Parallel Plot Summary
As far as thrillers go, Parallel starts strongly and then grows into its premise as the 90 minute run-time ratchets up in intensity. At the center of all this craziness is a grief-stricken mother called Vanessa. She and her husband Alex are world’s apart. After the death of their son Obe a year earlier, they’re struggling to connect. Caught in the middle of this mess is Alex’s friend, Martel. He’s the glue that holds the family together but it’s clear that things are falling apart at the seams.
Vanessa heads off on a hike in the woods alone one day and ends up spooked when she notices a version of herself from afar. Unsure what else to do, the next day she heads off to a nearby facility (which is rumoured to have been conducting experiments of some kind) and inadvertently stumbles into the multiverse.
How does all of this start?
That night, during dinner, Martel burns his hand. However, when Vanessa heads inside she finds Martel there… with his burn healed up. He’s also fingering a glass of whiskey and admits he sometimes just pours a glass and smells the booze. This is clearly a different version of Martel, and he hurriedly leaves the house as Vanessa approaches. Quick as a flash, the other Martel comes in from the bathroom opposite with his hand bandaged.
Vanessa is visibly spooked and heads off to the facility in the morning to investigate. Unfortunately, sge steps through an archway into the multiverse. When she finds her way through this labyrinth, she heads back out the facility gates…but these ones don’t have blood on them.
As Vanessa soon learns, Obe in this reality died because Alex was the one driving. Martel also seems to have hurt his left hand here, rather than his right.
Who does Vanessa find on her travels?
When Vanessa heads back into the portal, she finds another version of Alex – and this one is divorced. He wants to work with Vanessa to find his way back to his version. “So close,” he laments when he sees Vanessa.
Alex explains that every version is slightly different in each of these “multiverses” and that’s how they distinguish the differences. They’re fragmented versions of the world in which Vanessa belongs. They can move between and through them. How? Well, it seems to be linked to the facility.
What are the rules of this multiverse?
Alex is a physicist in his world and explains that they can’t occupy a world that already has a version of themselves or it’ll cause a paradox. So they jump into those spaces where other versions of them aren’t – or at least watch from afar to make sure they don’t cause huge problems in this space. He’s given up on finding Obe alive as every reality sees him not exist or already dead.
Alex’s theory includes using wire to try and navigate the spaces so they can safely return to their “base camp”. In order to sort this out, they need to head off and collect chicken wire. Although they manage to do so, they stumble into a reality where Martel is grief-stricken over Alex and Vanessa’s death. Apparently other versions have shown up, making it harder for him to “move on”. Unnervingly, the pair head out the house and back to base camp, in one of the best scenes in the film.
Does Vanessa find her way back home?
Alex and Vanessa get on and even kiss but then something happens that Vanessa did not expect. The chicken wire does the trick but despite using this as their central “hub”, Alex doesn’t show up when he’s supposed to. Instead, Vanessa follows him in. The Alex here isn’t the same divorced one she left and he’s wearing a ring. In fact, it appears to be the original… until Alex knocks her out and smashes her upside the head with a glass.
It turns out in this reality (which seems to be the original space Vanessa left) the other Vanessa (the one from the woods) showed up with a bullet wound in her leg. She’s dead, and both Alex and Martel are freaking out, not trusting that this is their Vanessa, who is currently tied up.
Vanessa is allowed to leave after Martel shoots her Alex… and then turns the gun on himself and pulls the trigger. The chicken wire allows Vanessa to get back to the “base camp” but she’s broken and lost. As for the Divorced Alex, he’s found his way back to a space and decided to take it for himself.
What is Alex’s fail-safe plan?
Alex intends to blow the “space” sky-high with explosives he’s been collecting through the different worlds. Vanessa is given a 45 minute window to try and find a space she can occupy and stay. Alex, having killed another, heads off back to his new world.
As for Vanessa, she finds herself confronted by… herself. Another Vanessa shows up and it just so happens to be the divorced Vanessa that this divorced Alex had been talking about so fondly. She’s grief-stricken too and angry at Alex for pulling the plug on Obe. Vanessa knocks out the divorced version of herself after getting her defences down, and heads into a space.
Alone, Vanessa has a shower and lets out her grief. She also toys with taking off her bracelet, which signifies what she’s “holding onto” with Obe. After dozing on the bed, she awakens to a bird knocking on the window. She heads outside and Alex is there, and he repeats that sentence from the start of the film – a new beginning.
How does Parallel end?
This time around, Vanessa is ready to confront the past. She takes the wooden lockbox on the mantlepiece, heads up to the bedroom… and finds Obe alive. Despite everything, including embracing her own grief and coming to terms with it, Vanessa finds herself locked in her perfect reality. But Martel appears to know more than he’s letting on, especially with a knowing look to Vanessa at the end. Could it be that this is also another version of Martel occupying this space?
Either way, Obe is alive and with the portal now destroyed it seems this is the only space forward and it’s Vanessa’s happily-ever-after.
Read More: Parallel (2024) Movie Review