The Ballad of a Small Player Ending Explained: What Really Happened to Doyle and Dao Ming?

The Ballad of a Small Player is one of Netflix’s most thought-provoking movies of the year. It challenges viewers, delivering an ambiguous and ethereal ending that can be tough to grasp. Confused by the conclusion? Here’s our ending explained!

Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front, Conclave), the Netflix movie The Ballad of a Small Player is based on the best-selling novel by Lawrence Osborne. It’s a deeply thought-provoking psychological drama about gambling and desperation. Captured through gorgeous cinematography, the movie explores themes of luck, addiction, and fate. It treads through morally ambiguous territory, exploring the thin line between illusion and reality. Set in Macau, one of the world’s gambling capitals, we follow Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell), an eccentric British gambler who appears to be living his dream life in China. However, he’s hiding there after losing everything back home. 

Doyle once worked as a lawyer in Britain, working alongside the wealthiest clients in the country. But after embezzlement (notably, stealing a wealthy old woman whose portfolio he managed) and gambling away boatloads of cash, he sought refuge in Macau. There, he gambles his life away, engulfed in the labyrinthine streets of Macau, where gambling is rife around every corner. While on the surface he appears go-lucky and deeply charismatic, he’s very much alone. He puts on a facade of class, when really he’s a working-class Irishman named Reilly.

In the midst of his gambling lifestyle, he meets Dao Ming (Fala Chen), an enigmatic young woman who comes into his life through the dazzling lights of Macau. Dao Ming is not your usual love interest; she’s ambiguous, serving almost as a quiet guardian and kindred spirit to Doyle. The movie masterfully portrays Dao Ming’s mysterious character, asking viewers to ponder whether she is indeed real or an illusion. Her arrival in Doyle’s life coincides with his beginning to win big again. Is she a symbol of last hope — or even a muse — to Doyle as he heads towards self-destruction?

As the movie progresses, Doyle’s gambling addiction intensifies. He’s down more than $350,000. His gambling becomes less about money and more about trying to prove something to himself. The lure of the casino is too much for him. And yet, he’s still tied to the enormous debts he carries. He steals Dao Ming’s stash of money and puts it on an all-or-nothing game of Baccarat.

In this final game, it’s no longer about making millions. The money becomes secondary to his goal of redemption. He wants to clear his name of debt and, as a result, take away his insatiable need to gamble and feel closure. Doyle wins the game and pays off his major debt, most notably to Cynthia (Tilda Swinton), a debt collector and investigator who traveled from England to confront him about his theft. He also gifts £50,000 to Cynthia, which perhaps symbolizes that he’s moved on from money.

After he wins his final high-stakes game, he learns that Dao Ming, who had been by his side through all of his wins, has disappeared. The movie presents Dao Ming’s disappearance with a deliberate ambiguity: did she ever exist, or was she a mere figment of his imagination? After hearing of her apparent death (which is never completely confirmed), Doyle burns the cash in a fire. This ending signifies that he valued the companionship of Dao-Ming more than cash. He spent the entire movie attempting to earn money. But in the end, he learns that money itself was pointless. 

The ending is deliberately confusing, with a clear contrast between illusion and reality. While it doesn’t necessarily favor the multivalent conclusion of Osborne’s novel, it’s certainly ambiguous, leaving viewers to ponder what was reality, and what was illusion. Viewers are left with a bittersweet feeling. 

The Ballad of a Small Player is now streaming on Netflix.