The ending of Netflix's All The Light We Cannot See explained
The highly anticipated mini series All The Light We Cannot See has finally arrived on Netflix today (2nd November). Starring Aria Mia Loberti, Louis Hofmann, Hugh Laurie, and Mark Ruffalo, the four-part mini series tells the story of two teenagers and their families at the end of World War II.
There's blind French girl Marie (Aria Mia Loberti) who broadcasts from a radio in the attic of her family home, and German orphan Werner (Louis Hofmann) who is forced to join and fight for the Nazis operating radio systems. Their stories over-lap in the town of Saint-Malo as the Americans get closer to freeing the coastal town.
So how does the four-part series end? And how is it different from how the book ends?
The ending of All The Light We Cannot See explained
The final episode begins with Von Rumpel (Lars Eidinger) finally getting access to Marie's home and making his way upstairs in the hope of finding the Sea of Flames diamond. Thankfully, Marie knows the house inside out and manages to barricade herself into the attic study. Von Rumpel threatens to let go of a hand grenade warning Marie it will deafen her.
Elsewhere Etienne (Hugh Laurie) and Werner wake up from the explosion and Etienne gets one final flashback where we find out how he managed to overcome his PTSD and leave the house. He receives a signal over the radio informing him that the Americans are coming, however Madame Manec (Marion Bailey) is not well enough to leave the house and so Etienne decides to head out with Marie and begins working actively with the resistance.
After one successful spy mission Etienne and Marie return home to find Madame Manec has unfortunately passed away. Back in the current timeline Etienne has Werner promise he will look after Marie and protect her, he also gets Werner to tell Marie thank you and "A tiger is happier dead than in a cage".
Back at the house and Von Rumpel reveals the truth of how Marie's father Daniel (Mark Ruffalo) died. He said the resistance's plan did not work and Daniel was caught by the Gestapo in Paris. There, Von Rumpel tortured Daniel for information on the Sea of Flames, but Daniel never gave up its location and so Von Rumpel killed him.
Von Rumpel then pulls the trigger on the grenade, but not before Marie has revealed she has a gun in the study and is a pretty good shot. Marie covers her ears with the radio headphones, semi-protecting them from the impact of the blast.
Werner sees the explosion go off in Marie's home and races there, where Marie helps him attack Von Rumpel by telling him which step of the stairs Von Rumpel is on. The two fight in the room with Marie's model of the town, however it is Marie who ends up killing Von Rumpel, shooting him in the head.
In Von Rumpel and Werner's fight the model of the town was destroyed and it's revealed Daniel had hidden the Sea of Flames diamond within the model, and rather poetically the diamond lands next to the now dead Von Rumpel. Werner spots it on the floor but under Marie's instructions does not touch it.
Werner tells Marie about Etienne and the pair end up sharing a tin of peaches before Marie lets Werner go on shortwave 1310 and he sends out a message to his sister Jutta (Luna Wedler), who is still listening to the radio station at the orphanage. He gives her a message of hope and she hugs the radio.
Marie and Werner dance to the professor's music from their childhoods and share a kiss in the attic before they hear the sounds of the Americans liberating the town. Marie tells Werner he will have to surrender to the Americans in order to be spared. They agree to meet up again in the future with Marie saying she will broadcast to him on the radio.
Werner heads out to surrender and Marie goes back inside the house where she wraps the Sea of Flames diamond in a cloth and heads through the town. She makes her way to the sea and throws the diamond far into the sea.
The film ends with a shot of Marie standing on the beach before a selection of black and white footage of the real Saint-Malo in the war is shown.
How does the TV show ending differ from the book?
Ok was anyone else desperate to know what happens next for Marie and Werner at the end of the film? Well we looked up what happens in the book and spoiler alert: it's not looking good for these two.
At the end of Anthony Doerr's novel of the same name, the Sea of Flames was actually hidden in a model of Etienne's house Daniel had made for Marie. After Werner kills Von Rumple in the book, he and Marie head to the ocean where they hide the Sea of Flames in an ocean grotto.
Werner then helps Marie escape the city and she is reunited with Etienne who has not been killed in the book.
Werner is taken into a prison camp by the Allies and grows severely ill. In his delirium he steps on a minefield which kills him instantly.
Marie and Etienne move to Paris and the story then skips to decades later where Jutta is given her brother's belongings, which includes the model of Etienne's house. She travels to Saint-Malo to learn more about her brother's past, and recognises Etienne's house. Jutta is connected to Marie, who now works at the museum of Natural History, by one of their neighbours and the two meet.
Jutta reveals Werner died and gives her the model of Etienne's house. Inside the model she finds the key to the grotto gate but not the diamond. While Marie never finds out what Werner did with the diamond, we as an audience find out from the narrator he left it in the diamond.
So yep unfortunately there was no happy reunion for Werner and Marie. Anyone else sobbing?
All The Light We Cannot See is available on Netflix now
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