Does 'The Last Sunrise' have a happy ending? Ry and Julián's fate explained
'The Last Sunrise' spends much of its final act placing Ry's life, memories, and relationship with Julián at risk. Her decision to stop taking medication leads to a medical crisis in Mallorca, leaving her mother to make the choice Ry had resisted after Julián convinces her to approve the surgery.
The final minutes reveal what happens after her surgery, but they leave viewers to interpret how much of her summer she retains. The movie ends on a hopeful note. However, it stops short of confirming whether Ry remembers Julián or whether they remain a couple.
Ry had refused brain surgery because the procedure could affect her memory. She instead managed her seizures with medication, but stopped taking it during her trip because of how it made her feel. After a seizure causes her to fall into the hotel pool, she tells Julián about her condition and explains why she does not want the operation. Ry later loses consciousness while sleeping beside Julián on the beach. Doctors recommend surgery, and Julián persuades her mother, Isolde, to approve it despite the promise she had made to Ry. He tells her, "Her favorite memories will be the ones ahead of her."
Ry does not die at the end of 'The Last Sunrise.' The surgery succeeds, and she wakes up in the hospital. Julián enters the room and says her name, but the movie cuts away before showing enough of her response to establish whether she recognizes him. The story then moves forward to Ry swimming at the beach.
In a voiceover, she says, "My memories come back to me one by one." She also refers to someone she used to know and wonders whether fate will continue to follow her. The voiceover says, "I feel like I could touch him. Someone I used to know. I wonder, will fate keep following me here? What I once thought would be my last summer, my first and last sunrise, ending up being the beginning of my life."
When Ry leaves the water, Julián approaches, and she smiles at him. He then introduces himself by saying, "Holà, I'm Julián." That introduction can be read in more than one way. Julián may be starting their relationship again because Ry has forgotten him, or the exchange may recreate their first meeting while her memories return. Director Carlson Young confirmed that the movie does not settle the issue.
Speaking to Swooon in an interview, Young said viewers are not meant to know whether Ry fully remembers Julián. "It's up for the debate," she said. Maia Reficco, who plays Ry, also revealed that several reactions were filmed and that she did not learn which ending had been selected until she watched the edited movie.
Anna Todd's book gives Ry and Julián a more definite resolution. Ry recognizes Julián as soon as she wakes after surgery. An epilogue set one year later confirms that they are still together and travel between Mallorca and Texas for her hospital appointments.
The adaptation was developed before the book was published, which accounts for some differences between the two endings. Young told Swooon that Todd first sold the story as a feature and then wrote the novel.
The film retains Ry's survival and the possibility of a future with Julián, but replaces the book's confirmation with a final meeting that allows their relationship to begin again, whether or not Ry remembers the first time. The result is a happy ending for Ry's health and future, with her romantic fate deliberately left open. 'The Last Sunrise' is currently streaming on Prime Video.
