Noise on Netflix ending explained: What happened in *that* ending of the hit thriller?

Noise has been a huge hit on Netflix, coming second only to Luther: The Fallen Sun in the most-watched over its opening weekend list.

The Belgian psychological thriller, which was released on March 17, 2023, tells the story of influencer Matthias who starts investigating a dark secret from his father's past. As this mystery continues to unravel, Matt's wife Liv grows more and more concerned by her husband's increasingly erratic behavior.

Noise is full of twists and turns as Matthias digs deeper into his past and the new town he and Liv have moved to. So while the end of the film appears to reach a satisfying conclusion, you might still be left feeling a little bit confused.

If that's you, we've got you covered as we delve into what happened at the end of Noise on Netflix.

What in Noise on Netflix about?

The thriller Noise begins with a woman named Michelle walking into a pond, as a man shouts her name from behind. This is key for the ending but was only a short opening clip.

The film tells the story of influencer couple Matthias and Liv, who with their newborn baby Julius, move into Matthias' father's old house. The house is in a remote part of town but is close enough to Matthias' father Pol's nursing home so that they can visit and keep an eye on him.

Pol, who has dementia, wanders to the back of the house to the pond one day, which he explains he built for Matthias' mother when he was younger as she always wanted a pond. As Matthias takes Pol back to the nursing home, they pass the factory Pol used to work at and Pol gives a hint at the history of the place.

With support from his social media followers, Matt investigates the factory online and it turns out there was once an accident at this chemical plant in which his father was involved in.

Matthias begins to speak to his father more, and through these conversations, he begins to believe more people may have died in the factory and their bodies were never discovered. Matthias thinks in order to repair his relationship with his father, he must clear his father's name by investigating what happened in the factory.

Matthias' mental health worsens - he is plagued by visions and becomes sensitive to noise. One night, Liv comes home to find him crying on the stairs, half-naked. Earlier on, he approached his crying baby with rage, but then the vision of a dead woman in the bedroom suddenly spooked him out of it.

After speaking to their neighbors, who reveal more about Matthias and Pol's life and their strained relationship after Matthias' mother's death, Liv goes to visit Pol at the nursing home. Here, we see him looking at documents and pictures of his dead wife Michelle and he mistakingly believes Liv is Michelle.

One of the documents shows that Michelle, who was suffering from mental health problems, tried to drown herself in the backyard pond whilst holding baby Matthias. 

We then return to the movie's very first scene, retold this time by Pol. There, we see him run after Michelle into the pond where he saved baby Matt. But it was too late for his wife. Pol then says, "I should have saved you first."

Noise on Netflix ending explained

The implication by the end of the film is that Matt's psychiatric problems were inherited from his mother - and then heightened by his father's resentment and neglect while growing up. 

After Pol's revelation, Liv heads back to the house where she finds Matthias digging a giant hole in the basement, as he's convinced there are secret tunnels that will lead him to the dead bodies.

Bursting a water pipe in the process, Matthias doesn't stop when Liv follows him and shouts, "Stop obstructing me, I'm getting them all out."

Pol then turns up out of nowhere and sees the pair under the water, with flashback scenes to him trying to save Michelle being shown. Using his walking stick, he helps pull out Liv and then Matt from the dirty water.

After this dramatic scene, the film ends by cutting to the next morning, where Liv wakes up peacefully in bed. She gets up, heads outside, and stands next to Matt with baby Julius and they all look out to the pond in their garden together.