‘7 Women And A Murder’ Ending, Explained: Who Killed Marcello? Are Any Of The Women His Killer?

After the success of “Knives Out,” whodunit crime thrillers have become a regular feature in many film industries. Many film makers attempt to produce a tight story revolving around a murder and which is cracked within a few days of the case by grilling the people close to the victim. “7 Women and a Murder” has a similar plotline but is set in Italy, where women come together unexpectedly and find the love of their lives dead, killed by someone, to be precise. So, without further ado, let’s find out who the killer was.

Spoilers Ahead


What Happens In ‘7 Women and a Murder’ Film?

It is the peak of winter, and Susanna is on her way to her parents’ home amidst a snowstorm, for it is Christmas eve. Susanna is welcomed by her mother, Margherita, sister, Caterina, and grandmother, Rachele, who talk about celebrating some quality time together with the family after six months. Susanna keeps asking about her father, but her mother mentions he is taking a rest. Meanwhile, Susanna is surprised to see a new maid, Maria, who not only takes care of the house but of her father as well.  Susanna is shocked to know how her mother would hire a beautiful, young woman knowing the nature of her father. Margherita claims she trusts her husband and does not find any reason to fire Maria for doing her job well. Caterina is the rebellious child of the group, making sure she says all the things that would scandalize the family. Susanna is not surprised to see a family gathering, especially on Christmas Eve, be weird and uncommunicative when her mother is on another tangent and her father is also in some other world, he has made for himself. Susanna hopes this vacation won’t drain her out and that she will make the most of whatever time she spends with her family. Meanwhile, her grandmother, aunt, and sister make sure to keep the family gathering interesting and awkward at the same time. Her aunt Agostina keeps whining over the fact that she is ugly and cannot seem to find a partner for herself. Agostina is forever staying at her sister’s home and crying about how unfortunate her life has been so far. Susanna and Caterina enjoy this show that unfolds in front of them, and they seem unperturbed by the tension between their mother and aunt Agostina. Their grandmother Rachele keeps complaining about her aging life and how their father is financially in a bad state.

Susanna asks Maria to wake Marcello up so he can meet his family, and that’s when she discovers his dead body. Caterina heads up to confirm his death, where she sees he is facing down dead with a knife jabbed into his back, which is the cause of the death. All the women are shocked to see the death of the most important man in their lives. All of them panic and start wondering what to do with the body. One of them suggests calling the police immediately to start the investigation, while Margherita, Marcello’s wife, stops them from calling the cops. She knows the murderer is in the house. Margherita seems shaken by the news of her husband’s death and is against calling the cops, which makes her a suspect. Susanna tries to call the cops only to see that the phone lines have been disconnected, which makes their suspicion stronger that the killer is in the house. As questions start erupting, new truths come out, which broaden the spectrum of suspects in this case. All the women right now take it upon themselves to question each other on who killed him and most importantly why he was killed.


‘7 Women and a Murder’ Ending Explained: Did Any Of The Women Suspects Kill Marcello?

Accusations begin, and all the women present in the house right now hurl suspicions at one another and are very vocal about it. Margherita has a strong motive, for she is aware of the affair Marcello had been having with his old lover and the love of his life, Veronica. Even though Margherita rebuffs the affair, she might have killed him for not being loyal to her all this while. Caterina, though the one in charge of the questioning, makes herself a suspect as well. Margherita is hiding a lot of information, which is obvious from the way she is behaving. She is visibly feeling too disturbed to stay at home and runs to take her vehicle out. She soon realizes the engine of the vehicle has been tampered with, which now throws suspicion at Susanna and Caterina, for they are the only people in the family who know something about vehicles. Soon, one by one, the truth will come out about who spoke last to Marcello in his room. Everyone is surprised to learn Margherita isn’t aware of who came into his room last or what time he slept. This again places suspicion on the mother of the daughters. Soon it will be revealed, Margherita and Marcello have been sleeping in two different rooms for a while without anyone knowing about it. Margherita comes across as someone who is fed up with her marriage to Marcello, and that is the reason she is sleeping in a separate room, but she is finding it hard to admit to her daughters about the problems she and their father had been facing. She does not want to involve them in the cold war that had been happening between herself and Marcello.

Though the grandmother, Rachele, is informed by Marcello that he is going through tough times professionally because of his failing business, she reveals he had requested Rachele to sell her bonds, for the money she’ll receive from the sale will help him fund his business. Rachele informs all of them that she had refused to part with her bonds. She is removed from the list of suspects. Rachele was the rich woman in this picture, and Margherita, Rachele’s daughter, came from a family of means and married a not-so-well-off Marcello. He managed to build a business for himself using his wife’s money, which eventually crumbled. Suspicion against Margherita is mounting, while that against other women cannot be ignored.

Maria, the new maid, reveals she was the one who last gave him the herbal tea, and the suspicions are now on her, for she is an easy target. A rich family accusing the maid of no means of murder is a classic case of a class struggle between the poor and the rich. Maria makes it clear it wasn’t her who killed her boss; she has no motive whatsoever to do that. Maria is a confident woman who is sure that nobody, including the rich women standing in front of her, can accuse her of anything she has not done. She is sure of herself and will be able to stand up for herself. Soon Veronica arrives at their mansion, for she got a call early in the morning informing her of Marcello’s death. To know if it was a prank call or not, she comes by to check. The woman informs her that what she heard was true, and suddenly she also becomes a suspect, for she was supposed to be included in his new will as per Margherita. Veronica heads to his room, much to everyone’s surprise. They ask how she knew he slept in that room. Veronica reveals that this mansion, which Marcello purchased years ago, had belonged to Veronica’s grandmother, and that Veronica had spent many vacations in this home, especially Marcello’s room, which belonged to her as a kid. Veronica is a shrewd woman who knows what she is saying and doing, and there is no reason not to suspect her of the murder, for after all, she was his mistress for the longest time.

On the other hand, Agostina always had a crush on Marcello but never revealed her love for him because he was married to her sister. Agostina’s crush on Marcello was a borderline obsession she carried in her head, and many in the family knew of the love she carried for him. She accuses her family of never understanding her and pulling her down for her average looks, while Margherita was always the beautiful one. Even their mother always considered Margherita the prettier one over Agostina. This makes Agostina also one of the main suspects, for she must have felt left out by Marcello for the longest time. Caterina reveals she knew Susanna had come to meet her father late at night to discuss something urgent. Susanna is cornered, and she reveals she is pregnant, and that she had to inform her father about it. Susanna feels comfortable enough to share her news with her father, and she does that with the hope of including her child also in the will, which will be changed the next day. Maria though reveals that she knew Agostina came to meet Marcello at night, and so did Veronica. Margherita reveals that she conveyed to Marcello that she wanted to end her marriage to him, and Veronica also reveals that she had wanted to go to Paris. As the day progresses, no one can conclude who committed the murder, and meanwhile, the room in which Marcello was found dead, the key to that room was replaced with the wrong one, which only makes the case tighter and tighter.

It is soon revealed that Maria, the maid, was having an affair with Marcello too, and she chooses to leave the home. Margherita reveals that she never expected Marcello to fall for a plain-looking woman like Maria. Meanwhile, Agostina asks Maria to help her find a man who will love her for who she is. Maria simply says that Agostina needs to go out and involve herself in social activities to meet people. But Agostina locked herself up in this mansion, craving for Marcello’s affection. All she must do is go out and meet people, which will help her move on from Marcello. Veronica and Margherita soon reveal they are having an affair with a gentleman, who turns out to be Marcello’s new partner. They are angry at one another again for choosing the same person for themselves. Margherita also reveals to her daughter Susanna that Marcello is not her father. Her father died in a car accident years ago, and he was the love of her life. Susanna is not shaken by the news because, all her life, Marcello has been a fantastic father to her, and she has no doubts about believing that Marcello was her father instead the man who impregnated her mother and left. Susanna’s love for her father increases. Maria, on the other hand, tries to leave the house and informs them that the gate has been locked by someone. This brings the group tighter and closer.

Soon, Maria notices something on the top floor of the mansion and confronts the group. She states she knows who committed the murder, but she wants that person to come forward and tell the truth. Everyone looks at Caterina because she is an obvious person who has been left out, and no one has suspected her so far. Caterina reveals that her father, Marcello, is not dead. They pulled an elaborate prank to find out who in the family loved him for who he is and not for his money. Caterina heard about everyone who came by his room to talk to him, and she said her father kept mumbling that if he were dead, he wouldn’t have to worry about distributing his wealth. This is where she came up with a plan with her father to fake his death. They all head up to his room and realize that hearing all they had to say about him, Marcello jumped off the balcony and killed himself. The police finally arrive to investigate the suicide, but the women mention that he was having financial troubles, and that is the reason why he killed himself, leaving behind a huge chunk of inheritance for his wife and kids. Margherita is mad at Caterina for playing along with her father to know who was behind his money. She states that women are supposed to pull each other up, not drag each other down. What she meant by this was that Margherita deserved the money from her now-deceased husband because he had been disloyal to her all his life. He has been disloyal to Veronica too for being married and continuing his relationship with his wife, and the maid, Maria. Women should support each other when men try to pit them against each other. Instead of being a cliché, break the stereotypes, be each other’s support system, and stand up for what is right.


Final Thoughts

This film could have been so much better if the screenplay had not been convoluted. “7 Women and a Murder” is heavily inspired by “Knives Out,” but the screenplay came nowhere close to being easy to follow. A whodunit should not be so bewildering that the viewer does not understand what is happening in this tight frame of a movie. This film is restricted to a mansion and eight characters, and dialogue back and forth is going on between all of them. The conversational dialogue needs to be easy to follow by the viewers, which, in this case, it wasn’t. The subtitles didn’t work either for the screenplay, and dialogue in such a genre needs to be neat and clear. The production design and the costumes are something that stood out, for it screams the time it is set in. “7 Women and a Murder” is a period drama, but the film does not have a hold over the narrative. The film is supposed to be about female empowerment, but it hardly touches those topics. It restricted all the female characters to stereotypes; gold diggers, mistresses, and women who seek independence are ungrateful, and no bad light is thrown on Marcello for being an unfaithful husband to Margherita. “7 Women and a Murder” is just a one-time watch. A good opportunity to explore the whodunit genre is wasted.


“7 Women and a Murder” is streaming on Netflix with subtitles.

Smriti Kannan
Smriti Kannan
Smriti Kannan is a cinema enthusiast, and a part time film blogger. An ex public relations executive, films has been a major part of her life since the day she watched The Godfather – Part 1. If you ask her, cinema is reality. Cinema is an escape route. Cinema is time traveling. Cinema is entertainment. Smriti enjoys reading about cinema, she loves to know about cinema and finding out trivia of films and television shows, and from time to time indulges in fan theories.


 

 

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