‘The Whisper Man’ ending explained: Who is the girl in blue sweater?
A missing child, a killer already behind bars, and a father calling upon the one person he was sure he would never need again. This is the premise of Netflix’s latest release, titled ‘The Whisper Man,’ which is now available on the streaming service following its August 28 premiere. Adapted from a bestselling novel by Alex North, the film follows true crime novelist Tom Kennedy (Adam Scott) and his search for his son Jake (Acston Luca Porto), who disappeared around the time they moved following Jake’s mother’s death. After cassette tapes from the kidnapper begin to surface, detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) counts down the clock while Tom turns to his estranged father Pete (Robert De Niro), a retired detective whom he hasn’t seen in 25 years.
Now, the original Whisper Man, Frank Carter (Michael Keaton), is already serving a life sentence for the murders of five boys. So who is responsible for taking Jake? As Pete begins his investigation, he suspects Norman Collins (Hamish Linklater), a true-crime fanatic with a collection of serial killer memorabilia. When Norman is found trespassing in Tom’s basement, Pete and Tom discover two bodies. One belongs to Tony Smith, one of Frank’s victims, while the other is Dominic Barnett, a rental agent whom Norman had killed after he made fun of him. It is also revealed that Norman had struck a deal with Frank in prison for Tony’s remains. Before Norman reveals what the deal was, he kills himself in front of Amanda and Pete.
The answer is revealed when Pete visits Frank in prison. Frank teases him for Tom mythologizing his absent father, and Pete realizes that Frank was talking about someone else. Turns out, the new Whisper Man is actually Francis Carter Jr. (Owen Teague), his own son. According to director James Ashcroft’s conversation with Tudum, Francis Jr. is just trying to gain approval from his father, who is incapable of giving it to him, making him perhaps Frank Sr.’s first victim before he becomes a killer himself. Meanwhile, Amanda tracks Francis Jr. down but is stabbed and severely injured before he escapes with Jake. Pete and Tom follow him back to Tom’s own house, where Pete finds Jake in the crawlspace from which Tony Smith’s body was discovered. After Jake is freed by Pete, Francis Jr. fatally stabs him with a screwdriver. His final words to his grandson are for him to run. Tom finishes off the fight, and Francis Jr. falls through a weak spot in the attic floor that Tom had noticed earlier in the film. Interestingly, the film’s final twist is delivered by Frank himself. When Francis Jr. is reunited with his father behind bars, he strangles his own son to death in the same way he killed his other victims.
The film ends on a lighter mystery, as Jake’s imaginary friend is revealed to be a girl wearing a blue sweater identical to the one his mother was dressed in a photograph Tom finds among his things. Ashcroft claims to have left it ambiguous, so the audience can decide for themselves whether to believe in an actual supernatural force or merely Jake’s imagination.
