‘Clock’ Ending Explained: Does Ella Get Pregnant in the End?
Welcome to the Ending Explained for Clock, a new horror film releasing on Hulu this weekend. The film is written and directed by Alexis Jackson and stars Dianna Agron, Jay Ali, Melora Hardin, and Saul Rubinek. The film tells the story of Ella, a young and beautiful 37-year-old woman who is succumbing to the social pressure of having a baby. Since, very young, Ella has known that she doesn’t want babies, but now that she is running out of time, she will try some unorthodox methods to fix what some people say is broken.
Clock is one of those movies that serves one idea and one idea only. In this case, the idea is why pressuring people to do things they don’t want to do. In the age of consent, it seems paradoxical that so many people are still being forced to live lives they don’t want. Many men and women don’t want to be parents, yet social norms tell us that that is the very purpose of living, to create a human legacy to leave after we are gone. However, for some people, that idea is everything but OK. Who are we to tell others how to live?
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Clock. Read at your own risk.
Why Is Ella Going To Pregnancy Therapy?
The film begins with a very dramatic scene. A dark night, a swing, and a bleeding woman. The combination of elements doesn’t seem to bode anything good, but it does. We see that the woman’s bleeding comes from somewhere around her genitals and that she is suffering. She uses the swing’s chains to hang herself. As she dies, we see a small metallic object falling into a pit of slick, warm blood from her left hand. It is a nightmare fuel scene that gives us something to consider. Who is this woman? Why did she kill herself?
We cut to the introduction of our main character, Ella. Ella is at a party, probably a baby shower, and shares the moments with her friends. There is something that differentiates Ella from all her friends, though. She doesn’t have kids. Her best friend, Shauna, says Ella doesn’t want kids. All the other mothers gasp at the statement and don’t understand such a way of thinking. They ask what Ella does all day if she doesn’t have kids. We see a montage where Ella’s life seems quite accomplished. She is happy. She doesn’t need kids to have a purpose.
We then visit Ella at her father’s house. Ella’s father, Joseph, seems like a very lovable old man, but he gets bitter when he tries to talk about how Ella still doesn’t have kids. He says that their Jewish family didn’t escape the camps so that their family line would have ended with Ella. Ella gets angry, and she and her husband, Aiden, leave. Aiden seems fine with Ella not wanting kids. They have sex constantly, and they seem like the perfect couple. They are quite attractive and seem to be at peace with each other.
We see Ella going to the doctor. We learn that Ella’s mother died of breast cancer, and Aiden, who is a surgeon, is worried about that now that Ella is getting older. He sends her with a gynecologist colleague. Ella learns that she is running out of time, 37 might be too old to get pregnant, and even when she states she doesn’t want kids, the doctor says that Ella’s internal clock may be broken. She suggests that Ella should participate in a new clinical study that will begin in a few days. Ella is unsure about it but keeps the number, just in case.
Does Ella Get Pregnant In The End?
Ella goes to visit the clinical center where the study will take place. There, she meets Dr. Simmons, the doctor who has apparently come up with a method to change Ella into a woman wanting children. It is all very exaggerated, but it works for the message that the movie is trying to convey. Ella begins by taking all the pills that the doctor tells her to drink, and she will stay at the compound for ten days until the treatment is over. The food is very good, and the place also looks comfortable.
Ella’s treatment doesn’t only consist of pills but also psychological evaluations. Ella is given a sort of Rorschach test where she sees a grandfather’s clock, a tall woman, and spiders. The clock seems to represent the legacy of her family. Her father has a clock that is the only thing they saved from the war. Ella’s fear of having children is the family of dead spiders, but she is confused about the tall woman. Ella’s hallucinations keep building up, but she keeps them hidden from Dr. Simmons and continues the treatment.
Ella returns home with her husband, and everything seems fine. Ella continues the treatment, with Dr. Simmons checking in every two weeks. At her father’s, Ella discovers that the tall woman who has been following her is her grandmother. She has a huge discussion with her father, and they leave angry. Ella’s visions keep getting stronger, and she even threatens to hurt one of her friends. Her father calls Ella, and she goes. When she arrives, her father tries to apologize for their previous encounter. However, the clock’s sound is too loud for Ella, and she smashes it with a hammer.
Ella goes back home and tells her husband she wants a kid. They start having sex, but Aiden hurts his penis with an implant that was put inside Ella’s vagina during the treatment. Ella discovers that her going to Dr. Simmons was all Aiden’s manipulation. She faces Dr. Simmons and concludes everything, including the visions, is a lie. Dr. Simmons seemed to have been ignorant of the treatment’s side effects, as all the women kept it secret. The police arrive, and Ella leaves the compound.
She removes the implant from her body and leaves it in her car. However, when Aiden calls, we learn that when visiting her father, Ella didn’t smash the clock but actually killed her father in a rage. She tries to escape, but she ends up jumping from a cliff to the ocean below. It is ambiguous if Ella dies or lives in the end, but she wakes up on top of a rock. There, she sees an amphibious being protecting the eggs from which its babies will pop. The image shows us that while life’s only purpose at some point was reproducing itself, now it is a very different tale.
