Does The Ballad of Wallis Island End with a Musical Easter Egg? The Creators Explain
Director James Griffiths and songwriter Tom Basden explain the title song and more.
This story contains spoilers for The Ballad of Wallis Island.
For those who enjoy movies about musicians, their music, and the feelings that percolate between band members — think Once (2007) or Begin Again (2014) — Focus Features' The Ballad of Wallis Island will be right up your alley.
The quirky tale unfolds on the fictional Wallis Island (actually, Carmarthenshire, Wales), which becomes the unexpected locale for the reunion of folk musicians Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) and Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan), who used to be known as McGwyer Mortimer. While they’ve long since split up and are no longer in touch, that doesn't stop super fan and eccentric millionaire Charles Heath (Tim Key) from wooing them both to his remote island for a reunion concert.
RELATED: Everything to Know about Focus Features' The Ballad of Wallis Island
The only problem is that Heath doesn't inform the now-professionally struggling Herb that the concert is just for him, or that he also invited Nell and her husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), to his remote abode to set the stage for this secretly concocted reunion.
Let's just say that surprises, hurt feelings, and restorative songs all play a part in this exploration of the power of music, nostalgia for times in our lives that we can't recapture, and long-delayed healing.
What happens at the end of The Ballad of Wallis Island?
When the tension between Herb and Nell becomes too much after he tries to rekindle their long-ended romantic feelings for one another, she leaves the island by boat without going through with the reunion concert. Left behind is a bitter Herb who rails at Charles for interfering with their lives and is put in his place by Nell's irate husband.
At his lowest, Herb takes a swim in the sea, which Charles interprets as a suicide attempt, so he chases him into the freezing water to "save him." Herb, in turn, then has to save his drowning host. The absurdity of the moment allows these two deeply closed-off men to finally connect, and it opens Herb's eyes to the unhealthy feelings he's been holding inside for years. Hoping to get Charles to also deal with his hurt over his dead wife, he stages a solo concert on the beach for Charles and the island's grocer, Amanda (Sian Clifford).
With a renewed sense of his own future, Herb leaves the concert money and his signed guitar with Charles. The guitar says, "Your greatest fan, Chris Pinner," alluding to Herb's real name and the authenticity he's going to pursue when he's back on the mainland.
Does Wallis Island have an end-credits scenes?
No, there's isn't a traditional end credits tag. However, there is a non-traditional epilogue in the playing of Herb's demo of his new composition, "The Ballad of Wallis Island," over the credits.
NBC Insider asked Basden and Griffiths if that was always envisioned as a subtle epilogue to their story. They had differing opinions.
Basden said he didn't intend that outcome when he initially shared it: "I did write that song in the lead up to the shoot knowing that I wanted there to be a song that sort of suggested that Herb had decided to throw himself into something a bit more truthful and that's based on his life now, if you like," he explained. "Also, to release it under the name Chris Pinner, to kind of give up his [McGwyer] alter ego."
He said he recorded the demo of "The Ballad of Wallis Island" and ultimately thought it was "too spare" of a song to use.
"It's quite exposing to just record these little demos and then share them with people," he explained of the vulnerability of composing songs. "But then we just tried it on the credits and it just worked really well. It felt really right. I think thematically, the idea of being on an island and coming back to the mainland, seemed to describe pretty well where Herb has been and the [artist self] that he decided to turn his back on."
Griffiths immediately disagreed and said, laughing, "He's being very critical on himself, because I heard it and was like, 'That's going right at the end!' That was the intention straight away. To me, it just seemed to encapsulate that story for Herb. I was in love with the song. Still am."
How can you watch The Ballad of Wallis Island?
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