Matriarch (2022) Ending Explained – What happens to Laura?

Matriarch Plot Synopsis

Folk horror fans may be interested in this latest British horror film that features Jemima Rooper playing Laura an impulsive and self-destructing woman who is forced to return to the same village where she spent her childhood home to live in the house of her maternal grandmother. After arriving, she realizes there is something amiss in the area she was once a part of The villagers seem to be acting strangely, and her mother is believed to be the cause of their bizarre actions!

As Laura examines the bizarre happenings within the community, she finds something peculiar in the greenhouse of her father’s late husband. The problem is, it’s not the rotten tomato plant or a strangely-shaped fruit vegetable! However, Laura discovers a strange creature that could take her own life.

Does Laura escape from the village in peace? Do you think she is a victim of the mysterious power living within the greenhouse? Let’s look closer at the film!

What is the beginning of the film?

The film begins with a naked man walking across an extremely watery pool. We don’t glimpse his face, but we learn later that the man who was walking around was Laura’s father.

After a couple of steps into the pond, the man begins to sink into the water, and at this point, we can believe that he took his own life.

The film then zooms to the future and the characters meet Laura. It’s evident that things aren’t all right for her. Not only do we witness her throw up at home, but we also watch her struggle to cope with the pressures on her schedule.

After a night spent with an ex-lover, Laura is a victim of a drug and then overdoses. She falls to the floor of her bathroom and, while unconscious, she sees visions of black water coming into her mouth, and of an arm reaching towards her from within the pool.

Laura does not die of a drug overdose. This would have been a shorter film in the absence of it! Instead, she gets up and heads to work, and finds out that her estranged mother Celia is trying to contact her.

She answers the call and she asks Celia who she was and exactly where she was. Her mother responds “the Internet” and she has a feeling that Laura was hurt.

After speaking with Laura’s mother about her concerns, Laura quits her job and travels back to the town where she was a grueling child.

Laura is likely to return to the village since her personal life has become turmoil and she’s in desperate need of support from her mom, even despite the strained relationship. When she arrives she discovers that something is wrong when she observes that her mother and the other village’s inhabitants haven’t changed. Are they in an oasis of youthfulness? Not quite!

Can Laura and Celia have a relationship?

Laura’s return home isn’t always a pleasant one, because the two women begin to fight in a matter of minutes. Celia is eager to take Laura for a walk in the garden, as she will remind Laura that she loved playing in the garden as in the midst of her childhood. Laura’s memories differ in that she recalls it as being a hideaway space from her mother, and it was not a place to have amusement.

In these early scenes, we find out that Celia was a snitch on Laura as an infant. Celia is usually unapologetic and this leads to an argument between them in which Laura declares Celia the “sadistic little twit.”

Laura is then able to spend time out of the home with Abi her childhood pal who is the sole woman who appears to have aged over their lives apart.

While spending some time with Abi whom we later discover is reporting Laura’s location to Celia Then Laura is returned to her home from childhood. Celia appears to be trying to reconcile with her daughter, but it’s obvious that she’s not with the best intentions. In addition to putting the drink with sedatives and food, causing her to go to sleep, she also drags Laura’s unconscious body to the backyard after her drugs have acted.

Unfortunately, Celia doesn’t drag Laura out into the garden to take her for a stroll! There are other plans, but when Laura gets agitated it’s not clear what her plans are. Celia is then back at the home.

When she wakes up, Laura assumes she has been asleep and the next day she inquires of mom if she did sleepwalk when she was a kid. Celia informs her that she did, but we can tell that she’s concealing her actions that night prior.

What is the reason Celia does drugs on her daughter?

It is evident that Celia is not the most loving mother however, her motives for narcotics from Laura extend beyond the mere act of cruelties. The reasons for her behavior are rooted in the bizarre notes suspended from trees filled with prayers and words of gratitude from the villager to some sort of God.

The villagers are known to secrete an odd black liquid which is something Laura experiences in the film. The film also highlights a rift between the villager and Ken who is the parent of Abi and the sole Christian within the community. These clues also suggest a connection to Celia.

As the film progresses we uncover the truth about Celia. She is the head of a cult that is comprised of everyone except Ken. Laura is aware of this when she is looking through the windows of a church and observes her mom feeding a villager with a black liquid flowing from her breasts.

The people have all gone naked, and are eager to taste the delicious liquid Celia offers them. The liquid may be the cause of their aging which could explain the reason they begin having sexual relations with each other after feeling rejuvenated.

Laura is clearly shocked by what she has seen and is even more shocked when she realizes that her arm is beginning to turn brown. Laura goes to go to Abi and it’s Ken who is the first to open the door. He doesn’t seem to be welcoming in spite of his Christian convictions, and is asking Laura whether she’s returned home to get their “mother’s milk.”

Ken informs Laura that Celia changed the community with Celia’s “poison.” He talks to Laura about her father and how he did not drown when he fell in the water. According to Ken that he did give his life for the sake of sacrifice. Laura is eager to learn more about him, but when Ken shoots at her, she’s forced to leave.

Things get very bizarre and even more bizarre than naked women at the entrance of a church, feeding people with black goo out of her breasts!

What is going on in the village?

After running away from Ken, Laura bumps into one of the villagers who forces her to go to his greenhouse. He informs her Celia gave permission to harm her, and then he is pushing her toward an area of the greenhouse which leads to a water pool that is on the other side of a wall.

The man clearly plans to give up Laura to something, but when that “something” does appear to him, it’s he who suffers the consequences.

What’s that thing that is visible on the green? A gigantic woman has several worms coming out of her mouth. That isn’t the kind of thing you or Laura thought!

The huge woman holds the man’s body in her breasts and kills him by taking the worms out of her mouth into his mouth.

Of course, Laura is taken aback by this, and she tries to run away. However, before she gets far, she comes across Abi along with Celia and is compelled by the women in the garden.

We find out more about Celia’s background and, from this, we are able to understand the motive for the appearance of the mysterious being, also known as the matriarch!

Celia confesses that her husband could not assist her in conceiving, so he gave his own life in the name of a goddess which resulted in Celia falling pregnant with Laura. In addition, the goddess also granted Celia the ability to live via the black liquid we saw earlier being sucked through her breasts. Celia began to sell the liquid to the locals to gain money and power. However, when Celia realized her powers were diminishing she called her daughter to return home to offer her to the god of sacrifice then able to appear in the greenhouse and regain her powers.

Who is Laura?

Celia is trying to offer Laura to the goddess, but the goddess doesn’t hurt her. In the midst of this, Ken shows up wielding a shotgun. He wants to know the reason Abi is there. He finds out that Abi is in need of Celia’s strength to fight cancer that once threatened to kill her. The situation causes him to break and kill himself using an old garden fork.

The goddess is then released from Laura with no injuries. Laura grasps Ken’s shotgun and fires it at the barrier, which causes the goddess to vanish.

Laura Then, Laura forces Celia to go back to the church. When they arrive, Celia asks the naked villager if they are in love with her. If they answer yes, Laura, upon realizing the impact Celia has on the village knocks her mother to the floor using the gun before smashing her head into a pulp.

Laura is then taken to the muddy lake where her father sacrificed himself and walks around in this muddy pond until she falls and is likely to drown.

What was the reason Laura suicide?

It is possible that she was looking to be with her father, but it could also be that the goddess enticed her into sacrificing herself. The film doesn’t give a clear reason for Laura’s final act however if you do figure out the reason behind the end, be sure to tell us by commenting below.