Erika Tracy [Olivia Wilde] is a renowned contemporary artist living in a sunlit, opulent home, where creativity meets control. The film opens with her world disrupted as Elliott [Cooper Hoffman] emerges from the doorway and discovers Erika seemingly lifeless in the pool. He pulls her from the water and launches into a frantic, improvised resuscitation, a scene that instantly folds tenderness into danger and sets the tone for a story built on power dynamics and blurred boundaries.
Flash forward roughly nine and a half weeks, and we dive into the backstory. Elliott arrives at Erika’s studio for a position as a studio assistant and quickly finds himself working closely with Zap [Mason Gooding], chewing gum that Erika intends to transform into a provocative artwork. This early phase is procedural and almost ceremonial, as Elliott proves his dedication and flexibility, learning how Erika’s world works and slowly entering a fragile, chosen intimacy with her.
Soon after, Erika pulls Elliott into a deliberately intimate bond. In her office she initiates a sexual relationship and demands submission, urging him to crawl toward her as a display of control. The relationship unfolds as a charged, complicated BDSM dynamic where Erika wields dominance and Elliott navigates desire, loyalty, and the boundaries of consent. Meanwhile, detectives Zem [Johnny Knoxville] and Zola [Margaret Cho] drift in and out of the narrative in flash-forwards, quietly interrogating Elliott about Erika’s disappearance, their questions hinting at a larger mystery that will only partially reveal itself.
The emotional center of the story tightens as Elliott ends things with his girlfriend Minerva [Charli XCX], driven by the consuming pull of Erika. Erika broadens the arrangement, asking Elliott to bring another person to one of their encounters. He brings his best friend and roommate Apple [Chase Sui Wonders], and the dynamic becomes more unstable: Erika handcuffs Elliott to a piece of furniture as she shares a kiss with Apple, a moment that leaves Apple unsettled and ultimately asks Elliott to move out.
Elliott relocates to Zap’s apartment and attends Erika’s exhibition opening, where Erika orchestrates a confrontation to eject him from the event. The line between exhilaration and danger blurs as Erika later summons Elliott back to her house, and the opening scene unfolds once more. Erika and Elliott drink champagne, then Erika slips away toward the pool; when Elliott joins her, he finds her unconscious. He attempts resuscitation and calls 911, but by the time police arrive Erika has vanished. Zem and Zola are skeptical of Elliott’s account, yet there is insufficient evidence to accuse him, and he is released.
Zap later explains the studio’s precarious finances: Erika’s apparent disappearance has ironically galvanized interest, and the latest exhibition sells out, temporarily rescuing the studio’s fortunes. In a turn that deepens the film’s fascination with fame and performance, Erika reappears at Zap’s apartment to reveal that the disappearance was a hoax designed to inflate the value of her work. She confirms she remained conscious during Elliott’s attempt to revive her but faked unconsciousness to escape, even drugging Elliott with champagne to ensure his lapse into unconsciousness. Elliott is furious, but Erika argues that the resulting notoriety could turbocharge his career as well.
Time accelerates. Two years pass, and Elliott has built a career as a podcaster. He interviews Erika about a book she has written detailing the hoax, a project she uses to rewrite the narrative and shape her own legend. Erika leaves with a new boyfriend, Jesus, but promises to stay in touch with Elliott. Yet the story jumps again, two more years and four years after the hoax, to a wedding between Elliott and Erika. As Erika says >I Do<, the two awaken in separate beds, an eerie jolt suggesting that the nightmare of their intertwined lives may never fully resolve, no matter how far they travel through fame and memory.
This is a tale that threads power, performance, and perception, inviting viewers to question where art ends and manipulation begins, and whether anyone can truly control the story they tell about themselves.
