Does Toller have cancer? Does he find peace and redemption in Mary's arms? I think the writer could not come up with a decent ending, so he left everything hanging and let the viewer come up with his or her own ending!
shareIn an interview the writer said he purposefully wanted the ending to be a toss up. He held multiple test screenings and kept re-editing the film until the surveyed audience was split 50/50 on what happened.
shareSchrader left it ambiguous, but I think that was a mistake. Ambiguous endings should be deliberate (like at the end of most Cronenberg films - leaving a philosophical conundrum in the mind) but to me it looks like Schrader didn’t know how to end his film so he went with a faux-profound ‘does he die?’ question for cheap impact.
I think Toller drinks the drain unblocker and dies wrapped in barbed wire, dreaming of that final kiss. He follows the path of Michael - becomes an eco-terrorist but bottles his suicide bombing plan at the last minute and just takes out himself.