What Does The Ending Of Donnie Darko Really Mean?

Still, seeing as it's viewed through the veil of someone heavily medicated, prone to intense dreams and described by his shrink as a possible paranoid schizophrenic, Kelly's own preferred ending defies what he's getting at in the theatrical cut. Kelly may favour the tangent universe interpretation, but even his lead character assumes some of what he's seeing is a hallucination.

The impact of the medication Donnie takes also has to be factored in - surreal events (like Frank appearing in the bathroom mirror) occurring just after Donnie takes his pills suggest they contribute to his all-round hallucinatory existence.

It leaves the viewer in a state of confusion over what is and isn't real - as the film is almost exclusively taken from the point-of-view of Donnie, there is no way of knowing where reality stops and fantasy begins. It's only Donnie's reality that the audience gets to see, and his view of things should be dealt with with caution at best.

Because the film blurs the line between fantasy and reality so effectively, every individual viewer is left to decide where the hallucinations start and stop. That's if there's a point where they stop at all.