Argylle: Elly Conway’s story explained

Elly Conway is the focal point of Matthew Vaughn’s movie Argylle, but what story does the spy novelist have to tell as she learns of the espionage world and some big lies?

The spy novelist is in for the ride of her life when she meets Aide, a real-life spy who tells her the truth. Everything she has written in her books came true and the secret organizations that have gone rogue are now after her. Argylle has been a shroud of mystery between whether the real-life author is Taylor Swift or who Argylle really is in the movie.

But that’s only part of the multiple plots that Vaughn has created in the movie. Fans will find themselves wanting to take notes of how Elly’s story unfolds from a shy writer to helping save the world.

Let’s break down every plot twist and event that unravels around Elly. Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

Elly Conway is a successful writer thrust into danger in Argylle

When it comes to her career, Elly is successful as a writer. Her backstory includes having been trying to make ends meet as a waitress when a skating accident allowed her to finally put pen to paper. She wrote the Argylle series which soon became a sensation. But even fans were curious about how she managed to manifest or predict real-life events happening like her books.

She calls it research. Set to finish book five, her mother reads the draft and urges her to add a new chapter. Elly decides to visit her mother and work on the chapter together after having writer’s block. On the train, she meets Aiden who is more than happy to tell her he’s a spy. He reveals the Directory from her book is real and went rogue. Aiden was the one who went after the Master File to take down the Directory with a skilled hacker but was a no-show. Now the Directory wants Elly to finish her book to learn where the file is.

As the movie progresses, Elly helps Aiden to find Bacunenen. The hacker that created the file and was meant to give it to Aiden in London. Elly begins to trust Aiden until overhearing him on the phone wanting to shoot her. She soon escapes and calls her mother who says they will go to London with her father.

The mysterious father is none other than Ritter, the leader of the Directory. But how? Fans know who he is, but Elly doesn’t and calls him her father. Having Bacunen’s log book, Ritter looks through it heavily invested. Aiden appears to hold Ritter at gunpoint and the plot twist occurs. Elly’s mother and father aren’t her real parents.

Aiden helps her escape and Elly’s world falls apart. They venture to France where Elly will learn the whole truth.

How is Elly connected to the spy world?

Argylle reveals that Elly’s novel predictions aren’t that at all. Instead, they are her memories as she’s the real-life Argylle.

In a vineyard in France, Elly meets Alfi. Better known as Alfred Solomon, the ex-Deputy Director and who trained her and Aiden. He shows her the truth and her file. She was a highly trained covert agent and their best. Her real name is Rachel Kylle. But how? Aiden fills her in.

The scene in Greece was real and one of their missions. They went against the Directory when learning the terrorist was working with Ritter. They had hoped to expose their dirty deeds with the Master File. When Elly went to retrieve it, she disappeared. Aiden found her but she was already in the hands of the Directory and was in a coma.

When she woke up, Ritter and Ruth (Elly’s mother) posed as her parents. But Ruth works for the Directory and used mind tricks and hypnosis to make Rachel believe she’s Elly Conway. They had her believe and skating accident caused the coma and worked as a waitress. To get information about the Master File, they gave her a journal with details mixed between reality and fabricated lies. They hoped she would write or remember details of her missing memory.

Their plan worked when Elly/Rachel wrote four books about her real life as a spy. The draft of the final chapter ended with Argylle going to London. Thus beginning the whole story of the Directory going after her to finish the chapter based on her own memories.

Elly’s secrets run deeper

Elly Conway now believes she’s Rachel Kylle in Argylle, but when receiving the Master File, she learns she was a double agent working for the Directory against Aiden.

Now knowing the truth, Elly helps Aiden find the Master File. Following the clues left behind by Bacunene, they go meet The Keeper. Saba Al-Badr is known for her ability to keep secrets and is heavily guarded in the Middle East. While there, Elly is able to convince the Keeper she’s Rachel.

Now in possession of the Master File, Elly learns of another plot twist. The file holds every agent involved in the Directory’s lies. To her shock, Elly sees herself or Rachel Kylle. When learning the Keeper betrayed them and works with the enemy, Aiden learns the truth.

Elly, as Rachel Kylle, was working with the Directory and double-crossing Aiden. The day she went missing, she found Bacunen in his home, learned the Master File wasn’t there, and killed him. His death set off explosions and led Rachel to jump out the window. That was the real accident not skating. The problem is that the Directory’s brainwashing worked too well and turned Rachel Kylle into the sympathetic and timid Elly Conway who knows how to use a gun.