The Phantom Carriage - Ending Explained

The film’s complex structure reveals that David Holm does not actually die permanently. After witnessing the full extent of his cruelty—including his wife's plan to kill herself and their children to escape his return—David’s soul is returned to his body in the graveyard. He wakes up just in time to rush home and stop Anna from committing the murder-suicide. The ultimate twist is that the supernatural journey was a 'reprieve' granted by Georges and a higher power to allow David to save his family. The death of Sister Edit is the final 'price' paid; her sacrifice is what truly breaks David’s spirit and allows him to change, suggesting that a soul's redemption often requires the martyrdom of another.

While the film is presented as a supernatural morality tale, some critics interpret the events as the delirium-induced hallucinations of a man dying from a combination of head trauma and chronic alcoholism (delirium tremens). In this reading, the Phantom Carriage is a projection of David's guilt and the folklore he was discussing just before his injury. Another perspective views the film as a political allegory for the state of post-WWI Europe, where the 'contagion' of violence and misery must be cured through radical social empathy and the work of humanitarian organizations like the Salvation Army.