“Was it real?”: Director and Nicole Kidman Explain the Ending of Holland film 

Holland captured everyone’s attention with its creepy trailer that hinted at secrets buried under the perfect facade of everyday life. The film is set in Holland, Michigan, and Nicole Kidman plays Nancy Vandergroot, a wife living with her husband, Fred Vandergroot (played by Matthew Macfadyen), and their son, Harry (played by Jude Hill). 

She initially suspects that her husband’s long out-of-town business trips hint at him cheating on her. However, the ending of the film reveals something even more sinister going on. In response, Nancy and her fellow teacher and lover, Dave (played by Gael García Bernal), do something drastic. 

The film's star, Nicole Kidman, and director Mimi Cave explained what they thought of the ending and how they interpreted Nancy’s actions. In this article, we will discuss their views about it all. 

Is Fred Really Dead by the end of the film? 

In Holland, Nancy and Dave find out that Fred, her husband, is a serial killer who keeps a record of his killings in a miniature town model. During a scuffle between Fred and Dave, the former gets stabbed with his own knife and then falls into a lake. Many viewers initially assumed that the killer had met his end. 

But that doesn’t turn out to be true. During the Tulip festival, the man resurfaces and tries to convince Nancy to begin anew. However, Nancy doesn’t fall for his gaslighting and instead beats him to death. But is he really dead this time? Director Mimi Crave confirmed that this time, Fred’s reign of terror had come to an end. 

She said in an interview (via USA Today), “I wanted Nancy to not only literally be the one to create real safety for herself and her son − which is sort of like eliminating the murderer that she's married to, but also, symbolically. She's finally arriving in her life, and she's taking agency and action.”

Nicole Kidman revealed what she loved about the film. She said, “There's so many twists and turns in this, which is the thing that I loved when I was reading it. I didn't know what was going to happen next.” 

Was the Story Actually real or just a Figment of Nancy’s Imagination? 

At the end of the film, Nancy and Dave reveal that they sometimes wonder if whatever happened to them was real or not. Many viewers inerpreted it to mean that the event of the film didn’t actually happen and it was all in Nancy’s imagination. But is that true? 

Nicole Kidman asked her castmates, “Was it real?” Macfayden said that he loved the “Ambiguous” conclusion and felt that it was “just great.” As for García Bernal, he said, “I don’t know,” which caused Kidman to burst out laughing. 

However, director Mimi Cave hinted that Dave might not have been a real person. She said, “Maybe Dave was never there, maybe Nancy fantasized this whole relationship, and her fantasy was a catalyst toward the truth. If you look back in the film, it actually makes a lot of sense.”

She also encouraged viewers to think about what the film presents. Cave said, “Let me look at it from a few different angles, and I might find a different meaning or a different truth… It's an engaging way to entertain people and keep them thinking about something.”

García Bernal said about the film, “Really, life is very complex. Whenever there's this construct of many aspects of perfection, there's always something behind that. It's not real.” Kidman adds, “And that's why it's exciting when something comes in and sort of explodes.”

Holland is streaming on Prime Video.