The downside to going into a book-to-screen adaptation having already read the source material is that you know most (if not all) of the twists and turns in store. I knew that going into Verity, having read Colleen Hoover's novel. However, I was still excited to see the movie, and part of that had to do with how conflicted I was about the ending of the book. Perhaps the movie would help me decide where I stand on the ending. Welp... that didn't happen, but like some of my coworkers, I do have a lot of feelings about the Anne Hathaway movie and want to talk it out.🛑Major Verity spoilers ahead! If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, which has arrived on the 2026 movie schedule, read no further! 🛑(Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)What Happens At The End Of VerityAfter Lowen (Dakota Johnson) shows Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) the manuscript, which reveals to him that Verity (Hathaway) was responsible for their daughter Harper's death in the lake, he grows angry and confronts Verity, who abandons her incapacitated performance and pleads for him not to hurt her. He attacks Verity, and Lowen urges him to stop... because he needs to make it look like an accident. Jeremy suffocates Verity, and they drop her body into the lake. It's all chalked up to an accidental tragedy. The movie jumps months into the future when Jeremy, Crew and a pregnant Lowen are moving away from Vermont. Lowen discovers a letter written by Verity to Jeremy, which explains that the manuscript was just a writing exercise for her to get into the villainous mindset, and that none of the dark things she wrote about herself were true. She did not intentionally kill their daughter. Lowen doesn't show the letter to Jeremy, so there is no discussion between them about whether or not it's true. The implication, as the movie ends, is that she's choosing to believe the letter was just one more way for Verity to be manipulative. To believe the letter would not only mean Lowen had encouraged Jeremy to kill an innocent woman, but she would also have to face the fact that Jeremy knew about the manuscript when she showed it to him, and that he'd previously tried to kill Verity and stage it as a suicide. (Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)Team Manuscript vs. Team LetterAs readers of the book, and now watchers of the movie, we don't need to worry about the truth potentially being devastating to our personal futures as Lowen does. However, we are still left to wonder what the truth is, and it's been an ongoing debate. While some believe Verity was telling her total truth in the manuscript, and the letter was meant for her to find, others believe the letter was the genuine truth. The book's letter goes into more detail about the fear Verity claims to feel after Jeremy tried to kill her and make it look like suicide. If the letter is the truth, Verity was planning to take Crew and leave at some point and wanted Jeremy or whoever found it to understand what happened. However, if the letter isn't the truth, then I'm assuming she intended for someone else to find it. The letter was written to Jeremy, but he'd obviously know whether or not he tried to stage his wife's suicide after discovering the manuscript. (Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)I Hoped The Movie Would Help Me DecideAfter reading the book, I remember thinking that the letter felt like a story being told for an audience rather than a letter from one partner to the other. Granted, Verity is an author, so that could explain the style and detail she put into her account of the events. Though I was mostly undecided, I was leaning Team Manuscript. I can also see that being the "easier" conclusion to come to, not only because Verity was painted as the villain throughout the book, so I was already comfortable with that narrative, but also because it creates a less disturbing conclusion for Lowen's story (relatively speaking). Like the book, the ending of the movie is intentionally ambiguous. Also, like when I finished the book, I left the movie leaning toward Team Manuscript. It actually felt like that's how I was supposed to feel, but that may have been because the ending felt a bit rushed to me, given what had just transpired. Apart from that issue, I can't tell if the reasons I'm leaning one way are the same -- Team Manuscript's side has the slightly softer ending, as there's hope that maybe Lowen and Jeremy will be able to start over and put this horrible situation behind them. Plus, it paints Verity as the villain she describes in her manuscript, which is easier to stomach than if she were being blamed for and killed over something she made up as a writing exercise.(Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)It's Horrible Either WayI don't know that I'll ever fully settle on one "Team" or the other. The closest thing I've come to putting this story to bed in my mind is to say that it's a dark ending, whichever way you slice it. Either Verity was a victim, or she was a villain. Regardless of the truth, it's a horrible situation.The same goes for Lowen. The best-case scenario here is that the letter was the lie, and even if that's accurate, that still doesn't absolve Lowen of her part in Verity's death. I could also get into my thoughts about the growing intensity of Lowen's interest in Verity, which seems evident throughout the movie, and is impossible for me to separate from her romance with Verity's husband, but that's an entirely different rabbit hole, I suppose.Back to the original point, what do you think was the truth? Was the manuscript the real story, or was Verity telling the truth in her letter?