Plot Summary
Vanished Into The Night tells the story of a warring couple, Pietro and Elena, who are suddenly forced to deal with the disappearance of their two children, Giovanni and Bianca.
When they discover their kids are being held for ransom, Pietro goes to desperate lengths to get the money needed.
However, there’s a twist in this dark tale, so you need to prepare yourself for the unexpected!
In this ending explained article for Vanished Into The Night, we briefly recap the plot and ask the question: Who do we see at the end of the film?
How does the film begin?
At the beginning of the film, we see Pietro and his family enjoying time together on a boat somewhere in the ocean.
The scenes of the family are intercut with a future scene of Pietro and Elena engaged in a custody battle for their kids.
When we return to the boat scene, there is a tense moment when Giovanni and Bianca go missing. Pietro and Elena search the waters for the kids before realizing the cheeky pair were hiding on the boat all along.
But while the pair were playing a prank on their parents this time around, they do go missing later.
What happens to Giovanni and Bianca?
Around the time of the custody battle, Pietro picks up the children from Elena’s home and takes them back to his farmhouse. When they arrive at the house, Pietro is greeted by Santos, who he owes money to.
Pietro is able to send the guy away but his troubles don’t end with his debt. Later that night, when he’s watching TV, Giovanni and Bianca go missing from their bedroom.
Pietro searches for the kids but it’s clear they have been taken. He phones Elena and tells her the news. Hours later, she arrives at the farmhouse.
A little while later, Pietro receives a phone call from somebody he thinks works for Santos. The man tells him he has the kids and that Pietro will only get them back if he pays 150,000 euros by Monday morning.
How does Pietro get the money?
At the encouragement of Elena, Pietro visits an old friend, a criminal named Nico, and asks him for the money. Nico agrees to give him the cash but under one condition – that Pietro does a drug smuggling job for him.
Pietro agrees and sails to Greece to pick up the drugs. He then returns to Nico to get the money.
When Pietro returns to Elena’s apartment the next day, there is a surprise waiting for him – or rather two! Giovanni and Bianca are sat at a table eating breakfast.
According to the kids, they have been there this whole time. Elena supports their story and says there was no kidnapping.
Could Pietro be losing his mind?
What happened to Giovanni and Bianca?
Towards the end of the film, we discover the children did go missing from Pietro’s farmhouse. However, it wasn’t Santos who took them.
It turns out Elena snook into the house, drugged her children so they’d forget what was going on, and took them back to her apartment! She then hired somebody to call Pietro’s phone to ask for ransom money.
When Pietro came back with the money, she recorded their conversation in which he told her about what he had done for Nico. Her plan was to use this recording as blackmail, so Pietro would agree to sign the exit papers that would allow her and the children to leave Italy for New York.
The plan would have worked if it wasn’t for the fact that Pietro found evidence of the drugs Elena used on her kids in his toilet. When he met her at the airport, she thought he was there to sign the papers. However, he confronted her with the evidence of what she did to her children, giving him the leverage he needed to gain custody of the kids.
Pietro then left the airport with Giovanni and Bianca while a sorrowful Elena made her way to the plane.
Who do we see at the end of the film?
Pietro and the kids return to his farmhouse where they are given free rein to do whatever they want (presumably not a game of hide and seek though).
While the kids busy themselves in the living room, Pietro notices a figure standing at the kitchen door.
It’s hard to make out who this person is but judging by the silhouette, it’s probably Elena.
Has she come back to the farmhouse to abduct the kids? Probably not. She told Pietro at the airport that she still has feelings for him, so there’s a possibility that she has come back into his life to give their marriage another go. If this is the case, we don’t think Pietro is likely to give her another chance, considering what she has just put him through.
This is speculation as the film doesn’t give us a clear answer. But what do you think about the film’s ending? Let us know in the comments below.
Read More: Vanished Into The Night Movie Review