The Courier (2024) Ending Explained

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Netflix's 2024 film The Courier.

Summary Iván’s daring escape plan fails, leading to his arrest in Hong Kong, highlighting the consequences of greed and corruption.

Betrayal and deceit ultimately catch up to Iván, as those he trusted lead to his downfall and imprisonment.

The movie’s real lesson lies in the aftermath, depicting the devastating impact of money laundering on Spain’s economy and citizens.

Netflix's Spanish crime-drama film The Courier (2024) follows a hustler who climbs his way to the top of money-laundering organizations in Spain. Elite alum Arón Piper leads The Courier cast as Iván Márquez, who narrates his journey between 2001 and 2010. Refusing to struggle for money like his parents, Iván begins working as a courier for a woman named Anne and her husband, François Letissier, who is in the currency trafficking business. Their operation collides with powerful men like Francisco Escámez (whom Iván eventually betrays to the police) and Yao Ming.

Iván, often alongside his friend and business partner Yannick, spends the years coming up with new schemes, but they — and his drug use — inevitably catch up with him and his collaborators. With the authorities closing in, Iván thinks of a last-ditch plan to prevent Yao from killing him, offering to traffic 1.55 billion euros from Spain to Hong Kong. Not to be confused with the 2021 true story spy-thriller The Courier starring Benedict Cumberbatch, the 2024 movie directed by Daniel Calparsoro is not a story about one man's rise and fall, but the destruction of greed and corruption.

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Why Iván Might Be Past Redemption After Being Arrested In The Courier's Ending

Yao agrees to Iván's extremely perilous plan and spares his and Anne's lives because he needs to get his dirty money out of the country. The risk pays off as Iván makes it to Hong Kong, but the Spanish authorities have issued an international warrant for his arrest, and he's swiftly caught. Iván's celebration is cut short as he's extradited to Spain and cannot keep himself out of jail this time. After spending an unknown amount of time behind bars, the former courier seems to have regrets. However, whether those will last once he's free again is unclear.

Iván acknowledges that money is an addiction; once you get a taste of wealth, it's hard not to fight to keep it. Being in jail and facing real consequences makes him realize he is not invincible. He will not always be able to sweet-talk himself out of trouble or into a good deal. It's a humbling lesson that could lead Iván to a place of redemption if he's willing to return to a non-criminal life. However, even with regrets, speaking about money sparks a gleam in Iván's eyes, hinting that he might be far too corrupted by it now.

Why Anne Betrayed Iván To The Police

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The Courier sets Iván up to fail in the end. In the world of greed and corruption, those involved often betray or are backstabbed, all in the name of business and self-preservation. Iván experiences both ends of the stick during his near-decade as a criminal courier transporting dirty money. He was quick to rat out Escámez to the Financial and Fiscal Crimes Unit Head Inspector Roig to keep himself out of jail — he also cheated on Escámez's daughter, Leticia, when the two began to develop a relationship that fell short on Iván's list of priorities.

Anne was playing this game long before Iván stepped foot into the world of money laundering. When Inspector Hoig tells her off-screen to choose "freedom or love," she doesn't hesitate to throw Iván under the bus. There are moments near the end of the film that confirm she has feelings for the younger man, but romantic relationships are, again, of little consequence when saving oneself from prison-time. As Iván prepares for an unnamed amount of time locked up, Anne will likely have no regrets, considering she still has her freedom.

What Happened To Yao Ming And Francisco Escámez In The Courier's Ending?

As he adapts to life behind bars, Iván sees on the jail's TV that Yao Ming was also arrested among 80 other suspects. During what the Spanish National Police Force dubbed "Operation Emperador" (or "Operation Emperor"), there were 120 searches targeting the corruption network they were all a part of. Before his arrest, Anne tells Iván that François took all the money and ran. While it is not explicitly stated in the film what became of her husband, with the scope of Operation Emperor, his eventual capture felt imminent.

According to La Moncloa, the real-life "Operation Emperor" occurred in October 2012. The "historic operation" reportedly resulted from an over three-year investigation to address "economic crime" in Spain. Initial reports of Operation Emperor shared that over 11,600,000 euros had been seized along with 83 arrests made.

The same fate is even more likely for Francisco Escámez, who ran his criminal empire, unlike Anne and François. Escámez had previously spent a few months in prison, thanks to Iván offering information to Inspector Roig to protect himself and to steal the man's clients. While Iván does not see Escámez's arrest on television like Yao, nor does he mention his name again, the vast operation to take down the money-laundering scheme and those running it would have eventually led to Escámez being locked up once more. Whether he would have remained behind bars for long is another story.

The Real Meaning Behind 2024's The Courier

In the final moments of The Courier, it's revealed that the voice-over narration throughout the movie has been Iván telling his story to a journalist while locked up. He mentions how his late father was right: "Clever guys like me end up in jail." When the journalist asks Iván whether he has regrets, Iván hesitates before telling her that there are "a bunch of things" he regrets, but money is "like a virus." She reminds him that the money he and criminals like Yao Ming and Francisco Escámez stole came from the public; this was taxpayers' money.

After Iván looks into the camera and replies, "Yeah, but money corrupts us, and a whole lot of money means a whole lot of corruption," slides begin to appear, depicting the catastrophic impact on Spain's economy and social quality. The money laundering, fraud, and corruption involving at least four public officials equated to 1.22 billion euros laundered in four years. The domino effect began with the country needing a 58-billion-euro bailout from the European Union, causing Spain's debt to triple.

There are real victims who pay tremendous consequences of people's greed and corruption, often on a large scale, and the damage can be irreparable.

A constitutional reform was fast-tracked to prioritize debt payment, and its effect on the welfare and lives of Spain's citizens was undeniable. The end of The Courier lists cuts to health and education and how the value of citizens' savings fell while "inequality skyrocketed." Iván's story was leading to this moment and the true meaning behind the film, which shows the audiences what they don't always see in similar movies: There are real victims who pay tremendous consequences of people's greed and corruption, often on a large scale, and the damage can be irreparable.

The Courier (2024), written by Patxi Amezcua and Alejo Flah, is available to stream on Netflix.

Source: La Moncloa