The Secret Woman Ending Explained: Why Did Helene Disappear?

Netflix’s Nordic thriller The Secret Woman begins with a woman running for her life before jumping from a bridge into the water below. The story then cuts to Louise (Natalie Madueño, best known for the Nordic Noir show Those Who Kill), a woman living with her fiancé Joachim (Pål Sverre Hagen) on a Norwegian island. She has no memory of her past and believes that Louise Andersen is her real name. Her quiet life changes when a Danish man approaches her and calls her Helene. Louise denies knowing him, but the police soon confirm that he has mistaken neither her face nor her identity. She is actually Helene Söderberg, a Danish woman who disappeared three years earlier.

Helene learns that she is married to Edmund, a wealthy businessman played by Claes Bang (also known for playing Dracula in the 2020 miniseries), and that she has a son. She returns to Denmark to meet her family, but her reunion with Edmund quickly becomes unsettling. As fragments of her memory return, Helene starts investigating the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. She discovers a hidden safe-deposit box, learns about her connection to Elisabeth Fauerskov, and eventually uncovers the criminal secret that links her husband, her family, and the woman whose identity she unknowingly adopted. Let’s dive into The Secret Woman‘s ending.

What Does Helene Discover About Edmund?

Initially, Helene does not suspect foul play. To her, it really does feel like she went amnesiac after some injury and found herself, somehow, in another country and began to live a whole other life. But as it turns out, she left Denmark because she had learnt how evil her husband was. Her fiancé also smells something fishy and begins his own investigation.

Helene in the second act of The Secret Woman, eventually discovers Elisabeth Fauerskov, the CEO of a company that worked as a subcontractor for Edmund’s business. The woman first refuses to speak to her, and Helene assumes Edmund and she were having an affair and her disappearance is linked to that. But their meeting was connected to something far more serious than a marital dispute.

Helene had discovered that ships belonging to, or connected with, Edmund’s company were being used for human trafficking. She had learned that women and girls were being trafficked through the company’s shipping operation and had tried to expose what was happening. During that investigation, she became connected to Louise Andersen. Louise was trying to help the trafficking victims. Louise and Helene eventually tried to escape together after gathering enough incriminating evidence. They were found, however, by Edmund and he killed her. Helene managed to get away by jumping onto a ship. She was later found in Norway suffering from injuries and severe memory loss. Because she had Louise’s identification with her, she believed that was her name and began living under that identity.

Her return to Denmark becomes more dangerous when she realises what Edmund has been doing. He has been secretly putting medication in her wine, using it to keep her compliant and easier to control, something he almost certainly used to before too. When Helene confronts him, his apparently respectable exterior disappears. He becomes violent and tries to maintain control over her through intimidation and drugs.

Edmund also seeks guardianship over Helene. If he succeeds, he would have legal control over her affairs and make it much harder for her to expose what he and his company have been doing.

Does Helene Escape Edmund’s Family?

Natalie Madueño in a still from The Secret Woman | Credits: Netflix

Helene’s final battle in The Secret Woman is not just with Edmund. His mother becomes involved after she discovers that Helene is close to the truth. His mother had previously worked as her father’s secretary and remains resentful about him not returning her affections. She advises her son to kill his wife.

She arrives and quickly takes control of the situation by forcibly sedating Helene. The revelations also establish that the older woman was responsible for killing Helene’s father after he attempted to expose them. The father, though, was the one who kicked off the trafficking and felt guilt-ridden on his deathbed.

Meanwhile, Joachim turns up, leading to the film’s final confrontation. Edmund’s mother tries to attack Helene, and Edmund interferes, and in the ensuing scuffle Edmund’s mother is defenestrated and dies. Edmund is arrested and taken away. Helene and Joachim go back to Norway with her son at the end of The Secret Woman. Like Jo Nesbø’s Detective Hole, The Secret Woman mixes a Scandinavian mystery with buried secrets and dangerous criminals, and we follow a protagonist determined to uncover the truth.

What did you think of The Secret Woman’s ending? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The Secret Woman is now streaming on Netflix.