Smile (2022) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The curse is triggered when someone witnesses another person commit suicide. After witnessing the death, the witness begins seeing a sinister smiling entity that only they can see. This entity can shapeshift into people the victim knows. The only way to break the curse is to kill another person while being witnessed by someone else, if you die by suicide, the curse passes to whoever witnessed your death.

Foreshadowing: Laura's description of being cursed after witnessing her professor's suicide establishes the rules early in the film.

• curse mechanism
• transmission
• suicide chain
• witness rule

Rose witnessed her mother commit suicide when she was 10 years old, which is why she was already vulnerable to the curse. This childhood trauma shaped her career as a therapist and her inability to resolve her guilt. The entity exploits this unhealed wound throughout the film, manifesting as her mother's distorted form to torment her.

Foreshadowing: Rose's professional choice to become a therapist dealing with suicidal patients hints at her unresolved childhood trauma.

• rose cotter
• mother
• childhood trauma
• unresolved guilt

Laura has been tormented by the smiling entity for weeks after witnessing her professor Gabriel Munoz's suicide. The entity's relentless psychological torture drove her to desperate action. By killing herself in front of Rose, Laura inadvertently passes the curse to Rose as the sole witness of her death.

Foreshadowing: Laura describes being followed by something that only she can see, establishing her deteriorating mental state before the suicide scene.

• laura weaver
• suicide session
• passes curse
• witness

The entity's smile is its defining characteristic and likely connected to how it manifests, the curse stems from suicides, so the smile represents the grotesque mimicry of the victim's final act. Gabriel's sketches show the entity with an eerie smile, and it uses this expression to psychologically torment its victims, appearing at their most vulnerable moments.

Foreshadowing: Gabriel Munoz's strange smiling behavior before his death and his disturbing sketches of a smiling entity foreshadow the entity's appearance.

• smiling entity
• monster appearance
• psychological terror

Gabriel Munoz drew detailed sketches of a dark, sinister entity with an unsettling smile while he was being consumed by the curse. These drawings depict the entity in various forms, including as a distorted version of himself. Victoria Munoz reveals these sketches to Rose, confirming that Gabriel was aware of the entity and documented its appearance before his death.

Foreshadowing: Laura's description of a malevolent entity she could see but others couldn't aligns directly with Gabriel's documented visions.

• gabriel munoz
• drawings
• sketches
• dark entity

Robert Talley is another victim of the curse who has survived longer than most. He reveals to Rose that the only way to escape the entity's pursuit is to commit murder while being witnessed by someone else. If you die by suicide, the curse passes to your witness. This creates a cycle where victims either pass the curse on or eventually break down from the torment.

Foreshadowing: Rose and Joel's investigation into multiple linked suicides establishes that the curse operates through a witness-based transmission system.

• robert talley
• murder escape
• killing rule
• break curse

Rose returns to her childhood home because the entity has been tormenting her with visions related to her mother's suicide, the original trauma that made her vulnerable to the curse. She hopes that confronting this source of her unresolved guilt might give her power over the entity. The house represents her deepest psychological wound.

Foreshadowing: The entity manifests as Rose's mother multiple times throughout the film, directly connecting her childhood trauma to the current haunting.

• childhood home
• confrontation
• mother trauma
• final act

Rose attempts to break the curse by setting fire to her childhood home, hoping to destroy the entity and herself. However, she becomes trapped by her memories and psychological breakdown. In a devastating final act, Rose succumbs to the entity's influence and commits suicide while smiling hauntingly, passing the curse to whoever witnessed her death, the film's bleak conclusion confirms the entity's victory.

Foreshadowing: Rose's increasingly desperate actions and the entity's constant closing-in throughout the film build toward this inevitable tragedy.

• final scene
• rose death
• bleak ending
• succumbs

Detective Joel is Rose's ex-boyfriend, which is revealed when he questions her about Laura's death. Their past romantic relationship adds emotional complexity to their investigation partnership. Joel helps Rose investigate the curse, but their personal history creates tension as Rose's mental state deteriorates.

Foreshadowing: The personal connection between a detective and the protagonist is established early during the police station interview scene.

• ex-boyfriend
• detective joel
• investigation
• romance

Carl Ranken is one of Rose's patients who was previously hospitalized for a manic episode. When Rose sees him smiling menacingly, it's unclear whether this is actually happening or if the entity is using his image to torment her, the film deliberately blurs the line between real threats and psychological manifestations caused by the curse.

Foreshadowing: This encounter demonstrates how the entity can use anyone, including people from Rose's professional life, to create fear.

• carl ranken
• patient
• menacing smile
• hallucination