The Womb Ending, Explained: What Happens to Wulan?

Directed by Fajar Nugros and based on a script by Deo Mahameru, ‘The Womb’ or ‘Inang’ is an Indonesian horror film. It tells the story of a young woman named Wulan (Naysila Mirdad). Facing unplanned pregnancy and an apathetic partner, Wulan decides to give the child up for adoption. She meets the middle-aged couple Eva (Lydia Kandou) and Agus (Rukman Rosadi), who initially seem caring, kind, and considerate. They even welcome Wulan into their home for the duration of the pregnancy.

However, Wulan soon learns that Eva and Agus are followers of ancient Javanese practices and have sinister plans for her and her unborn child. Ironically, their reasons for doing this eventually become Wulan’s greatest ally. Here is everything you might want to know about the ending of ‘The Womb.’ SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Womb Plot Synopsis

The film begins with footage showing Ki Ageng (Pritt Timothy), a shaman-like figure who plays an important role in the film. The footage helps set up the premise of the movie by introducing the concept of “Rebo Wekasan” to the international audience. The phrase roughly translates to the last Wednesday in the month of Sapar on the Hijri Calendar. Ageng claims that Rebo Wekasan is considered a bad day in the Javanese traditions, and a child born on the day must undergo a cleansing ritual to be freed of their “Sukerto,” or the original sin, or the misfortunes they were born with. The footage ends with Ageng smiling and claiming ominously that he has his own method of performing the ritual.

The narrative then shifts to Wulan in a clinic, undergoing ultrasonography. She is 16 weeks into an unplanned pregnancy. After leaving the clinic, she speaks to Heru (Emil Kusumo), the father of her unborn child. He has no intention of taking any responsibility and gives money to her to get an abortion.

Wulan grew up in an abusive household and now lives alone in a slum. She works at a supermarket, where the manager is sleeping with her friend Nita (Rania Putri Sari) and has eyes on Wulan. A support group reaches out to her, offering her three options. They can provide her with counseling until the baby arrives, prepare her for a safe abortion, or find a family to adopt the baby. Although they warn Wulan that it will be a long process with the last one, she chooses that. Wulan subsequently meets Eva and Agus, who, at first glance, appear to be warm and accepting. They ask Wulan to stay with them until the baby is born and even tell her that she can visit the child anytime she wants afterward.

Initially, Wulan is hesitant, but her landlord throws her out for not paying her rent. She goes to stay with Nita but discovers that the manager, Hardiman, is there. Having no choice, she calls Eva and Agus, and they pick her up.

The scene of Wulan entering Eva and Agus’ house is juxtaposed with a rat getting caught in a trap inside the property. The imagery is not subtle by any means, but it does drive home the point that Wulan and her unborn child are in mortal danger as long as she is there.

At first, things are as perfect as they can be. Wulan has the time of her life being doted on by the middle-aged couple. However, the experience soon turns sour as Wulan starts having nightmares of another pregnant woman. She then meets Ageng, who is introduced to her as a family friend. As he performs a ritual on her, Wulan becomes increasingly unsettled. She starts to speak about this to the midwife her hosts have hired and realizes that the woman is very involved in whatever Eva and Agus are planning. Wulan calls Nita and asks her friend to get her out, but before Nita can do that Agus pays her and Hardiman a visit and kills them with poison.

One day, Bergas (Dimas Anggara), Eva and Agus’ son, returns home, surprising his parents as they had no idea that he was coming. It creates problems for their plans as they never told Bergas anything about their sinister actions. But when Wulan implies to him that she is virtually a prisoner in the house, Bergas starts to remember things from his past and is horrified when he figures out the truth.

The Womb Ending: What Did Agus and Eva Want From Wulan?

Bergas finds old scriptures in their home and realizes that his parents are planning to sacrifice Wulan and her unborn child for him. He remembers their pregnant maid Sumiyati when he was ten years old. He never saw her after that and now knows what his parents did with her. Bergas tries to escape with Wulan, but they are caught. Using hypnosis, Eva puts him to sleep.

When Bergas wakes up, his father is in the room with him. Agus finally gives his son the explanation he wants. After his birth, Ageng visited his parents; the midwife was also there as well. When he learned that Bergas was born on Rebo Wekasan, Ageng told Agus and Eva that a Sukerto must be performed to keep the child safe. They initially didn’t believe this, but Bergas became sick when he was ten years old.

After the modern doctors told Agus and Eva that they can’t save the boy, the desperate parents turned to the occult. They sacrificed Sumiyati and her child, and Bergas got better soon after. Ten years later, Bergas got bitten by a snake, prompting his parents to sacrifice a woman named Supri and her child. Presently, Bergas has turned 30, which is why his parents sought out Wulan.

Just as his parents and their friends are about to sacrifice Wulan and her newborn son, Bergas appears, holding a broken bottle to his neck. He manages to get away with Wulan and her child, and it seems that he accidentally kills Ageng and Agus in the process. When it appears they are safe, Bergas steps out of the car they were traveling in and is run over by a truck. The implication here is that as the ritual was not complete, the curse placed on Bergas got triggered, killing him.

What Is the Meaning of the Mid-Credits Scene? Was Bergas Really Cursed?

The mid-credits scene is set several years after. Wulan’s son is apparently a teenager, and she named him after Bergas. Wulan has the same flower plants that Eva and Agus used for their rituals. Wulan watches a pregnant woman out of her window. That night, she kills the woman using the axe we have previously seen in Agus’ hands and pulls out her baby, most likely to sacrifice them alongside their mother.

The film doesn’t make it explicitly clear whether the curse is real. Everything that happens to Bergas can be chalked up as co-incidence, including his death. But the thing about faith is that it can allocate power to places where there is none. Correlation doesn’t mean causation, but to the faithful that is often enough. The filmmakers likely kept the supernatural aspect of the film consciously vague because of this.

The mid-credits scene shows that her experience has turned Wulan from a victim to a perpetrator. As her son was also born on Rebo Wekasan, Wulan has begun killing newborn children and their mothers to keep them safe.

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