped him retrieve Elsa’s memories, Boothe killed Elsa, and he wanted to kill Elsa’s son, too. But Mae helped Elsa’s son escape, and stashed him in an unknown location. She also delivers a speech to Nick—via Boothe’s memories—about how much she loves him, and also cryptically tells Nick where to find Elsa’s son. Then she takes a lethal dose of Baca and dies, thus ensuring no one else could use her memories to find Elsa’s son.

But why is Elsa’s son so important, and why does Boothe want him dead? It’s because Elsa’s son is the illegitimate child of Walter Sylvan, aka that rich wealthy dude that Elsa remembered having sex with. As it turns out, Walter Sylvan is a land baron who recently died, and he had intended to include his illegitimate son in his inheritance. But his legitimate son, Sebastian, did not want to share his inheritance with his half-brother. So Sebastian hired Boothe to kill both Elsa and her son.

One more thing: Nick, in a rage over watching Mae kill herself, tortured Boothe by forcing him to relive his worst memory. This is apparently very illegal, meaning he will go jail. But for whatever reason, the police agree to let him serve his “sentence” in the reminiscence tank, reliving his memories with Mae forever. The last shot of the film is of Jackman in old-age makeup, smiling as he remembers incorrectly paraphrasing the story of Orpheus and Eurydice to Mae.

What is the Reminiscence ending explained?

It feels like writer/director Lisa Joy had a vision for the Reminiscence ending: Hugh Jackman reliving his happiest memories with a woman he lost forever. But the way she got there was convoluted—the main plot revolved around characters we barely knew, rather than Jackman himself.

But basically, Mae was working for an assassin who was hired to kill an innocent woman and her son. After Mae fell in love with Nick, she betrayed the assassin, saved the son, stashed him in an unknown location, and then killed herself so that no one could use her memories to find him. Nick was so upset about watching Mae die in the assassin’s memories that he tortured the assassin, which means he’s in for major jail time.

At the end of the movie, Nick tells the entire story to Watts so that her memories can be used as evidence. He starts his speech with the same dialogue that is used to start the movie, which could imply the entire film is just a memory—a device used often in the movie—but personally, I don’t think it is. After all, that would mean the entire movie is a memory from Watts, and Watts wasn’t present for all of the scenes in the movie. It’s just another blending of memory and reality intended to make you even less sure of what’s real and what’s not.

Here’s what I really don’t get about the Reminiscence ending: Nick is serving his jail time in the reminiscence tank, reliving his memories with Mae. Watts visits him, and the implication is that he never wakes up, like a person in a coma. But… doesn’t he have to eat? Use the bathroom? These are pressing concerns! It doesn’t make sense!

Oh, well. I’m just going to rewatch Inception.

Watch Reminiscence on HBO Max