Clock (2023) Plot Summary
Clock is a psychological horror on Hulu that revolves around Ella Patel, a woman in her thirties. Ella feels the need and urgency to repair her biological clock given the pressure exerted by her loved ones and society at large. In order to do so, Ella enrolls in a research study under the guidance of Dr. Elizabeth Simmons, a pioneering medical professional.
The approach used by Dr. Simmons causes Ella’s ingrained fears to come to the surface, tormenting our protagonist. When something appears to have gone wrong during Ella’s treatment, she gradually starts losing her grasp on reality and goes insane.
With an unsettling twist, the movie looks into the psychological implications of a woman’s biological expectation to procreate. It gets increasingly difficult to recognize what’s actually happening and what isn’t as the plot develops and Ella’s delusions and hallucinations become increasingly surreal.
What does Ella appear to be struggling with?
Interior designer Ella Patel has enjoyed tremendous success. In addition to having a fruitful career, Aidan Patel, Ella’s partner, takes care of her. Despite having been married for more than ten years, their loving relationship is still going strong.
Ella joins her college companions at a reunion. Ella’s friend Shaun, who is expecting a child, asks Ella to design a room for her child at the party. She agrees to the task at hand but Ella, who has never wanted children of her own, feels uncomfortable when her friends encourage her to consider having children of her own.
Why does Ella choose to see Dr. Simmons?
On her husband’s suggestion, Ella goes to the medical professional to get checked for breast cancer seeing as her mom passed away from it. The medical professional suggests that Ella’s biological clock differs from most women’s.
Ella admits she’s never intended to have children and wishes her biological clock would run out. The doctor, therefore, recommends a clinical study that might help Ella’s clock to get fixed. Ella initially declines the offer but soon takes it up after talking to her dad.
How does Dr. Simmons treat Ella?
Dr. Elizabeth Simmons is attempting to assist women similar to Ella, wherein the women’s biological clocks may be out of sync with the remainder of their physiological processes. When Ella visits Dr. Simmons, she explains that she treats pregnant women with a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy and hormone induction. Neither Aidan nor her dad know about her visit to Dr. Simmons.
Dr. Simmons discovers Ella has Tokophobia, an underlying fear of getting pregnant, during their first therapy session. She comes from an extended family of Holocaust survivors, which appears to have caused this fear to start. Soon after, Ella receives a treatment plan from Dr. Simmons and medication to rectify her hormonal imbalance.
Shortly after, Ella begins having hallucinations in which she sees bugs as well as a tall woman torturing her. When she considers getting pregnant, a grandfather clock keeps ticking in her head.
Ella has a chip that regulates her hormone levels implanted into her on the very last day of her treatment at the research facility. Furthermore, despite being startled by a disturbing video showcasing childbirth, Ella pushes herself to finish the treatment plan.
What side effects does Ella have after the treatment?
Ella begins to lose her grasp on reality shortly after she gets home as her hallucinations become more frequent. Ella furnishes Shauna’s nursery with disturbing objects and she bizarrely seems to be aroused once Shauna’s water breaks. She licks the water from the floor, which naturally scares Shauna.
Ella goes to see her dad shortly after he hurts his hand. However, her drug-induced hallucinations get the best of her and she destroys the Grandfather Clock.
Is Ella successfully treated by Dr. Simmons?
Ella decides that she wants to start a family and she has sex with Aidan. However, she ends up hurting him in the process. Aidan admits that he set up Ella’s appointment with Dr. Simmons and his admission breaks Ella’s heart because he was the only person who had supported her choice of not wanting to have children. Ella understands that Dr. Simmons’ therapy has been effective because she wants to get pregnant.
In the final act, a furious Ella confronts Dr. Simmons and demands that the implant (that releases hormones in her body) be taken out. However, it can’t be removed. If it’s forcefully taken out, Ella will never be able to have children.
Ella’s attempt to alter her biological clock fails miserably. She ultimately removes the implant by herself so she won’t be capable of conceiving a child. Ella sees Dr. Simmons as the Tall Woman because of her hallucinations, and knocks Simmons out.
What turn of events ends up shaking Ella to her very core?
Ella attempts to leave Dr. Simmons’ office and gets in her vehicle. However, as the police cars chase her, she gets a call from Aidan informing her of the act she had unintentionally committed. Traumatic flashbacks quickly follow as Ella’s deteriorating mental state enables her to face the truth and break free from her drug-induced hallucinations.
Ella destroys the grandfather clock that’s in her family’s house earlier in the movie when she goes to see her dad. The ticking of the clock appears to cleverly symbolize Ella’s own biological clock, which haunts her. Ella uses a hammer to smash the clock as a consequence but she discovers, in the movie’s closing minutes, that she actually murdered her dad with a hammer and did not break the clock.
Does Ella survive in the end?
Ella is caught by the police as she struggles to comprehend her heinous deed and face the truth of her situation. Ella can’t handle the fact that she killed her father, so while the police are preoccupied, she runs and jumps off a cliff. Thereafter, it appears as though she has died.
However, Ella miraculously makes it through the fall in the final sequence. She washes up on the shore and although she’s survived, she also has to deal with her dad’s passing.
Read More: Clock Movie Review
At the end she dies, the final scene is an afterlife.