A Clockwork Orange ending explained

What happens

In hospital, the government reverses the treatment and courts Alex as an ally. Fed and flattered by a minister, he imagines his old violent appetites returning, and declares himself cured.

The last line

"I was cured all right."

Three readings

1 · Truly restoredAlex has his free will back, so he is a moral person again, however ugly his choices.

2 · Useful to powerThe state has simply found a new way to use him, and he plays along.

3 · Unchanged all alongNeither prison nor conditioning ever changed him, so nobody learned anything.

What it says

The film suggests goodness only counts when it is chosen, so choice has to come back even if evil comes with it. It ends bleakly because neither Alex nor the state has really changed.