Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin‘s ending brought the darkly comedic and twisted tale of friendship to a conclusion that led to many fans questioning what it really was about. McDonagh’s movies and plays are typically filled with allusions to classics, subtle gags and motifs that aren’t easily apparent, and complex imagery. The Banshees of Inisherin ending, explained upon closer inspection, shows that the 2022 under-the-radar hit is no exception to this rule.
The Banshees of Inisherin’s offbeat plot sees the good-natured Pádraic (Colin Farrell) gradually unravel after his former friend, Colm (Brendan Gleeson), abruptly refuses to speak to him. While Pádraic’s sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) and the troubled local boy Dominic (Barry Keoghan) attempt to defuse the pair’s escalating battle, their efforts prove fruitless. By the end of The Banshees of Inisherin, Dominic is dead, Siobhán has left Inisherin, and Colm has committed an irreversible act of self-mutilation and unintentionally turned Pádraic into an enemy for life.
What Happens In The Banshees of Inisherin’s Ending
The Former Friends Go To Great Lengths Against Each Other
In The Banshees of Inisherin‘s ending, Pádraic speaks to Colm despite the latter repeatedly warning him that he would sever his own fingers if he did so. Meanwhile, Siobhán gently rebuffs Dominic’s romantic advances and moves to the mainland for a library job. When Pádraic once again attempts to repair the friendship, Colm cuts off his fingers with a set of shears and throws them at the door of Padraic’s cottage. Pádraic’s beloved pet pony, Jenny, eats one of the severed digits, chokes, and dies.
In retaliation, a heartbroken Pádraic burns down Colm’s house with Colm inside. The local policeman, Peadar (Gary Lydon), who is also Dominic’s sexually abusive father, sees this and rushes to Pádraic’s house to confront him. On the way, he meets the elderly Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton), who wordlessly leads him to his son’s waterlogged corpse.
Though Dominic breaks the death trend in McDonagh’s movies, his death is tragic, as he kills himself off-screen, disillusioned by the depths of Pádraic’s cruelty, Siobhán’s departure, and his father’s abuse. The next morning, Colm meets Pádraic and suggests that their feud has reached an end. Pádraic informs his former friend that Colm’s debt won’t be settled until one of them is dead.
Did Mrs. McCormick’s Prediction Come True?
The Lady May Have Been Right All Along
Mrs. McCormick initially seems like an annoying old woman when she is first introduced early in The Banshees of Inisherin. However, she later takes on a more sinister significance as she acts more like the titular mythological figures, warning Pádraic that one or two deaths will visit the island before the month is out.
While there are no literal banshees in the movie, Mrs. McCormick’s prediction does turn out to be right — crucial to the real meaning of The Banshees of Inisherin ending and the movie’s mythological themes. Dominic dies, and Mrs. McCormick is the one to find his body, while Pádraic’s prized pony, Jenny, can be considered the second death of her prophecy if animals count.
Mrs. McCormick is established as an unpleasant gossip, so she may have told Pádraic about these potential deaths to worsen his existing paranoia and escalate his fight with Colm.
However, this is more than likely a self-fulfilling prophecy. Mrs. McCormick is established as an unpleasant gossip, so she may have told Pádraic about these potential deaths to worsen his existing paranoia and escalate his fight with Colm. As such, if her prophecy does come true, this is as much because she toys with Pádraic as it is evidence of any supernatural goings-on.
Is Pádraic And Colm’s Feud Finally Over?
Even So, They Likely Will NeverBe Friends Again
Pádraic and Colm’s feud is empathically not over in The Banshees of Inisherin ending. While he is determined enough to cut off his fingers for the sake of gaining some space from Pádraic, Colm shows real remorse for the first time when he learns that he accidentally caused Jenny’s death. This, along with losing his house to a fire, leads Colm to assume that he and Pádraic are now even. However, Pádraic’s character has also undergone a meaningful shift, abandoning the niceness that defined him at the beginning of the film.
In The Banshees of Inisherin’s ending, Pádraic decides on mutually assured destruction over peace. While Colm hopes to secure a musical legacy for himself by getting some distance from his former friend, he ends up instead stoking the flames of their feud — a stark contrast to the idyllic setting The Banshees of Inisherin establishes in the beginning. Indeed, while Pádraic started The Banshees of Inisherin blissfully unaware of the limitations of his small-town existence, he ends the movie’s story as a spiteful, hate-fueled figure.
With neither man making any plans to leave the island, the feud between the two is bound to get worse.
Although the pair have held onto some humanity — as evidenced in the tragicomic moment where Colm thanks Pádraic for taking care of his dog and Pádraic assures him it was no problem — their relationship is destroyed. With neither man making any plans to leave the island, the feud between the two is bound to get worse.
What The Banshees Of Inisherin’s Ending Really Means
Historical & Cultural Context Are Needed To Fully Understand
Like the ending of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, McDonagh’s previous movie, The Banshees of Inisherin’s final scenes are left ambiguous. To understand the ending, the historical and cultural context of its setting is important. The Banshees of Inisherin takes place in 1923, at the height of the Irish Civil War, on a fictional Irish island whose name translates to “the island of Ireland.”
While Irish literature, poetry, and music from a few years earlier rightfully celebrated and immortalized the triumphant defeat of English colonial rule in Ireland, works that mythologized the ensuing civil war were few and far between. There was nothing beautiful, uplifting, or awe-inspiring about a war that split families and pitted friends against each other.
The Banshees of Inisherin sees Colm try to cement an artistic legacy for himself by abandoning niceness, but this leads Pádraic to note that Colm hypocritically sees nothing wrong with befriending a child-abusing corrupt cop while refusing to speak to Pádraic because he is “dull.” By the end of The Banshees of Inisherin, Colm longs for a return to the dullness of his former friendship, no longer enamored with romantic ideals of suffering now that he has lost his fingers and his home to a pointless battle of wills.
Colm gets the terrible beauty, artistic inspiration, and deep meaning he was searching for, but it comes at the cost of his friendship with Pádraic…
However, Colm and Pádraic can’t go back, as like the country they are so close to, they are now divided by their differences, locked in a fight that will eventually cost them their lives. Pádraic’s drastic but believable evolution underscores why he is among Farrell’s best movie roles. In The Banshees of Inisherin’s ending, Colm gets the terrible beauty, artistic inspiration, and deep meaning he was searching for, but it comes at the cost of his friendship with Pádraic, his home, and, ironically, even the ability to play the mournful music he so loves.
What The Banshees Of Inisherin Means To Director Martin McDonagh
He Wanted To Tell A Human Story
The Banshees of Inisherin ending — explained from McDonagh’s point of view — is also about the importance of telling an authentically human story. While McDonagh has been criticized for his use of Irish archetypes in depicting Inisherin’s citizens, these exaggerated characterizations also serve as allegorical tools for the real story he wanted to tell. McDonagh told IndieWire.
“The starting point was to capture the sadness of a breakup, be it a love breakup or a friendship one. Being on both sides of that is an equally horrible position. To treat the sadness of both sides as truthfully as possible was the main thing I wanted to get right with this.”
This further explains why Colm and Pádraic’s feud is never resolved — it’s meant to evoke the inherent trauma in every meaningful human relationship.
The Banshees Of Inisherin Came Up Short At The Oscars
It Cleaned Up At The Golden Globes Though
The Banshees of Inisherin had a good showing at the 2023 Golden Globes, winning Best Comedy, Best Actor for Farrell, and Best Screenplay for McDonagh. It also nabbed a total of nine Academy Award nominations for the 2023 ceremony. Two were for Martin McDonagh alone, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, proving that his efforts in weaving an intricate and compelling tale paid off in spades.
Unfortunately, 2022 was a stacked year for awards darlings, and McDonagh and co. were up against some serious contenders at the Oscars, including Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All at Once. Though the Banshees of Inisherin were more than deserving, the movie went home empty-handed, mostly losing to Everything Everywhere All at Once, which swept at the ceremony, winning seven awards, including Best Picture. Nevertheless, The Banshees of Inisherin will be remembered as a solid entry in McDonagh’s filmography, and it’ll likely become a classic for its lasting, relatable story.
How The Banshees Of Inisherin Ending Compares To Other McDonagh Films
The Banshees Of Inisherin Share Similarities To McDonagh Previous Stories
With The Banshees of Inisherin‘s ending, it continues a trend of Martin McDonagh movies ending with a somewhat dark ambiguity that also has a slight possibility of hope within it. While it is clear that the feud will continue between Pádraic and Colm, there is also a suggestion that this is how they maintain their relationship. Pádraic wants to drag out their combative relationship because it means he will still have someone in his life. It is a sweet but sad thought wrapped in the uncertainty of where the feud will go.
McDonagh seems to enjoy leaving the audience with a complete story but also questions about the fates of the characters. His first movie, In Bruges, finds Colin Farrell’s character of Ray badly wounded and coming to terms with the fact that he wants to live, but the camera fades before the audience knows if he does.
Similarly, Seven Psychopath, another collaboration between McDonaugh and Farrell, ends with writer Marty (Farrell) finishing his movie but forgetting the promise he made to a killer named Zachariah (Tom Waits). Marty accepts Zachariah’s insistence that Marty pay with his life with the movie ending with Zachariah unsure if he will actually kill him or not.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri also ends with a lingering question as the vengeful mother, Mildred (Frances McDormand) and the disgraced cop Dixon (Sam Rockwell) head out on the road with the intention of killing a suspected murderer. In the car, they both admit they are unsure if they want to go through with it, but figure that they’ll decide on the way.
Like The Banshees of Inisherin, these movies leave the audience wondering what happens next, but the conclusions to these stories fit perfectly into the themes McDonagh explores, such as guilt, forgiveness, and revenge. Even with the answers left out, the endings feel complete because they make sense for this story.
