What Does The Ending Of Donnie Darko Really Mean?

Has any director ever fallen as hard from grace as Richard Kelly? Though he went from Citizen Kane at the start to frozen food commercials by the end, even Orson Welles managed a few extra masterpieces in between; Richard Kelly, on the other hand, only ever managed one before his career hit the skids: 2001's Donnie Darko.

Even then, it was a few years before people caught on - Donnie Darko bombed hard at cinemas, owing largely to its unfortunate release date (the film's plane crash didn't chime well so soon after September 11th, so it was dumped in a handful of cinemas at the end of October). Thankfully, word-of-mouth and the burgeoning DVD market helped the film slowly gain a reputation as a modern classic.

Since Donnie Darko, writer-director Kelly has only made the critically-maligned Southland Tales and The Box, neither of which caught on with film fans the way Darko did. Thankfully for Kelly, his debut film endures; though heavily steeped in '80s nostalgia, the film has managed to feel timeless, like a summary of the period incorporating science fiction, teen drama and quasi-mystery elements.

And the film's mystery is a major factor in the reason why audiences still return to it to this day. Hardly a straightforward movie, Donnie Darko is a substantial piece of pulp that - rich in meaning - defies any one interpretation.

(Note: The focus of this feature will be the preferred theatrical cut of the film, not Richard Kelly's subsequent director's cut)

It's October 2nd, 1988, and Virginia teen Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is - whilst on a regular sleep walk - befriended by a giant bunny rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days. When Donnie arrives home, he finds his bedroom has been crushed by a falling jet engine.

Between sessions with his therapist (Katharine Ross) and discussions about time travel with his schoolteacher (Noah Wyle), Donnie begins to suffer apparent hallucinations, and he is spurred on to commit crimes by Frank. He floods his school, which lead him to meeting troubled girlfriend Gretchen (Jena Malone), and burns down the house of local self-help guru Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze), which leads to police uncovering Cunningham's "kiddie porn ring".

As the 'end of the world' approaches, Donnie throws a Halloween party with his sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and goes to visit local recluse and author of The Philosophy of Time Travel, Roberta Sparrow. Gretchen winds up being run over and killed; Donnie shoots the culprit, a man named Frank, who's wearing a bunny rabbit Halloween costume.

The morning after the party, Donnie's mum and younger sister are on a flight home, when the plane enters an apocalyptic storm, with the engine falling through a wormhole back to 28 days earlier; Donnie watches as it happens. The film then travels back to October 2nd - Donnie is seen in his room laughing, when the jet engine falls on the house, only this time it crushes him to death.