Year: 2017
Runtime: 110 min
Language: English
Directors: Alban Teurlai, Thierry Demaizière
This documentary follows choreographer Benjamin Millepied as he undertakes a challenging mission to refresh the Paris Opera Ballet. Through stunning visuals, the film offers an intimate look at his artistic process and the complexities of leading a prestigious institution. Composer Nico Muhly, dancer Aurélie Dupont, and designer Iris van Herpen offer insightful perspectives on this period of significant change and creative renewal within the ballet world.
Warning: spoilers below!
Haven’t seen Reset yet? This summary contains major spoilers. Bookmark the page, watch the movie, and come back for the full breakdown. If you're ready, scroll on and relive the story!
Read the complete plot breakdown of Reset (2017), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.
Xia Tian, a research scientist at Nexus Corporation, leads a team that is racing to unlock wormhole technology capable of connecting with parallel universes. Under the watchful eye of the Director, their work promises incredible possibilities, but the science is unstable: test animals become uncontrollably aggressive and their cells begin to deteriorate. The stakes escalate when IPT Lab, a rival organization that has been pursuing the same breakthrough, hires Tsui Hu to steal Nexus’s hard-won research.
The nightmare begins when Tsui Hu kidnaps Xia Tian’s young son, Dou Dou, and imposes an impossible deadline: deliver all the research within one hour or watch Dou Dou suffer the consequences. Xia Tian fights against the clock, clutching at every chance the project’s unstable wormhole mechanism offers. She manages to secure the data, but the clock runs out before she can reach Tsui Hu, and the threat becomes all too real when Dou Dou is killed. The loss shatters Xia Tian, and the longing to rescue her son compels her to push beyond the boundaries of science.
Driven by grief and determination, Xia Tian activates the particle accelerator, stepping into a parallel universe to change the outcome. She travels not merely across space but back in time, arriving a staggering hour and fifty minutes earlier. In this second universe, she seizes a bold second chance: she slips into her doppelgänger’s life and acts with the advantage of foresight. This version moves quicker, retrieves Dou Dou again, and—confident in her grasp of events—feeds Tsui Hu a set of fake data. Yet even with the deception, Tsui Hu is relentless, and Dou Dou is lost once more as he closes in on the truth.
Hope flickers in a third universe where reality has split into even more possibilities, giving Xia Tian a dramatic new reality: here there are three versions of Xia Tian. The original Xia Tian (#1) has become deeply aggressive, while the doppelgänger (#2) has learned from past mistakes and uses a more cautious approach. The third version (#3) remains largely unchanged and has not traveled through parallel worlds. With Dou Dou in danger, the three women converge in a tense conflict: Xia Tian #1 aims to emerge as the sole guardian of Dou Dou, ready to sacrifice the others to secure his safety. Xia Tian #2, however, refuses to let the past horrors define the future and collaborates to protect Dou Dou. The trio discovers that the Director once betrayed Xia Tian, collaborating with Tsui Hu in a vendetta following his dismissal from the project, even orchestrating Dou Dou’s kidnapping to torment Xia Tian and force the project to prove itself.
The true motives behind Tsui Hu’s actions come to light: he too was a subject in IPT Lab’s experiments and clings to the hope of traveling to a universe where he can save his wife and child. In a climactic confrontation, Tsui Hu destroys the Director during a heated exchange over the research data, and Xia Tian #1 shoots Tsui Hu, ending his threat. As he dies, Tsui Hu warns that the test subjects from IPT Lab have a history of turning on one another, and that the same fate could befall the women who wield the power of the wormholes.
What follows is a tense standoff inside the Nexus lab. Xia Tian #1 remains intent on being the sole survivor who can be with Dou Dou, but Xia Tian #2 ends her life in a measured act to accept the cost of her choices and the price of the pursuit of power. Xia Tian #3, the unaltered version who has not crossed universes, is allowed to leave with Dou Dou and head toward a hospital to reunite with him. The Nexus Lab, now a fractured symbol of ambition and danger, teeters on the edge of destruction as Xia Tian #2 tries to activate the accelerator one last time. The outcome remains unclear: she may have slipped into another universe, or she may have perished in the lab’s catastrophic explosion.
In the quiet after the storm, a year passes and the surviving Xia Tian finds a fragile, hopeful calm. No longer employed, she builds a simple life with Dou Dou, savoring ordinary moments that previously felt out of reach. The tale closes on a note of hard-won peace, with the possibility of future adventures left tantalizingly open, as the memory of what was sacrificed lingers in the air and in Dou Dou’s steady presence by her side.
Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 16:15
Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.
Intimate documentaries revealing the high-stakes drama of running a prestigious art institution.If you were fascinated by Reset's look at the Paris Opera Ballet, explore more movies like it. This collection features documentaries that delve into the high-stakes world of prestigious artistic institutions, showcasing the challenges of leadership and creative renewal.
The narrative typically follows a new leader or a period of significant transition within a hallowed institution. It documents the clash between tradition and innovation, the immense pressure of upholding a legacy, and the personal toll on those driving change, often building towards a pivotal performance or reveal.
Movies are grouped here for their shared focus on the intense, real-world drama of managing artistic excellence. They share a fly-on-the-wall perspective, a tense tone from high expectations, and a thematic exploration of the cost and reward of creative ambition within established systems.
Stories of ambitious artists and leaders confronting tradition to forge a new path.For viewers who enjoyed Reset's theme of artistic reinvention, this list highlights similar stories. Discover films about visionary figures confronting tradition to enact change, capturing the bittersweet journey of reshaping a legacy for a new era.
The journey centers on a protagonist bringing a bold new vision to an establishment resistant to change. The plot revolves around their battles with traditionalists, their moments of doubt and breakthrough, and the ultimate bittersweet outcome—achieving some form of renewal, but often at a significant personal cost or with compromises.
These films are connected by their core theme of creative renewal against odds. They share a focus on a visionary protagonist, a tense tone from conflict with tradition, a complex look at the change process, and a bittersweet emotional weight regarding the outcome.
Don't stop at just watching — explore Reset in full detail. From the complete plot summary and scene-by-scene timeline to character breakdowns, thematic analysis, and a deep dive into the ending — every page helps you truly understand what Reset is all about. Plus, discover what's next after the movie.
Track the full timeline of Reset with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.
Discover the characters, locations, and core themes that shape Reset. Get insights into symbolic elements, setting significance, and deeper narrative meaning — ideal for thematic analysis and movie breakdowns.
Get a quick, spoiler-free overview of Reset that covers the main plot points and key details without revealing any major twists or spoilers. Perfect for those who want to know what to expect before diving in.
Visit What's After the Movie to explore more about Reset: box office results, cast and crew info, production details, post-credit scenes, and external links — all in one place for movie fans and researchers.
Discover movies like Reset that share similar genres, themes, and storytelling elements. Whether you’re drawn to the atmosphere, character arcs, or plot structure, these curated recommendations will help you explore more films you’ll love.
Reset (2017) Scene-by-Scene Movie Timeline
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