Fractured ending explained: Is the hospital taking advantage of Ray’s situation?

Written by Alan B. McElroy and directed by Brad Anderson, Fractured follows a man who finds his wife and wounded daughter missing after he admits them to a hospital. The film plays out like a conspiracy thriller from the perspective of this man who is hell-bent on finding his family. So, much of the script is about him trying to reunite with his family.

Sam Worthington plays the conflicted man, while Lily Rabe and Lucy Capri play his wife and daughter, respectively. Apart from them, Adjoa Andoh, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Lauren Cochrane round out the central cast. After a premiere at the 2019 Fantastic Fest, Fractured became available to stream on Netflix.

The ending of Fractured confirms that Ray constructed an alternate reality to get over the loss of his family. In the final moments, he drives away a different patient, believing he is driving home with Joanne and Peri. In reality, their dead bodies are in the trunk of his car.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Sam Worthigton's Fractured. Reader discretion is advised.

What is the plot of Fractured?

Fractured follows Ray (Sam Worthington) driving away from a Thanksgiving visit with his wife Joanne (Lily Rabe) and their young daughter Peri (Lucy Capri). Along the way, they stop by a restroom. Ray gets busy looking for Peri's missing mirror. So, he can't pay attention to Peri while Joanne is away.

Suddenly, he realizes that Peri is about to fall from a height. He tries to save her, but to no avail. Instead, he suffers a head injury and falls unconscious. The next thing he sees is Joanne, worried sick about their daughter. He drives them to the nearest hospital to get Peri's arm treated. The doctor suggests getting a CAT scan for her head injury.

Ray sees Joanne carrying Peri for the scan through the elevator to the LL floor. He falls asleep in the waiting area. When he wakes up, he finds stitches over his forehead even though, earlier, he told the doctor that he didn't need any medical help. He asks about the status of Peri's scan, but the staff claims that they haven't admitted any patient by that name.

Ray gets frustrated by their lack of help and accountability. He leaves the hospital and asks two cops to help him find his missing family. Upon further investigation, the doctors share a different account of what happened. Earlier, Ray came alone to get his own head injury checked. The surveillance footage confirms the same. Still, Ray insists the hospital is fabricating lies.

What happens at the end of Fractured?

A still from Fractured (Image via YouTube/Netflix)

Dr. Jacobs (Adjoa Andoh) looks into Ray's condition and believes he has constructed an alternate reality to make peace with what happened to his family. She and the cops join Ray at the abandoned construction site, where Peri had the accident. They find blood stains that affirm the doctor's suspicions and decide to arrest him.

Still, Ray doesn't trust them. He escapes the arrest and returns to the hospital. There, he gets to the LL floor to find Peri in an operating theater with Joanne sitting by the side. So, he shoots the doctors to rescue his family outside. He brings them back into his car and starts driving, thinking he saved them.

In reality, Sam brings out a different patient, thinking she is Peri. He never takes Peri or Joanne to the hospital because they die on the construction site. Peri dies from the fall. Joanne confronts Sam for being careless. So, in the heat of the moment, he pushes her away. It accidentally impales her head.

Unable to make peace with the truth, Ray keeps their dead bodies in his car trunk and makes up an alternate tale of him saving them.

Why does Ray make up an alternate reality?

In Fractured, Ray has a history of alcohol abuse. It might be the reason his first wife died in a car accident. Ray claims to have been sober for many years, but his argument with Joanne while on their way back from the family visit hints that he is still fighting his addiction. So, he constructs a fake reality to relieve himself from the emotional burden of losing them. His head injury causes him to get confused between the two versions.