Directed by David Slade, Hard Candy is a psychological thriller starring Elliot Page as Hailey and Patrick Wilson as Jeff.
This post includes a brief plot summary and an explanation about the ending of the film Hard Candy (2005). Did Jeff kill Donna?
Hard Candy (2005) – Plot Summary
A teenager (Hailey) and a young man (Jeff) meet up at a coffee shop. The conversation between the two gets rather flirtatious and Jeff ends up inviting Hailey to his house.
Jeff is a photographer and he is not shy about displaying his work around the house. A lot of these pictures feature a young girl with almost no clothes on.
After having a couple of drinks, Hailey asks Jeff to photograph her too. However, before Jeff could capture Hailey’s poses, he passes out.
Jeff regains consciousness and he finds himself all tied up to a chair. Hailey admits to tampering his drink and drugging him. The young girl proceeds to accusing Jeff of being sexual predator and a murderer, which he denies.
Hailey does not believe in a single word that Jeff says. Therefore, she goes around the house looking for clues and evident about a possible crime. Shortly after, Hailey finds a safe and a gun.
Inside the safe, there is a picture of Donna Mauer, a missing teenage girl. Meanwhile, Jeff continues to deny the accusations.
For a brief moment, Jeff regains control and knocks Hailey out. However, she regains her senses, attacks Jeff from behind and smothers him with a plastic wrap.
Hailey has now bound Jeff to a steel table and she intends to castrate him. A desperate Jeff pleads Hailey to stop the procedure. He even tries to dissuade the teenager by telling her about his childhood trauma. However, none of Jeff’s words seem to convince Hailey and she proceeds with the surgery.
After finishing the operation, Hailey informs Jeff that she is going to take a shower. While Hailey is in the other room, Jeff manages to free himself and realizes that nothing has happened to his genitals.
Enraged, Jeff storms to the shower to attack Hailey with a scalpel but she sneaks behind him and attacks the man with a stunt gun.
While Jeff is unconscious, Hailey poses as a police officer and calls Jeff’s ex-girlfriend (Janelle). When the photographer wakes up, he finds himself standing on top of chair with a noose around his neck.
This time, Hailey comes up with the following proposal: she promises to erase the evidence against Jeff if he commits suicide, otherwise, she will expose him.
A neighbour (Judy) knocks at Jeff’s door. Hailey opens the door and tells Judy that her “uncle” is not feeling very well. When she returns, Jeff breaks free and starts chasing Hailey. She lures him to the roof and keeps the photographer under control with his gun.
Jeff breaks down and confesses that he watched another man sexually assault and killing Donna. Then, he promises to give the perpetrator’s name, if Hailey decides to spare him. However, the young girl informs Jeff that she already knows the other individual’s name (Aaron). And lets Jeff know that, Aaron accused the photographer before killing himself.
Janelle arrives and looks for Jeff. This time, Hailey urges Jeff to end his life before Janelle finds the truth. When Jeff takes the final step and jumps off the roof, Hailey retracts her promise by saying “Or not.” After the whole ordeal, Hailey gathers her belongs and escapes the property.
Hard Candy (2005) – Ending Explained
The ending of Hard Candy is rather ambiguous as it leaves the audience wondering about the real culprit behind Donna Mauer’s death. Who did it? Jeff or Aaron?
Despite of Jeff’s desperate attempt to change Hailey’s mind with that final bargain, he is guilty. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who lay their hands on Donna Mauer. If one watches a crime happening and does nothing to stop it, they are also guilty.
So, Jeff is without a doubt guilty of something, whether as an accomplice or as the actual murderer of Donna Mauer. There are several clues throughout the film hinting that Jeff is the actual culprit behind Donna’s death.
First of all, hiding pictures of underage girls in a safe seems highly suspicious to say the least. The film doesn’t give it right away as the pictures were kind of blurry in that particular scene. However, judging by Hailey’s reaction one can assume that they were of illicit nature.
Second, there were several moments in Hard Candy where Jeff tries to attack Hailey. Some might say that it was in self-defence, but if he managed to free himself from the ropes, he could’ve also tried to escape. However, Jeff uses every chance to either manipulate Hailey or to physically hurt her.
Third, when Jeff frees himself for the third (and last) time, he finally reveals his true nature: the side of him that enjoys taking people’s lives. The one that Donna Mauer saw before she died.
Having said that, it’s most likely that Jeff has been lying to Hailey (and the audience) this entire time. By the way, that final confession of his was probably a lie too: Aaron was probably the one who watched Jeff killing Donna and not the other way around.
Unfortunately for Jeff, Hailey was too smart to believe in his words and she had already figured that he is guilty. Just to recapitulate, here’s the most plausible interpretation for the ending of Hard Candy: Jeff sexually assaulted Donna and then he killed the girl to silence her.
Aaron either participated in the whole ordeal or watched it happening and did nothing to stop it, since he’s also a creep (just like Jeff). If Aaron was innocent, Hailey wouldn’t have paid him a “visit”, that girl did her research and the evidence pointed out, he’s most likely a sexual predator too.
Hailey vs. Jeff – Who Is The Real Criminal In This Story?
Both Hailey and Jeff committed crimes. What a surprising statement, isn’t it? So, on one hand we have a sexual predator who has a “thing” for underage girls. Then on the other hand, we have a young girl who enjoys killing people like Jeff. Actually, it’s not clear whether Hailey enjoys ending those creeps’ lives, but she is definitely dedicated to her “craft”.
Although, Hailey has committed crimes against sexual predators is she a real criminal though? The answer really depends on the recipient of that question.
For instance, people like Jeff, will definitely label Hailey as criminal because she lied to him, tampered his drink and tortured him quite a bit before convincing the man to hang himself. However, if that same question was asked to a victim or their loved ones… the answer might be different.
Hailey used illicit methods to stop a criminal (Jeff). However, what if Hailey did not exist in this story? That is the real question. Hard Candy depicts a situation where the prey (Hailey) becomes the predator. But how often does that happen in real life? How many Jeffs are out there in the world walking around free and unpunished for their crimes? Sadly, too many…
Unfortunately, if Hailey didn’t step in Jeff’s way, he would probably go on hurting other girls. Having said that, even though, Hailey pushed a man over the edge (literally) she did it knowing that he was a criminal. Hailey did not taunt / torture Jeff based on a hunch, she had and found hard evidence that the man was up to no good. Having said that, between Hailey and Jeff, it’s very clear that one belongs more in prison than the other.
Final Thoughts
Hard Candy is a very raw and provocative film. In addition, it was very refreshing to see a role reversal between victim and perpetrator.
When I watched Hard Candy for the very first time, I failed to realize how creepy Jeff was. I believed that it was due my young age (and naivety) at the time. As a teenage viewer I wasn’t sure whether Jeff was guilty of what Hailey was accusing him of. However, now as an adult, all the signs were there from the beginning.
Watching a grown man meeting a teenage girl at a coffee shop, that’s already suspicious as hell. Second, the whole initial interaction between Hailey and Jeff was very disturbing to say the least. Some might use the word flirting, but for me, that was just straight up creepy the way how Jeff was trying to “seduce” Hailey. Third, the pictures hung around Jeff’s house… Young girls with almost no clothes on? Is he trying to get the police to knock on his door?
Aside from the obvious signs, there is a tell-tale sign that Jeff is a master manipulator: he is a compulsive liar. The man lied to Hailey from the start and luckily she saw right through him. Actually, the correct term is gaslighting. Jeff was trying to make Hailey doubt that he is indeed a creep and that she got the wrong guy.
Overall, Hard Candy is a very interesting watch. The film is definitely not for the faint-hearted as there are lot of tense moments between the leads. However, the whole experience itself is very eye-opening as it shows very different (especially the dark) facets of human nature. Last but not least, both Elliot Page and Patrick Wilson were at their best, their stellar performances made the whole story believable and engaging to watch.
