Vladimir author reveals 'real meaning' of Netflix series' shocking ending
This is the 'real meaning of her whole journey'
Vladimir ends on a fiery, ambiguous twist for Rachel Weisz’s character – and the original novel’s author has unpacked what it all means.
The Netflix series starts with a harmless premise: Weisz’s unnamed protagonist, a middle-aged professor, has a crush on her younger colleague, Vlad (Leo Woodall).
However, whether it’s strained efforts to spend time with him alone, pinching his wife’s mail, or drugging his whisky, things eventually go too far.
This culminates in a steamy finale for Weisz and Woodall’s characters. Alas, what’s that old adage? “There’s no smoke without fire.”
***Warning: spoilers for Vladimir ahead***
What happens at the end of Vladimir?
Vladimir ends with Weisz and Woodall’s characters finally having sex… but there’s an unexpected twist.
When John (John Slattery) arrives, he reveals that he and Cynthia weren’t having an affair. She was trying to finish her memoir, and he’s been writing an epic poem – so they took drugs and wrote together, that’s all.
The moral problems with that, aside (Cynthia is an addict who once tried to kill herself), it means Vlad is the only one who’s been unfaithful.
In the closing scenes, John expresses interest in “recommitting” to his marriage, while Vlad wants to keep seeing Weisz’s protagonist.
Spurred on by everything that’s happened, Weisz scribbles down a new ending to her book. However, when a fire breaks out in the cabin, she’s forced to choose between the two men and her manuscript.
She picks the latter, darting across the room and outside with her pages as the cabin goes up in flames. “Oh, don’t worry. I call 911, and everybody gets out. You don’t believe me?” Weisz’s character says.
What does the end of Vladimir mean?
There’s plenty to unpack by the end of Vladimir – and its cast and creator have addressed what you should take away from it.
For example, take the sex scene with Weisz and Woodall. In another version of the story, it could have lived up to the “charged, romantic, erotic image she had of him in these fantasies”.
“In reality, they just didn’t pan out that way,” Julia May Jonas, the author and showrunner, told Tudum.
“The sex – actually getting what she thought she desired – was not as good as the exhilarating feeling of desire itself… it’s maybe a lesson that fantasies should stay fantasies.”
However, something good comes out of the sex. “Once she gets it, she’s translating all that desire into her writing,” Weisz said.
“What it’s about is coming back to life in a certain way that had lain dormant for some time.”
Fast-forward to the fire and Weisz’s character standing outside, holding her precious pages. “Her libido awakens her creativity, and she chooses to save her novel in the fire,” Weisz continued.
“She doesn’t not save [Vlad and John]. She’s not a firefighter. She just decides that she’ll risk her own life to save her novel.”
Weisz’s protagonist also tells the audience that her book becomes a major success, while Vlad’s novel about their relationship flops.
That final shot is crucial to understanding the show. “Leaving with her holding that book felt like the real meaning of the whole journey. It is what she got out of [this obsession],” Jonas said.
“That’s where her power is.”
