Pratik Handore
Patriarchy has long oppressed women and limited their role in society. Therefore, it is refreshing to watch the eponymous female character take on the patriarchy in this outlandish yet entertaining tale. The film revels in celebrating the manipulative, trouble-inducing, and nonchalantly cunning nature of its lead character.
Directed by Barnaby Thompson, ‘Pixie’ is a comedy thriller film that centers on a girl, Pixie, who has set up an elaborate plan to avenge her mother’s death and fulfill the promise of starting a new life. Her plan goes horribly wrong, and she is forced to team up with two in-over-their-heads best friends to salvage her plan, bringing her into direct conflict with a gangster priest. Let’s take a detailed look at this exciting wild ride and discuss its empowering ending. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Pixie Plot Synopsis
Set in western Ireland, the film begins with Pixie visiting her mother’s grave. She talks about avenging her mother’s death and moving halfway across the world so that no one can find her. Elsewhere, we see two thugs, Colin and Fergus, pulling up outside a church. Colin talks about his breakup with a girl who is now seeing another guy, Tyrone. After the brief chat, they proceed to threaten the priests in the church and steal a bag full of drugs from their possession at gunpoint. One of the priests retaliates, and all the priests are killed in the resulting shootout.
Meanwhile, we see Pixie waiting for someone at the airport, preparing to board a flight to San Francisco. After collecting the drugs, Colin and Fergus are driving away when Colin finds Fergus’ passport and realizes his name is Tyrone. We learn that Pixie is the girl Colin was talking about, and Fergus is the person she is waiting for at the airport. A jealous Colin shoots Fergus in the head and walks away with the bag full of drugs. When Fergus doesn’t arrive at the airport in time, she heads back home.
At a bar, two dim-witted, in-over-their-heads best friends, Frank and Harland, see Pixie and talk about being attracted to her. It seems Pixie has a bit of a reputation for being notorious. Nonetheless, Frank decides to pursue her. Later that night, Frank and Harland stop at Pixie’s house. Frank goes in, hoping to hook up with her. While Frank is inside with Pixie, Harland waits outside and spots an angry Colin arriving to confront Pixie. Seeing Colin pull out a gun, Harland panics and runs Colin over with his car.
Frank and Harland hide Colin’s dead body in their car trunk and decide to sell the drugs to become rich. Pixie finds out about Fergus’ death and links the missing drugs to Frank and Harland. She finds them and explains that they are in deep trouble as the drugs belong to a gun-toting priest – Father Hector McGrath. She slyly coaxes the two friends into helping her salvage her plan. How Pixie fools everyone, evades trouble, and successfully executes her plan forms the rest of the story.
Pixie Ending: What is Pixie’s Grand Plan?
As the film progresses, we learn more about Pixie’s dual-pronged plan. We see a flashback as Pixie narrates the incidents leading up to her mother’s death. Pixie’s mother suffered from stage IV cancer. However, Pixie was hoping her mother’s condition would improve. One day, when Pixie goes to the hospital to see her mother, she witnesses a shady man coming out of her mother’s room. She tries to chase after him, but he gets away.
She finds her mother has died and realizes the man was there to kill her. She checks the visitor’s register and learns that the man’s name is Jeremy Fisher. Sometime later, Pixie finds out that Jeremy Fisher is an alias of Colin, her boyfriend. Colin is the person who killed her mother. It turns out that Colin isn’t dead but was just knocked out, and before Pixie kills him, he reveals that her step-brother, Mickey, is the one who paid him to kill Pixie’s mom.
Simultaneously, we also learn that Pixie’s step-father is a gangster who used to work with Father McGrath. However, they had a falling out and have sworn to kill each other the next time they come face to face. Pixie’s original plan was to steal money from McGrath’s church, which he has amassed by selling drugs, and run away to San Francisco. For this, she enlisted Fergus’ help, who was supposed to kill Colin after stealing the money, thus avenging her mother’s death. She also planned to blame the robbery on Colin and his murder on Fergus so no one would suspect her. However, when that plan goes side-ways, she hatches a new one.
In the climax of the film, we see this plan play out. Pixie has pitted her step-father’s gang against Father McGrath’s gang, and there is an epic showdown between them. Pixie takes advantage of the situation to confront Mickey, who admits to killing her mom, but Pixie chooses not to kill him. She escapes with Frank and Harland. Before leaving, Harland goes back inside the church and steals the bag of money. The trio then drives away, thrilled by the daring plan they have pulled off.
In the closing moments, Frank and Harland see off Pixie at the airport. She is about to board her flight to San Francisco, having attained closure for her mom’s death. As she walks away into the boarding zone, Frank and Harland realize she has conned them and kept all the money to herself. Pixie stays true to herself till the very end, and we realize we have been fooled, just like all the men Pixie fools throughout the film. It is all a part of Pixie’s plan. The film ends by reminding us of Pixie’s true manipulative and cunning nature.
How Does Pixie Get What She Wants?
Throughout the film, Pixie creates a lot of trouble, even more than the troubles she is trying to evade. As we learn in the closing moments, her mother encouraged her never to be a weak woman and always break the rules, which leads her to seek thrill by troubling men, and she has a precise way of doing it. She knows how to play them. The characters and audience are easily fooled by her sweet talk and innocent eyes.
Pixie convinces other people to do what she wants by tricking them into believing it is something they want to do. She masterfully uses the effect she has on men. This is displayed multiple times throughout the film. She convinces Frank to put on makeup and takes naked pictures of him, she makes Frank and Harland kiss each other, she uses the two to bury Seamus and Colin’s dead bodies, and most likely also manipulated Fergus, who was just a pawn in her grand scheme of things. But the ease and elegance with which Pixie uses men to gain what she wants is the baffling part.
The most prominent example of Pixie’s manipulation is during the climax, as Harland chooses to risk his life by going back inside the church and stealing the money. Looking back, it is evident that she sets him up to this task by dotting on his shy personality and forcing him to do something zealous to please her. In all likelihood, she was counting on Harland stealing the money without risking so much as even a scratch on herself. In the end, Pixie always gets what she wants by exploiting the feelings men have for her (be it the boys’ attraction or her step-father’s love). It is riveting to watch Pixie drop kick patriarchy right in the face by succeeding in her plans.
Read More: Is Pixie Based on a True Story?
