One of the many things I like about this film (and many of Winterbottom’s other films) is that he doesn’t try to wrap up everything within the space of the film because life doesn’t really work that way. I think the ending of Genova simply implies that while they clearly all have a long way to go, they are all starting to heal.

As a mother, the film left me with a sense of despair for the future of Mary. Does she get the help she so desperately needs? why had nothing happened up to now when she has an obvious problem? or does this all happen and the ending when they start school is supposed to be a ‘happy’ one? I feel the ghost is Mary’s imagination and has been conjured up by the child to receive absolution.

With regards to the visions Mary experiences – I had a discussion about this with somebody and came to the conclusion that it boils down to faith on a personal level as to whether they really occur and whether there are any sinister designs behind them. I like how Winterbottom draws you in, expecting a dire, bleak finale but turns it into something far more innocuous but somehow fitting.