Directed by Michael Showalter and based on one of Colleen Hoover’s most polarizing novels, Verity is a new movie that’s just hit theaters, starring Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett. It’s a twisty psychological thriller filled with sexual tension and gasp-inducing turns that saves its biggest twist for the very end, with a discovery that completely reframes the entire film.
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.
Warning: Full spoilers for Verity follow.
The offer includes a huge sum of money and new living arrangements in the Crawfords’ stunning, remote Vermont mansion. As the film unfolds, Lowen and Jeremy fall in love, while Verity, paralyzed after a car crash, lives in the same home.
While working on the book, Lowen finds a hidden manuscript in Verity’s office. 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.
Verity’s ending explained
In the movie’s third act, Lowen places a baby monitor in Verity’s bedroom, hoping to catch her lying about her paralysis. It’s what ultimately reveals that Verity has been faking the extent of her injuries.
After Jeremy reads the manuscript, he and Lowen are convinced that Verity is a monster. Jeremy kills her in a rage, with Lowen instructing him on what to do to keep the death from raising suspicions with the police. The two then cover up the murder, dumping Verity’s body in the lake.
A year later, Jeremy and Lowen are expecting their first child together. The release of Lowen and Verity’s book is a huge success, and everything is going great for them. The two are preparing to move out of the Vermont house, starting over with Crew and their new baby somewhere else.
As Lowen is packing up their remaining things, she finds a letter hidden under a loose floorboard in Crew’s bedroom. The letter is written by Verity and addressed to her son, and it reveals that the manuscript containing her darkest secrets was a writing exercise in antagonistic journaling. In it, Verity wrote from the villain’s perspective to better write the characters that made her novels so famous. She never meant for the manuscript to be read by anyone other than herself.
The letter also reveals that Jeremy had been drugging her, causing the car accident that almost killed her. Verity explains that she was faking her paralysis to stay safe from Jeremy, and that she was waiting for the right time to leave the house with their son and get them both to safety.
How the ending shifts our understanding of the movie
Verity’s letter completely upends our understanding of the film. It’s the final twist revealing that the monster Lowen had built up in her mind wasn’t real. She was ultimately another character Verity had created. 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 movie concludes with Jeremy calling Lowen so the two can leave the house. She wipes away her tears, hides the letter, and heads downstairs, with the two presumably continuing their relationship.
Verity is in theaters now