Birdman ending, explained by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman follows washed-up actor Riggan Thomson, played by Michael Keaton, as he mounts a Broadway play and battles the legacy of his superhero past. Filmed to resemble a continuous shot, the movie blends reality and magical realism, showing Riggan flying, talking to a physical manifestation of Birdman and sliding toward a mental breakdown as opening night approaches.

On opening night Riggan replaces a prop gun with a real one and the production ends with what appears to be a public suicide attempt. He later wakes in a hospital bed with a bandaged nose, unwraps his face, seems to reconcile with his Birdman persona and walks out onto a ledge; his daughter Sam finds the window open, looks down, then slowly turns her gaze up into the sky and smiles.

Viewers have offered different readings: a reality-based interpretation sees Riggan dead and the final sequence as his happy-ending hallucination, while a magic-based reading treats his flight through the window as the fulfillment of his dreams.

birdman, alejandro iñárritu, riggan thomson, michael keaton, broadway play, continuous shot, magical realism, suicide attempt, hospital bed, daughter sam