Clock

Clock is a 2023 American science fiction horror film written and directed by Alexis Jacknow in her feature-length debut, based on her 2020 short film of the same name. The film stars Dianna Agron. It was released on Hulu in the United States on April 28, 2023, and on Disney+ internationally. Plot Ella is 37 and uninterested in having kids despite pressure from her friends and family. Her father, the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, urges her to reconsider. Her husband Aiden suggests that she visit a doctor, Dr. Webber, for breast cancer screening. At the doctor's, Ella explains her trepidations about childbirth and her wish that her biological clock would kick in. Dr. Webber says Ella's clock might be broken, then suggests an experimental treatment. Ella leaves to enroll in the study under the guise of working on an important work project, which she backs out of by phone. She meets Dr. Elizabeth Simmons, who claims that she can fix Ella's clock with an implant and hormones. Ella begins taking the prescribed pills. During a Rorschach test, Ella hallucinates a very tall woman, a family of dead bugs, and a grandfather clock. Dr. Simmons suggests that the clock represents Ella's fear of ending her family line and that she's ready for the next step in the treatment. In a sensory deprivation chamber designed to make her face her fears, Ella sees herself with a baby swinging from between her legs like a pendulum, as well as terrifying scenes of childbirth. She screams to be let out. When the chamber opens, she sees the tall woman standing at her tank, runs, but slips and hits her head. She passes out. When Ella awakes, Dr. Simmons tells her that a strong reaction to the treatment is a good sign. Ella watches the surveillance footage and sees that the person standing outside the tank was the attendant. Ella agrees to the last procedure, the insertion of the implant, and returns home. Ella and Aiden attend a party at her pregnant friend Shauna's house. Ella hallucinates a spider again and attempts to smash Shauna's belly with a heavy book, but Aiden stops her. Shauna is unsettled, though still wants her to design her nursery. The side effects continue; Ella loses her colour vision, hears the tickings of a grandfather clock, and sees normal people as the tall woman. She keeps this from Dr. Simmons to avoid being pulled from the study.