Ends with a Smile

Well, it's kind of a smile, anyway.

"A SMILE finally breaks onto Dani's face. (For some, this smile might recall the photo of Dani in her parents' bedroom at the beginning of the film.) She has surrendered to a joy known only by the insane. She has lost herself completely, and she is finally free. It is horrible and it is beautiful.

FADE TO BLACK.''

— Ari Aster, Midsommar

People love it when a character, especially the protagonist, smiles. It helps them to believe that everything is going to work out okay, or that they've figured something out that will save the day. So it makes sense, regardless of the precise tone of the ending, to conclude with a smile.

This trope is not Go Out with a Smile, where a character smiles as they die (or its more sinister cousin, Dying Smirk). On rare occasions, if the work ends with the character's death, the two tropes may overlap, but it's very unusual. It's more commonly a feature of the Group Picture Ending.

Or, at least, that's the more optimistic version of this trope: a smile that signifies a happy ending, whether that happiness is surprising or soured with bitterness. In a Bittersweet Ending, it might be a Wistful Smile, as the character mourns what has been lost while also celebrating the gains.

However, because a smile is so commonly associated with happiness, it's almost as common for this trope to be Played for Horror, either because the villain is the person smiling — usually a Slasher Smile or a Psychotic Smirk — or because the circumstances are so dire and unnerving that it may be a Broken Smile, or because it suggests all really is lost. In these cases, it will be a component in a Downer Ending or Bolivian Army Ending, or one where The Bad Guy Wins, depending on how intense the ending is. It can also overlap with No Ending if the lack of dialogue leaves it ambiguous what happened next.

In visual media (especially TV and film), it's common for the smile to break the fourth wall. In horror examples, this will show that The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You, whereas in more optimistic endings, it will suggest that the characters are aware of the audience's engagement in them and want to reassure them that it's going to be okay.

Contrast Off-into-the-Distance Ending, which is a similar way to show the characters moving on (and may overlap if they smile before walking away). Compare the "Everybody Laughs" Ending, though if a single character laughs, that may fall under this trope.

As this is an Ending Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.

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Examples:

Advertising

• An infamously creepy and now lost commercial for the Filipino flower shop Encarnacion Bechaves ended with a woman smiling at the camera holding up a flower.

Anime & Manga

• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Stardust Crusaders: The last scene has Jotaro smiling as he looks at the group photo before looking out the window as the plane flies back home.
  • Diamond is Unbreakable: In the ending, after Okuyasu heard a rumor about Rohan shoplifting, Koichi dismisses it, while Josuke smiles at both of them and saying to head out together.
  • Steel Ball Run: In the epilogue, Johnny carries Gyro's coffin onto a ship to be taken back to his home country, smiling while praying they both have a safe voyage.
• Perfect Blue concludes with songstress-turned-actress Mima Kirigoe leaving a sanitarium. One nurse wonders if she has seen the real Mima, but another nurse claims that it must be a lookalike. Once Mima is in her car, she regards the audience in her rearview mirror, smiles cheerily, and states, "Nope, it's the real me." This signals that despite the mind-screw and torment she'd endured, Mima still has a positive outlook.

Films — Animated

• Cats Don't Dance concludes with studio mogul L. B. Mammoth declaring "Get a picture, boys. These kids will be making history!" as he embraces Danny and Sawyer on stage. Mammoth is smiling because he's found new talent, while Danny and Sawyer are smiling because they're no longer relegated to the background chorus. However, there is The Stinger where wicked Darla Dimple grimaces at the audience because she's been demoted to janitor.
• The Incredibles ends with the Parr family smiling as they suit up to take on the Underminer.
• The Iron Giant ends with the eponymous robot exploding, but then starting to rebuild himself. We see different body parts, ending on the head, which smiles.
• The very last shot of Moana is a zoom-in on the titular heroine smiling brightly on her boat, as the new chief of Motunui.
• Monsters, Inc.: The last shot before the credits is Sulley smiling widely as he opens Boo's door and hears her call him "kitty" again.

Films — Live-Action

• (500) Days of Summer's last scene is another Meet Cute, this time with Tom and a girl named (wait for it) Autumn. Tom flashes a disbelieving smile at the camera as the "days" counter goes back to 1 and the film ends.
• Avengers: Infinity War ends with the Mad Titan Thanos sitting down at his cabin on a remote planet, watching the sunset and smiling to himself as he rests following the success of his plan to wipe out half of all life in the universe.
• The final shot of Barbie (2023) is of Barbie (now gifted with human attributes) telling a receptionist that she's here to see her gynecologist and beaming proudly.
• Brazil: The last we see of Sam is him strapped to the chair, having been presumably tortured to the point of insanity, humming and smiling with a Thousand-Yard Stare. His torturer gets up and walks away in frustration, and the movie ends.
• City Lights ends on the Tramp smiling after the blind girl (who has since been cured) answers his question and says that she can see.
• CODA (2021) ends with Ruby leaning out of the car window, signing "I love you so much" to her family, and smiling to herself before she puts her head back in and drives away to Berklee.
• The last moments of Cool Hand Luke is of the photograph of the smiling Luke with the two women. The final shot zooms in on Luke's smile to suggest that, although he has been killed, the cruelties of prison life weren't enough to destroy his spirit. It can be seen here.
• A Cure for Wellness: Lockhart smiles as he bikes away with Hanna at the end because they are safe, and also because he has gained some modicum of revenge for his father's suicide.
• Happens twice in the UK cut of The Descent. The last we see of Sarah in the cave is of her wearing a small unsmile as she descends into madness and falls into a fantasy of being reunited with her daughter Jessica. When the credits roll, they also happen over the picture of the whole group taken earlier, in which they're smiling, now with much more horrifying implications since they are all almost certainly dead.
• Edge of Tomorrow ends with Cage, after successfully saving the world with his final iteration of the "Groundhog Day" Loop, going to find Rita in the shooting range, the same way we were introduced to her at the beginning of the movie. Since this is (from her perspective) their first meeting, she brusquely demands to know what he wants. His smile before answering is the film's final frame.
• Fido: The movie ends with the titular character smiling. This counts as both a genuine Happy Ending and a somewhat subversion of one, what with the Refuge in Audacity Boy Meets Ghoul themes reaching their logical conclusion.
• Another fourth wall-breaking example is Funny Games, which ends with Paul smirking at the camera, presumably about to wreak havoc on yet another completely new family.
• The Graduate: Subverted by the Leave the Camera Running nature of the ending. The movie seems like it's going to end when Elaine and Benjamin jump on the bus together, beaming. As the shot goes on, both of their smiles fade to more contemplative and uncertain expressions before the movie (actually) ends.
• The Hole ends with Liz smiling as she blames Philippa for what happened and manages to escape unscathed and without any charges. An alternate ending also ends with a smile, this time as Liz (now a blonde), meets a boy at her new school who is implied to be a Replacement Goldfish for her previous obsession, Mike.
• The Incredible Hulk (2008) ends with Bruce Banner in his remote cabin trying to meditate. Then his eyes start to glow green (signalling his upcoming transformation) and he smiles. It's left to the viewer to decide whether this is a good thing (Banner starting to control his transformation) or a bad thing (Banner is losing control to the Hulk, who is becoming more malicious). The door is left open for whichever direction the creators wanted to take the character in the Avengers movie.
• The Indian in the Cupboard concludes with a slow close-up on Omri, slowly breaking into a smile. He's initially sad that he'll no longer see Boone or Little Bear again, but this gets eclipsed by the knowledge that those two men are in their rightful place, living the lives that they understand and can navigate.
• Ingrid Goes West ends with a smile spreading across Ingrid's face as, after attempting suicide on camera (which she also did while smiling before she passed out), she sees that her Instagram account has been flooded by followers and affection since news of her suicide attempt went around.
• Magnolia ends with Claudia Gator smiling into the camera and Breaking the Fourth Wall after almost two hours of being a Broken Bird (such as reliving abuse she'd suffered at the hands of her father), to suggest that she's finally earned some sort of happy ending.
• Midsommar: Having broken into hysterical sobs at the sight of her ex-boyfriend Christian being burned alive, Dani, now crowned as the May Queen, smiles, either because she's a Woman Scorned, she's completely lost her mind, she's found her new family, or she's too high to understand what's happened.
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 ends with Katniss smiling as she holds her baby and looks out at Peeta playing with their other child.
• Nights of Cabiria: Cabiria's life gets essentially ruined — her money is stolen, she loses her house, and she has nothing left except her clothes. Then, as she's walking down the street, she passes a group of partygoers cheering and singing. Looking at them, she smiles and the film ends.
• Oldboy (2003): Subverted. Oh Dae-su embraces Mi-do after his meeting with the hypnotist and smiles... but it's unclear if his memories of the horrifying revenge Lee Woo-jin manipulated him into have truly been erased, and Dae-su's grin becomes a pained grimace.
• The Omen (1976) ends with Damian turning around and smiling at the audience because the Satanists' plan has worked out and he's now in the care of the U.S. President. It also strongly suggests that Damian was aware of the plot in his name even though he's only five years old.
• Pearl (2022): Pearl ends the movie by breaking into an enormous smile, which she then holds as the credits roll. Her smile therefore becomes increasingly strained and painful as tears start to come through... but she still doesn't lose it.
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles ends with a still shot of Del's face as he smiles, having been brought back to Neal's home to spend Thanksgiving with him and his family.
• Downplayed in Psycho. "The End" shows up over a shot of Marion's car being pulled out of the water, but the shot directly before that is of Norman, in full Kubrick Stare, smiling eerily at the camera as "Mother" takes over.
• Played with in Saint Maud. Maud is shown at first overcome, then slowly beaming with joy as she apparently ascends to heaven in a burst of light. But, just as the movie goes to credits, there's a split-second flash of the reality: Maud screaming in agony while she burns to death.
• Saw II ends with Jigsaw, badly beaten and bloodied, eking out a small grin as Eric curses out his apprentice, Amanda, offscreen.
• She-Devil ends with Ruth smiling triumphantly as she walks through crowds of other women on the city street, apparently indistinguishable from them despite the plan she enacted.
• The Shining: The final shot of the movie is of the photograph taken of the New Year's ball at the Overlook — which now features Jack, seemingly sucked back into time, smiling in the front of the crowd.
• Smile (2022): In the final scene of the movie, the main character Rose has been possessed by the entity that has been haunting her and after pouring gasoline onto herself subsequently sets herself on fire with her ex-boyfriend Joel watching in horror. Throughout this sequence, Rose has a creepy smile on her face which was also seen on Laura, the young woman who committed suicide under the entity's influence earlier in the movie while she was in Rose's office.
• Subverted in The Spectacular Now. The closing seconds show Amy smiling at seeing Sutter again, but the smile fades from her face as she opens her mouth to talk to him. The audience never learns what she says, so we don't know if she's choosing to take him back, chewing him out, rejecting him, or something completely different.
• Sunset Boulevard: As reporters gather to cover the death of Joe, Norma, in the depths of her delusion, thinks they're there to report on her return to the silver screen. In the closing shot, Norma says 'All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup" and advances towards the camera with a demented grin on her face. The camera then goes out of focus, as if the sight of her madness were too much to bear.
• Superman: The Movie ends with Superman flying up into the sky and smiling at the camera.
• Uncle Buck: The final shot of the film◊ shows Buck raising his hand to say goodbye to his family, a soft but genuine smile on his face. It reflects the fact that Buck has finally reconciled with his relatives and that there are hopeful changes ahead for all of them.
• Us: While the camera pans out and shows us the Tethered doing the Hands Across America as Red had planned, the last we see of protagonist Adelaide is of her giving her son, Jason, a small, triumphant smile, as she either remembers or comes to terms with the fact that she was Tethered and replaced her own "original". The movie ends with Jason pulling down his mask, seeming afraid of her, and of Hands Across America happening outside their car.
• Veronica Mars: Though it's a Bittersweet Ending, the final shot is of Veronica sitting down at her desk in Mars Investigation, smiling to herself. It's left ambiguous if this is because she's back where she should be (in Neptune) or if she's given in to her destructive impulses.
• Zigzagged in Whiplash. The final shots of the movie are of Andrew and Fletcher smiling at each other as Fletcher finally shows approval for Andrew's performance. However, the scene is cut so that the audience doesn't actually see Fletcher's mouth (just the rest of his face moving). We do see Andrew smiling, though, as he continues playing.
• Wristcutters: A Love Story ends with Zia waking up in a hospital bed, having returned from the limbo for suicides, and finding his Love Interest Mikal is in the next bed over. The last shots are of the two slowly beginning to smile at each other (made more poignant by the fact that in the afterlife they both escaped, it's impossible to smile).

Literature

• The Teen Genius narrator of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, who has difficulty expressing emotion, demonstrates his response to the book's Happy Ending with a smiley emoji.
• Milly, Molly: "Milly, Molly, and Alf" ends with Alf winning a prize at school and the last sentence is "Suddenly... Alf smiled, what's more, he was lost for words". Since previously Alf had been established as The Stoic and never lost for words, this goes to show he's exceptionally happy.
• In Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain and sequels Moon, Henchmen, and Believe, Penny Akk ends the book with maniacal laughter at how things turned out well for her.
• The Wheel of Time ends on the dawn of a new Age after the Dark One's defeat and The Chosen One Rand's apparent Heroic Sacrifice. Away from the celebrations and mourning, Rand rides off, laughing in delight that his duty is complete and he's free to explore the world.
• At the end of Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies, Hornblower holds himself back from laughing (since it might be misinterpreted) but can't help smiling as he kisses his wife.

Live-Action TV

• American Playhouse: Based on a short story by Kurt Vonnegut, "Who Am I This Time?" revolves around two shy characters who have never been lucky in love, hardware store employee Harry Nash and telephone operator Helene Shaw, who both audition for a local production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Cast as Stanley and Stella, each comes out of their shell and become infatuated with the other's stage persona, but they eventually learn to love each other for who they really are. The show ends with a close-up of the couple smiling after one of them uses the episode title as a joke.
• Black Mirror:
  • "Hang the DJ" ends with Frank and Amy locking eyes across the bar and smiling at one another — depicting their first in-person meeting after the app declared them to be each other's One True Love.
  • "Joan is Awful" ends with Joan and Annie beaming as they talk warmly to each other in the coffee shop, suggesting that Joan's managed to break her spiral of self-hatred thanks to Annie's intervention.
• The Brittas Empire:
  • "New Generations" ends with Brittas walking into his office and giving a smile, having heard that his wife Helen has become pregnant with twins and pleased to see that his legacy will continue in the form of biological offspring.
  • "Not a Good Day" ends with Brittas giving another smile after finding out that, in spite of the nightmarish day he had involving Roman War Reenactors, he was able to give a Struggling Single Mother and child a nice day out through his rules and policies.
  • "Curse of the Tiger Women", the final episode of the series, ends with Brittas smiling to the side as he utters his "I have a Dream..." Character Catchphrase, showing how even though the events of the series were All Just a Dream, his Dream of making the world a better place still remains.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The very last shot of the series is of Buffy staring off into the distance, and when Dawn asks what they're going to do next, our hero just smiles, and we Smash to Black.
• Doctor Who:
  • The final serial of season 7 "Inferno" ends with the Third Doctor informing Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Elizabeth Shaw that his TARDIS is now fully operational and therefore he can leave his exile on Earth calling Brigadier "pompous self-opinionated idiot" as he dematerializes... except that he returns a few seconds later revealing that he landed in the rubbish pit a few hundred yards away. While Brigadier is quick to remind Doctor of all the names he called him earlier they both leave to lift the TARDIS up while the camera stays in the garage. Leaving the final shot to be Liz Shaw barely holding a laugh.
• Euphoria: Though it's pretty subtle, as she walks through the school and away at the end of Season 2, Rue smiles to herself while reminiscing in voiceover that she stayed clean for the rest of the school year.
• Fargo: Season Five ends with Ole Munch (The Stoic, The Implacable Man, and The Comically Serious all rolled into one brutal thug) breaking into a tearful smile when Dot offers him a homemade biscuit. It's implied to be the first time he's been happy in over five hundred years.
• Fleabag: Though Fleabag has broken the fourth wall all series, the final shots of Seasons 1 and 2 are of her smiling at the camera, to bring about some closure and peace after her unhappiness (or, at least, in Season 2, since the Priest rejected her, she's still found some hope.)
• The Leftovers: Each season ends with a surprisingly happy Maybe Ever After that shows a character smiling:
  • Season 1 looks like it's going to have a Downer Ending, as Nora leaves Kevin a letter telling him that she's leaving him forever because she'll never recover from her grief. It's implied she may be planning to commit suicide. Then she turns around and sees baby Lily on Kevin's doorstep (Wayne and Christine's baby, left for him by Tom). As Nora picks Lily up, she starts to smile, then she turns around and says to Jill and Kevin (returning from the blaze of the Guilty Remnant): "Look what I found!" Season 1 then ends with Nora smiling at Kevin.
  • After the town of Miracle/Jarden is taken over by the Guilty Remnant and burns, Season 2's final scene starts with Kevin sobbing, having escaped a liminal dreamworld. And then he realizes that he's surrounded by his whole family (Laurie, Tom, Jill, Nora, Matt, and Mary) who have all, through various coincidences and luck, made their way through Miracle and been reunited. Kevin smiles, even as he cries, and Nora smiles back.
  • In Season 3 (and the Grand Finale), Nora and Kevin are reunited again after Nora went to Australia and left Kevin following their argument (and possibly found the Departed. Maybe.) The final shots of them in the series are of them smiling at each other, rekindling their hope for a new start or second chance.
• Mad Men ends with Don Draper meditating on a hillside as a smile creeps onto his face, then the show cuts to the famous "hilltop" Coca-Cola ad, the implication being that Don just came up with the idea.
• Motherland: The final shot of the first Christmas special is of Julia's children waking her up screaming that Santa has been. Julia, who usually sports a forced Unsmile, beams with genuine delight at hearing her children so happy.
• Murder, She Wrote: Most episodes of the series ended on a shot of Jessica either smiling, laughing, or making a humorous face (such as if something funny/unfortunate had just happened). If the episode was darker or ended on a dark note, then the final shot would be of Jessica frowning or looking at someone with disapproval.
• Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: The bittersweet final scene has Charlotte and George gazing into each other's eyes, each with an adoring smile, though hers is tearful. They're still Happily Married after all these decades together, but George's mental illness has worsened to the point where he doesn't even know what year it is or who his family members are most of the time—but in this moment, George recognizes his dear Charlotte, and remembers their first meeting. To add an extra emotional punch to the gut, the scene briefly flickers to their younger selves smiling at each other, before coming back to the present moment.
• The first season of Son of a Critch ends with Mark reclining with a contented smile on his face as he listens to the Mixtape of Love that Fox gave him before they parted for the summer.
• Wonder Woman almost always ended with the title character smiling.

Music

• In this Song Parody of "Let it Go" from Frozen (2013), titled "I Said No", the end has the little girl, who had previously been throwing a tantrum because her dad wouldn't let her eat the Halloween candy she wanted, smiling after he decides to allow her to have just one piece.
• The video for Michael Jackson's Thriller famously ends with Jackson comforting his girlfriend, the events of the video seemingly having been All Just a Dream... only to suddenly turn to the camera and grin madly, revealing he has the werecat-like eyes from earlier in the video. Cue Evil Laugh from Vincent Price and Fade to Black.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic:
  • The music video for "Eat It" ends with Al suddenly turning around to reveal that he has yellow cat eyes and a Slasher Smile, in a Shout-Out to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
  • The music video for "Skipper Dan" ends with the titular Skipper Dan smiling while taking a photo with a family of tourists. It's unspecified as to whether he's finally happy with his job, or if he's a Stepford Smiler.

Video Games

• ANNO: Mutationem: In the ending scene, after Ann sees Ayane had fallen asleep moments after getting Ann to do a Bridal Carry with her, she does a warm smile deciding it's time to call it a day before heading back home.
• Danganronpa;
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc: In the ending chapter, Makoto smiled as he presses the exit button before he and the others finally leave the academy.
  • Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony: The last scene in the epilogue is Shuichi, Maki, and Himiko, looking up with determination towards the opened path to venture out into the true world.
• Honkai Impact 3rd: The end of the story of Part 1 (collectively called "The Moon's Origin and Finality") has the protagonist Kiana smiling towards the camera while pointing at it, similar to her portrait at the icon of the app.
• Life Is Strange: The final scene of the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending ends with Max having a slight smile after a blue butterfly, which is symbolic of Chloe, lands on her coffin.
• Lonely Wolf Treat: The first chapter ends with a shot of Treat with a warm smile on her face. Since she spent the first half of the chapter starving and alone, it serves to show that her life is changing for the better after meeting Mochi and enjoying a delicious curry dinner with her.
• Mortal Kombat 1 ends with Liu Kang exiting Madam Bo's teahouse with a grin on his face, proclaiming that Earthrealm is safe with his champions.
• Persona:
  • The final frame of Persona 3 is Aigis smiling to S.E.E.S. when they reunite on the school's roof.
  • Persona 4 Golden: In the epilogue, Yu smiles as his friends welcome him back during a group meal.
  • Persona 5 Royal: The last scene of the true ending has Joker removing his glasses as he smiles out the window.
• World's End Club: The last scene has Pochi thanking the player for helping everyone, giving a smiling thumbs-up.

Web Animation

• The Amazing Digital Circus: The pilot ends with a shot of Pomni's Broken Smile, implying that she's starting to go a little nuts at her new situation.

Webcomics

• The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal: The last chapter has Amal go looking for TJ to rekindle their relationship after TJ's disappearance. At the end, he finds the place where TJ had hoped to get a new job, walks inside, and grins at something unseen.

Western Animation

• Amphibia: The last shot of the Grand Finale's credits is a smiling group shot of Anne, Sasha, and Marcy.
• The Loud House:
  • Played for Lightmare Fuel at the end of "Spell it Out" — the episode involves Lucy seemingly cursing her siblings into not being able to speak as revenge for them ignoring her, but then they reveal that they just had laryngitis from yelling. Then, at the end, the painting of Great Grandma Harriet smiles, hinting that either the spell was real all along, Harriet's ghost is around, or both.
  • "Really Loud Music" ends with a final shot of a smiling Luna, having given up her chance at a record deal but happy to keep her true image.
• Punky Brewster ends the episode "Punky the Heiress" with a giggle and a bright smile upon her crooked aunt and uncle sentenced to be Henry's housecleaners for a month (following them using Punky to embezzle an inheritance).
• The Ren & Stimpy Show: "Stimpy's Invention" ends as Ren, finally freeing himself from the control of the Happy Helmet, has Stimpy in a stranglehold, telling him that he's never been angrier in his entire life. Then suddenly, Ren smiles, because he realizes that being angry is what makes him happy. The parting shot is a close-up of Ren's demonic grimace, accompanied by mad laughter.
• Samurai Jack: At the end, Aku has been defeated for good, and Jack has returned home to his own time. Unfortunately, the woman he loves, Ashi, was a daughter of Aku, and Jack destroyed Aku from a time before she was ever conceived, causing a case of eventual Ret-Gone for her, though they at least get to say goodbye. Jack wanders off alone into the wilderness, where he comes across a tree that is shedding cherry blossom petals. The series closes with Jack giving a Wistful Smile at the close of the story.
• SpongeBob SquarePants: "Band Geeks" ends on a freeze-frame of Squidward Tentacles leaping with an expression of glee, having earned a sweet victory over his rival Squilliam.
• Steven Universe: In the Grand Finale of Future, Steven has a smile as he drives away from Beach City.
• Nearly every episode of Supertato ends with Supertato smiling at the viewers with an Audible Gleam.

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