Donnie Darko is an infamously difficult film to follow, but its confusing ending can be explained by unknotting the movie’s complex timeline.
The cult hit Donnie Darko is an infamously difficult film to follow, but its confusing ending can be explained by unknotting the movie’s complex timeline. Released in 2001, Donnie Darko was a lot of different things to different viewers. The film is simultaneously an early vehicle for future superstar Jake Gyllenhaal, the directorial debut of mercurial genius Richard Kelly, and a hybrid of teen drama, science fiction, small-town mystery and fantasy.
Kelly’s critically maligned 2006 follow-up Southland Tales needed an entire companion graphic novel to make sense, so it's obvious that he isn’t afraid of a complicated ending. The lack of a tie-in explainer doesn’t mean Donnie Darko is easy to decipher, though. The movie’s ending combines difficult to explain alternate universes with time travel and some truly surreal symbolism. But whether it’s the complicated tangent universe, the creepy six-foot-tall rabbit Frank, or how exactly Donnie wins out in the end, everything in the film’s ending can be explained.
Donnie Darko is also a very surreal and strange movie, and this is epitomized by its ending. The film uses a lot of eighties pop culture detritus, such as soundtrack music and TV references, to evoke the cultural moment of Kelly’s own youth. This creates a foggy, nostalgic atmosphere which makes the trippy ending all the more confusing for first-time viewers. Here we'll break down exactly what happens — from the rogue plane engine to the guy in the bunny mask.
What Happens At The End of Donnie Darko
First and foremost, let’s get the events of Donnie Darko’s enigmatic ending in order. Chronologically, and stated as simply as possible: Donnie burns down hypocritical motivational speaker Jim Cunningham’s house after Frank tells him to, leading to Cunningham’s arrest when child pornography is found inside. Donnie’s mother and younger sister head to LA with his sister’s dance troupe. Meanwhile, his Harvard-bound older sister celebrates her university acceptance with a party. Donnie tries to find the reclusive author of a book about time travel he got from a science teacher, but instead, he ends up being attacked by bullies. Gretchen is hit by a car that Frank, the rabbit-masked man, is driving.
A distraught Donnie shoots Frank in the face, and it’s during this moment that Donnie gives Frank the wound he displayed to Donnie earlier in the film. Soon after, the rabbit’s prophecy for Donnie comes true as Donnie sees an apocalyptic rip in the sky. As his family’s plane starts to crash, Donnie travels back in time to the start point of the movie, going back to bed and allowing himself to be hit by the falling jet engine.
Donnie's Darko's Time Travel Explained
Like many blockbusters, Donnie Darko’s use of self-reflexive time travel and the theory of alternate universes can be hard to understand. Simply put, the tangent universe that Frank the rabbit warns our eponymous hero about is a separate, alternate reality that comes into existence at the start of the film’s action. Donnie Darko doesn’t explain why the tangent universe comes into existence; it's one of many things in the movie that are deliberately left a mystery. Donnie’s role is to sacrifice himself to bring an object (the jet propeller engine) from the tangent universe back home to where it belongs (i.e into Donnie’s own, original non-tangent reality). The nature of this tangent universe was actually explained in text from Roberta Sparrow's The Philosophy of Time Travel, which was made available on the movie's tie-in website at the time:
"If a Tangent Universe occurs it will be highly unstable, sustaining itself for no longer than several weeks. Eventually it will collapse upon itself, forming a black hole within the Primary Universe capable of destroying all existence."
At the end of the movie, Jake Gyllenhaal's Donnie returns to the hillside and watches the jet engine get sucked into the time vortex, at which point time rewinds and he has an opportunity to do things differently, armed with his knowledge of what will happen. Donnie is the only person able to close the tangent universe before it destroys his reality, but it will cost him his life in the process. Whereas at the start of the movie he is out of his room when the jet engine crashes into the house, at the end of the movie he voluntarily goes to bed — even laughing as he does so, having accepted what he must do to keep his family and Gretchen alive — and is crushed by the falling plane debris.
Frank The Rabbit Explained
Is the Frank that Donnie sees throughout the movie the same Frank he shoots towards the end? You decide. The ending can be interpreted in various ways. In the case of Frank the human-rabbit man, his origins are admittedly never made clear by the movie, but a little digging uncovers a couple of clues. Consider the fact that Frank appears after the tangent universe comes into existence, and the match cut which sees his face superimposed over Donnie’s during a sequence discussing Donnie’s mental health. Based on this, the bunny-man can be read as Donnie’s tangent universe alter-ego who exists to warn him about the sacrifice he must make.
Another interpretation of Frank is that he is the same bunny-man that Donnie shot, and that after his death, his spirit was no longer bound by time. It's not uncommon for ghosts in movies to deliver warnings to the living — the difference with Frank is that he delivers his warning before he even dies. Lending the Jake Gyllenhaal movie some real-life inspiration, details from The Philosophy of Time Travel support this theory, referring to a particular type of spirit known as the "Manipulated Dead." In guiding Donnie to change the outcome of events, Frank not only helps to prevent the deaths of Gretchen and Donnie's family but also saves his own life as well.
How Donnie Darko Saves His Family
By going back in time and remaining in his bedroom to die instead of escaping his fate, Donnie succeeds in closing the tangent universe and changing the future. This choice will inevitably save several lives. His mother and sister won't die, because even if they do get on the plane it will no longer crash now that the time vortex that sucked in its engine has been closed. He prevents Gretchen from dying since she was only hit by the car because she was with Donnie. Frank won't die, because he was killed by Donnie in reaction to Gretchen's death. Of course, there are also some less desirable consequences of Donnie sacrificing himself (other than the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal can't make a sequel); since he won't be around to burn Jim Cunningham's house, Jim's child pornography collection won't be found. However, it's implied that some echoes of the tangent universe still remain.
When Gretchen rides past Donnie's house and pauses to look at the wreckage, she and Rose make eye contact and instinctively wave as if they know each other, but aren't sure from where. This suggests that even though Donnie was the only person who retained his full memory of the other timeline after traveling back, the other people in the town are also subconsciously aware of what might have happened. Though he was a misfit in life, perhaps people will know deep down that Donnie was a hero in death — even if they're not sure how.
What The Donnie Darko Ending Really Means
Donnie Darko's ending isn't the only one that leaves viewers wondering what happened due to an alternate universe, but it has a reputation for being particularly confusing. While Donnie Darko's timeline is relatively straightforward, its ending is a little more ambiguous, particularly as it leaves so much for the viewer to decide for themselves. However, the real takeaway from Donnie Darko's ending is the statement it makes about determinism and how free will works within it.
While there's much that Donnie can't control, he is able to make sense of one way that he can close the tangent universe. He knows that in doing so, he'll die, but as his recent existence has seen those close to him meet such unpleasant fates, he chooses his own by allowing the jet engine to kill him. Unpacking the science behind the film's story might be complicated, but Donnie Darko's ending is quite simple: he chooses to die so that others can continue to exist.
Donnie Darko is one of Jake Gyllenhaal's best movies — not to mention one of his most well-loved — partly because it prompts so much thought and conversation. By explaining its scientific basis quite well, Donnie Darko contextualizes its own ending, but still leaves a number of the film's finer points open to interpretation. While there are a great many things about the film that can be explained using real science and scientific theories, exactly what Donnie Darko's ending really means is still very much open for interpretation.
