What Happened To Terrence

**Spoiler Warning**

Tommy Wirkola’s What Happened To Monday is an eerily possible dystopian film from August, 2017. The film addresses the threat of overpopulation in a world left crowded and hungry. To remedy this problem, the government creates the Child Allocation Act which dictates that only one child per family is allowed. The character Terrence Settman quietly works around this rule as he raises seven identical granddaughters, named after the days of the week. Since they are identical, the sisters learn to work together to live publicaly as a single individual, a woman named after their mother, Karen Settman. After the eldest sister, Monday, doesn’t return from their job, the sisters decide to work against the Child Allocation Bureau (C.A.B.) to find out what happened to her.


This film does a great job at a few key things that make the movie as a whole worth rewatching. The emotions conveyed throughout make the viewer empathise with the characters. The scene in which Thursday loses the tip of her finger may be one of the most intense. The graphic imagery paired with the fear and disappointment in Terrence’s expression creates tension. That tension grows as we watch the sister’s granddad prepare to amputate the tips of all of the girls’ fingers to match their rebellious sister. In order to maintain their secret, they must be exactly the same. In the final moments of the scene, Monday’s terror slap us in the face as she finally realized the implications of their illegal existence.


In scenes set in a public place, the frame is absolutely full of people. The viewer feels crowded and claustrophobic. Extras are everywhere, sometimes obstructing the view of the main character. Wirkola gives us a convincing window into our potential future.


Out of all these faces we see in the crowd, Noomi Rapace is one of them. But, more accurately, she is seven of them. Rapace shows off her skills as an actor as all of the Settman siblings. In a single film, she portrays a pothead, a computer whiz, a blonde bombshell, and four more. Each sister has her own unique personality despite being played by one person. The range of Noomi Rapace’s acting in this film alone is truly amazing.


Although the film has many technical strengths, the plot has issues that detract from the potential of the film. The holes don’t quite make the film swiss cheese, but a few points make us question the writers’ choices. The most obvious discontinuity is how that the seven sisters have a distinctly non-American accent as adults. Terrence, who raised them in seclusion, has an American accent. The strongest indicator of this plot hole is that the sisters as children sound just as American as their granddad, but Rapace does not conceal her accent when she plays them as adults.


Another unlikely situation is how easily Tuesday and Thursday revere their eldest sister, Monday, after her death, even though it was she who betrayed them to the government. In the space of a few seconds, they go from fighting to kill, to familiar tenderness for their dear sister. Though it is understandable to be at the side of a dying relative, the acting and directing made the scene unconvincing.


Some smaller plot holes exist, but the last obvious one is how Terrence Settman disappears from the film with no explanation. As the most influential figure in the girls’ lives, it is confusing why Wirkola chose not to show when and how Terrence left the septuplets lives. An appropriate subtitle might be What Happened to Terrence?


The film’s strengths make it worth watching. The flawed plot, however, prevents it from being an outstanding film.