The Salesman ending explained

What happens

Emad confronts the intruder, an elderly man with a heart condition, before his family. After Emad strikes him, the man collapses and dies. Rana, who begged him to stop, is left carrying what was done in her name.

The last image

Emad and Rana prepare for the play in silence, side by side, their stage makeup covering a gap between them that cannot be mended.

What it says

Emad wanted resolution and got a death instead. The film ends on the couple performing ordinary life again, because it argues that the effort to prove a wound has been answered often makes it worse.