Downsizing (2017) – Ending Explained

Reading Time: 6 minutes

First published: 21 November 2022 @ 6:00 pm

How Does Paul Manage Without Audrey?

Paul moved to a new house in Leisureland. However, he feels depressed since he is alone.

He is watching a news report about how 17 Vietnam activists were forced into being shrunken in Vietnam, managed to sneak into the United States through a television box.

Ngoc Lan Tran (Hong Chau) is the only person who survived, she was rushed to a hospital where her leg was amputated below the knee.

Paul and Audrey are finally divorcing after a year. Paul now served as a telemarketer for Lands End.

He attends a birthday party at the Johnsons’ house where Dave tries to console him over his divorce and his regret that he has decided to become a small. Paul then states that he has been seeing someone else.

Paul is having dinner with a single mother named Kristen. His neighbor, Dusan (Christoph Waltz), helding a very loud party so Paul tells him to turn the noise down. Dusan came downstairs, and tried to invite Paul, but he declined.

Paul and Kristen discuss they probably should go to see her son. Paul decides to go with Kristen, but she is hesitant, so he abruptly leaves her and goes to a nearby party.

He finds himself enjoying the party’s atmosphere. Paul is surprised when a young woman attempts to entice him to a party by allowing him to possess a drug in her hand through a kiss.

Paul meets Ronni, a young man who is just like Paul. He takes a selfie with him.

Paul woke up on the first floor of Dusan’s apartment when a cleaning crew was about to arrive. He recognizes one of the cleaners is Ngoc Lan. He approached her and offered to help her fix her prosthetic leg.

Helping Ngoc Lan

Paul joins Ngoc Lan to help care for an ailing woman after he said that he worked as an occupational therapist.

Then, Ngoc Lan takes Paul to the slums where she lives and takes care of those who need something. She takes Paul to visit Gladys, a woman who has cancer and who lost her husband during the downsized process.

Paul gives Ngoc Lan some Percocet to give to Gladys to help ease the pain. He advises that the woman lies down on her side so that the bed does not hurt her. Paul then tries to fix the leg of Ngoc Lan, but it breaks.

Paul must help Ngoc Lan clean houses, help others in the slums, and help others clean their cars.

He must assist her because of his screw-up. Paul is told by Dusan that he can escape by going with his friend Joris Konrad (Udo Kier), to Norway, where the small community was created.

Ngoc Lan also wants to go to Norway, but Dusan says that she cannot go. She also speaks about how she and Jorgen wrote letters to each other, because Jorgen felt terrible for what happened to her.

This brings her to tears and convinces the three men to let her tag along.

Click on the next page to learn how the film ends!