Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans - Ending Explained

The film's tension reaches its peak when the Man takes his Wife on the lake, but his conscience breaks when he sees her terrified expression. He cannot go through with the murder. The middle section is a 'second honeymoon' in the city, where they recommit to their marriage in a church during a stranger's wedding. The final twist occurs on the boat ride home: a sudden, violent storm capsizes the vessel. The Man manages to survive, but the Wife is missing. Believing his original sin has been fulfilled by fate, the Man is in despair and nearly strangles the Woman from the City when she arrives to celebrate. However, the Wife is found alive, having been saved by the very reeds the Man intended to use as a murder aid. The film concludes with the Man and Wife reunited as the sun rises, signifying the total banishment of the City Woman and the Man's past darkness.

One common alternative reading suggests that the Woman from the City and the Wife are not real characters but externalized projections of the Man's internal struggle between his id (desire/lust) and his superego (duty/moral life). Another interpretation, discussed by some modern critics, views the film's ending as a dark commentary on domestic abuse, suggesting the 'honeymoon' phase in the city is merely a cycle of 'love-bombing' that does not truly erase the Man's violent capacity. Conversely, some scholars view the film as a religious allegory, where the city is a testing ground and the final storm is a baptism that purifies the marriage.