Much to our surprise, Smile is more than just a popcorn horror movie, as its metaphors for the lingering and unavoidable nature of trauma are put front and center. Trauma (insert Jamie Lee Curtis voice) has a way of tormenting us, no matter how hard we attempt to run from it.
Rose witnessing her patient die via a bloody suicide is enough trauma for a lifetime, but we eventually find out that suicide has plagued her life once before.
See, when Rose was 10 years old, her mother (Dora Kiss), who suffered from mental illness, overdosed before realizing that she had made a grand mistake. In a desperate attempt to live, she begged her daughter to call 911 for help, but a frightened Rose ran away in a panic, leading to her mother's demise.
In the present, Rose holds that guilt deep inside her, and the entity finds a way to latch onto it.
With the company of her cop ex-boyfriend Joel (Kyle Gallner), Rose visits the only person who has survived the curse, Robert Talley (Rob Morgan), in prison. Despite learning that killing another person in front of a witness could free her of the curse, Rose ultimately decides to face the entity head-on.
She travels to her dilapidated childhood home, hoping to isolate herself and the entity. This way, there will be no witness to pass the curse onto. Though it seems like a solid plan, the entity has a way of manipulating the psyche.
In a scene that mimics the likes of The Exorcist, the entity takes the form of Rose's deceased mother, even morphing into a heinous, giant-sized version of her. Stronger than ever, Rose forgives herself for her past, releasing her trauma in the process. She manages to light the smiling beast on fire, which in turn sets the rotting house ablaze, before escaping to her Jeep and driving off. The evil has been defeated, yay!
With a growing love for Joel — who proves to be her hero throughout the film — Rose flees to his apartment, hoping to sleep there and bask in the comfort of his presence. There's clearly something still between these ex-lovers, and perhaps the timing was simply off until this very moment.
The energy feels still and calm right up until an eerie smile sweeps across Joel's face. Not only does this reveal Rose is still cursed, but we soon discover that she never escaped her childhood home. Driving to Joel's apartment was just a twisted hallucination.
Unfortunately, Rose's smile-induced suicide comes to fruition, reiterating that we cannot fully dodge our deep-set traumas. But wait, there's more! In Smile's excruciating final plot twist, Joel manages to track Rose down, entering her childhood home just as she's about to end her own life. Drenched in oil, a grinning Rose is forced to light herself on fire before Joel's very eyes.
Soon enough, Joel will endure the unspeakable hallucinations that Laura, Rose, and many others had to face. Easily being the most likable character in Smile, Joel now houses the curse.
