Dual Movie Ending: Who Survived? Did Sarah Die?

Dual is a 2022 science-fiction dark-comedy written and directed by Riley Stearns and has Karen Gillan starring in the leading role. The film is set in a world where a dying person can clone themselves and train the clone to become them. Once the person dies, the clone takes on the deceased person’s life. Bizarre, yes? The company’s pitch is, “You will save your family from grief”. The end can be a little disappointing for a few, but don’t let that stop you from watching the film. Also, it did raise one question, so here’s the plot and ending of the movie Dual explained in short; spoilers ahead.

Who can opt for cloning?

Anyone who can prove they have a terminal illness and are dying from it can go ahead and create a clone. It’s a short process, and the costs would be converted into a loan which the clone would pay after the demise of the original person. Convenient much? In the time leading to the death, the original needs to teach and train the clone all about their life.

Dual: What happens to the clone if the person doesn’t die?

Well, in normal circumstances, in this abnormal world, the clone would be decommissioned (meaning killed), and the original would carry on as if nothing happened. However, if the clone contests, the two will have a dual to the death.

In the film, Sarah is told she’s surely dying at a 98% chance with a 2% statistical error. The doctor guarantees the error can be ignored, only to get back to Sarah again that the 2% error wasn’t to be ignored and Sarah is not dying after all. Meanwhile, Sarah has already created her clone and passed on her mother and boyfriend to her. Her clone doesn’t want to be decommissioned, so the two Sarahs are scheduled for a dual a year in the future. This film takes ‘corporations making a mistake and getting away with it’ to the next level. The dual has a ticketed audience and is a source of steady income for establishments.

The preparation

Through the remainder of the film, we see only Sarah preparing for the death match and assume that the clone is also undergoing rigorous training. However, we later realize that the clone discovers that Sarah is over-prepared and would easily obliterate her opponent. So the clone hatches a plan to eliminate the competition before the contest.

A Truce

The clone asks for a truce taking Sarah to a Clone survivors’ help group. The clone explains how the two of them are different people, and both deserve a life. She proposes that they both do a no-show at the death match and instead cross over to Canada, where the US laws can’t affect them. This is all one big lie.

Dual Movie Ending Explained: Did Sarah Die? Who Survived?

The ending of the movie Dual shows that the clone poisons Sarah, kills her in the forest, runs to the death match arena, and claims to be Sarah. She is awarded the win. Sarah’s mother and boyfriend are in on this plan and later testify in court that the survivor was indeed Sarah. While the clone seems to have won, she’s now forced to live on as Sarah, a life she does not relate to or want to live, feeling an emptiness and regret that she may have had a better life in Canada without murder on her hands. She killed the one person who understood her.

Sarah was not very trusting. As the audience, we shuffle in our seats, watching Sarah drink the water and wonder how quickly she let her guard down. It wasn’t aligned with Sarah’s character – to be played that easily, given her year’s preparation.

Since the film started with a death match, I expected a two-Karen beatdown! Oh well, it’s not a bad ending, just a little abrupt. The clone can walk away from her life and live the one she wants. The mother or boyfriend wouldn’t dare turn her in as they would get jail time too. The only one who would be able to find out for sure is Trent, the trainer, and he might avenge Sarah if he even cared enough.

What were your thoughts on the plot and ending of the movie Dual? Liked it, loathed it, somewhere in the middle? Do drop your comments below.