Old is a 2021 thriller directed by Night Shyamalan. The film follows a group of holiday-goers who are happy to be at a private beach for the afternoon, but it appears they may never be going back home. Here’s the plot and ending of the movie Old explained; spoiler ahead.
The cast has Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Abbey Lee and Alex Wolff to name a few. It’s an interesting variation to a theme we’ve seen in other films. Do give the movie a watch before reading the article.
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Contents
Here are links to the key aspects of the movie:
- – Plot Explained
- – What is it about?
- – Who is the naked girl? What did Brendon do?
- – Why are they ageing?
- – Why do they faint if they try to leave the beach?
- – Why is the girl pregnant?
- – What happened to Kara? Why does she fall?
- – What happened to Chrystal?
- – Why coral? What did the message mean?
- – Ending Explained
- – Final Thoughts
Old Movie: Plot Explained
What is it about?
A group of people holidaying at a fancy resort are given an option to head to a private beach to spend their day. On reaching the beach, they find a mysterious dead body and realize that they cannot leave. Furthermore, they discover that they’re all rapidly ageing and will soon die of old age if they don’t escape.
Who is the naked girl? What did Brendon do?
Brendon, a rapper named Mid Sized Sedan and is out at the beach with his rapper girlfriend. He has Hemophilia, a condition that stops the blood from clotting, and she’s been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a nervous system disorder. They take the holiday to take their minds off their illness.
Brendon didn’t do anything to the girl. Her condition got accelerated by the beach and since she went out swimming, she drowned. Brendon’s non-stop nosebleeds result from accelerated ageing, causing a string of nosebleeds one after the other.
Old Movie: Why are they ageing?
The magnetism of this exact spot of the beach and the rocks submerged beneath the ocean for millions of years deposited with unique minerals are causing cells to age rapidly. This doesn’t appear to affect dead cells on people, and hence nails or hair don’t grow at the proportion they are all ageing.
However, it is weird that dead bodies rot at the same pace as cells that are alive. We’re going to have to assume that decomposition works at an accelerated pace too.
The rate at which they are ageing is – 1 hour on the beach is 2 years.
Why do they faint if they try to leave the beach?
In deep-sea diving, the water pressure increases as one descends. Any change in pressure experienced by the body needs to be slow and steady. If someone decides to surface from 30 meters below sea level too quickly, they will lose consciousness. Similarly, the people on the beach are in a place where their bodies are ageing at the rate of 2 years per hour, and if they try to go back to a regular ageing zone too quickly, they lose consciousness. It is a mystery as to how they end up back on the beach from the canyon.
Jarin, who tries to swim around the rocks, goes unconscious in the sea and drowns.
Old Movie: Why is the girl pregnant?
Kara and Trent enter puberty over their short duration on the beach. Their minds age, causing their primal instincts to come forth, and the two have sex in the tent. Kara conceives, and her pregnancy gets accelerated to childbirth in 20 minutes.
Why did the baby die?
Soon after babies are born, they need to be fed. They place the baby for a short minute on a towel; unfortunately, this is nearly 12 days for the baby without oral intake. Things move at a pace far too quickly for a newborn to survive on this beach.
Old Movie: What happened to Kara? Why does she fall?
Kara decides to climb the rocks to see if there is a way to exit the beach from above, but it appears there is a dome effect. Soon as she gets high enough, she goes unconscious and falls to her death.
Old Movie: What happened to Chrystal?
Chrystal has witnessed the deaths of her mother-in-law, granddaughter and daughter in a matter of a few hours. Looks are essential to her, and that gets stolen in a short moment which is why she can stand being seen by the others. The experience on the beach makes her mentally unstable, and hence she attacks the kids.
Chrystal has a calcium deficiency, and her rapid ageing without the right supplements makes her bones extremely fragile. The weight of the rock she picks up causes her arm to fracture. As she crawls and tosses around, the rest of her bones crack at multiple points, causing her death.
Old Movie: Why coral? What did the message mean?
Trent decodes the message from the boy in the resort, which reads, “My uncle doesn’t like the coral”. It appears that the coral has some unique properties which counter the effect of rapid ageing. We’re later shown the medical team doing research based on the coral. It seems the little boy has noticed his uncle (the hotel manager) avoid contact with the coral due to its characteristics. This gives Trent a clue that perhaps they can swim up to the corals in the sea, giving them the acclimatization effect to exit.
Old Movie: Ending Explained
The ending of the movie Old reveals that the resort is a front for an illegal medical facility that has been using chronically sick people as lab rats to fast track testing of cures for various illnesses. Each batch of people is carefully selected an brought to the resort through targeted ads. They are administered medicines through their food and drinks, sent to the beach, and monitored as they age rapidly to their deaths.
Prisca – suffered from a tumour, and if she was medicated, it didn’t work.
Guy – collateral damage, no medical condition.
Trent – collateral damage, no medical condition.
Maddox – collateral damage, no medical condition.
Chrystal – suffered from calcium deficiency, and if she was medicated, it didn’t work.
Charles – suffered from a mental disorder (psychosis), and if he was medicated, it didn’t work. He goes insane, and Prisca cuts him with a rusted knife and kills him.
Kara – collateral damage, no medical condition.
Agnes – collateral damage, no medical condition.
Jarin – collateral damage, no medical condition.
Patricia – Suffered from epilepsy; her medication worked, which is why she didn’t die as soon as she entered the beach. However, the effect of the drug wore off, and she died from her seizures.
Brendon – Suffered from a blood-clotting condition, and if he was medicated, it didn’t work.
Brendon’s Girlfriend – Suffered from Multiple Sclerosis, and if she was medicated, it didn’t work.
Trent and Maddox swim through the coral tunnel, but Maddox’s clothing gets caught, delaying their exit into the sea. In the middle of the passage, they also stop to take in some air. The impatient employee who’s been observing the beach declares the two dead prematurely and leaves. Trent and Maddox head back to the resort and approach a cop they spoke to the previous day. They hand him a diary of a member of the last group, which lists the names of the people who died with him. Cross-referencing the missing people, the cop calls it in on the resort – that’s the end for them.
Final Thoughts
I personally liked the reveal, and it was nothing over the top or purposefully left open-ended. The cast was great, and you could really feel them ageing, and their personalities didn’t change drastically. In many other films that involve a group in a bizarre situation, an ordinary group becomes murderous for no apparent reason, which didn’t happen in the movie Old.
The little boy who gave Trent the secret message was too young to have been allowed anywhere near the coral or know his uncle avoids the coral. The piece of paper hinting at the coral was a little too convenient. It would have been more believable had it been a snoopy older kid.
Shyamalan’s character appears to be a little too impatient. Given that he saw the remaining two survivors leave through the one passage that could allow them to cross over, would he not wait much longer to ensure they turned up dead? Sure, a previous incident involved someone trying to exit using the coral passage and died (because they didn’t stop for air, maybe), but this should have been a significant cause for concern to ensure Trent and Maddox were dead for sure.
That’s all I’ve got. How did you like the story and the ending of the movie Old? Leave your comments below.
Barry is a technologist who helps start-ups build successful products. His love for movies and production has led him to write his well-received film explanation and analysis articles to help everyone appreciate the films better. He’s regularly available for a chat conversation on his website and consults on storyboarding from time to time.
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