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The City of Children (2012) movie poster

Timeline

The City of Children (2012) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Release, runtime and language
2012 · 96 mins · Greek
Directed by
Giorgos Gikapeppas
Starring
Anna Kalaitzidou, Kika Georgiou, Giorgos Ziovas, Iosif Polyzoidis, Vasilis Bisbikis, Dimitris Kotzias

The film explores the experiences of four couples as the arrival of children unexpectedly impacts their lives. One couple faces a marital crisis escalating into tragedy, while another confronts a difficult decision about parenthood under threatening circumstances. Two women struggling with infertility find their lives intertwined through assisted reproduction, leading to complex emotional challenges. Finally, a young Iraqi immigrant unexpectedly gives birth with the assistance of a Greek neighbor, resulting in a dramatic and ultimately fatal event that connects all the storylines.

Drama Cast, crew & box office
On this page (4)
  1. 1 Events in order (11)
  2. 2 Timeline questions answered
  3. 3 Movie threads
  4. 4 Every angle

11 events in order · contains spoilers

The City of Children Timeline: Events in Chronological Order

Every key event of The City of Children (2012) in order, scene by scene, with when and where it takes place. Use it to untangle flashbacks, time jumps and parallel storylines, to refresh your memory before the sequel or to find the exact scene you are thinking of.

  1. Cyclops abducts children for Krank's dream harvest

    Krank's dream-extracting device siphons the dreams of sleeping children. A cyborg cult called the Cyclops abducts them from a nearby port city and ferries them to Krank's oil rig lair. Among the kidnapped is Denrée, the adopted little brother of One, whose fate becomes the spark that drives much of the story.

    When
    early
    Where
    Port city

  2. One is dragged into the Octopus' scheme after Denrée's disappearance

    The Octopus, a gang of conjoined twins who run the carnival underworld, hires One to steal a safe. The plan unravels when One glimpses Denrée's abductors and loses track of the safe in the harbor. He and a girl named Miette trail the Cyclops to their headquarters but are captured and sentenced to death.

    When
    after Denrée's abduction
    Where
    Harbor and Cyclops HQ

  3. Marcello disrupts the guards with fleas and a rescue unfolds

    The Octopus orders Marcello to bring One back, and he uses trained fleas to incite paranoia and violence among the Cyclops guards. In the chaos, Marcello rescues One while Miette appears to drown in the harbor, only to be saved later by an amnesiac diver living beneath the waves.

    When
    during escape attempt
    Where
    Harbor

  4. Miette returns from the brink and escapes with One

    Miette surfaces alive and, with Marcello's help, aids One in escaping from the harbor and hiding in a bar. The Octopus presses the pursuit, and the fleas are unleashed again on the pier, threatening to turn One against Miette.

    When
    aftermath of escape
    Where
    Harbor bar and pier

  5. Pier confrontation sparks chaos and a ship collision

    The Octopus confronts One and Miette on the pier, releasing the fleas to drive One toward violence against Miette. A tear from Miette triggers a chain of events that ends with a ship slamming into the pier. Marcello intervenes, dispersing the fleas on the Octopus and allowing One and Miette to press on with their mission to find Denrée.

    When
    climax of pursuit
    Where
    Harbor pier

  6. Diver reveals identity and a bottled plea travels to the surface

    Back on Krank's oil rig, Irvin engineers a delayed whisper for help through a bottled dream released by one of the clones. The message reaches One, Miette, and the diver, who uncovers his identity as the scientist who created them. Together they vow to end Krank's reign and reclaim the rig.

    When
    aftermath of chase
    Where
    Krank's oil rig

  7. Martha's fate tightens the noose around Krank

    During the rig operation, the diver aims to exploit iron as a weakness, bringing Martha to a near-fatal moment. In a desperate turn, Martha is harpooned to death, marking a brutal blow to the resistance against Krank.

    When
    approaching confrontation
    Where
    Krank's oil rig

  8. Miette enters Krank's dream to rescue Denrée

    Miette steps into Krank's dream-extracting machine, confronting the mastermind within his own mental fortress. Krank fights to maintain control, but Miette uses her imagination to bend the dream into an infinite loop. The dream's power begins to fracture Krank from the inside.

    When
    dream sequence
    Where
    Inside Krank's dream machine

  9. Krank is undone and the children are freed

    The dream loop destabilizes Krank, allowing One and Miette to rescue all the children, including Denrée. The diver seizes the moment to end Krank's menace by initiating a rig-wide destruction.

    When
    final spectacle
    Where
    Krank's oil rig

  10. Diver detonates the rig to erase Krank's grip

    The diver straps himself to a blasting mechanism and detonates the charges, sacrificing himself to ensure the rig's collapse. A seabird landing on the blasting handle triggers the final explosion, snuffing out Krank's powers once and for all.

    When
    final showdown
    Where
    Oil rig / sea

  11. Survivors reunite and chart a hopeful future

    In the wake of the catastrophe, the rescued children are reunited with One, Miette, and Denrée. The sea reclaims the rig, but the bond among the trio endures, offering a hard-won hope for a future free from Krank's dream-stealing nightmare.

    When
    ending
    Where
    Sea and remnants of the rig

Last updated: October 03, 2025 at 06:48

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Timeline questions answered

The City of Children Timeline Explained: Your Questions Answered

When does it happen, and why in that order? The questions people ask about the chronology of The City of Children (2012): time jumps, flashbacks, cause and effect between scenes and the correct order of events, each answered with spoilers.

Q1

Why can't Krank dream and what happens to him because of it?

Krank was created by a vanished scientist but lacks the ability to dream. This inability causes him to age prematurely, both physically and mentally. The longer he goes without dreams, the more his mind and body deteriorate, which drives his desperate need to steal dreams from children.

  • krank
  • dream stealing
  • aging
  • villain motivation
Q2

Why does Krank steal children's dreams?

Krank steals children's dreams to sustain himself. Since he cannot produce his own dreams, extracting them from kidnapped children is the only way to slow his rapid aging and maintain his vitality. The dreams fuel his existence on the oil rig.

  • dreams
  • energy
  • children
  • kidnapping
Q3

Who is Denrée and why is One determined to find him?

Denrée is One's adopted little brother, who is among the children abducted by the Cyclops for Krank's dream harvest. One's determination to rescue Denrée becomes the driving force behind his involvement with the Octopus and his dangerous mission to reach the oil rig.

  • denree
  • one
  • brother
  • abduction
  • rescue
Q4

Why does One get involved with the Octopus after Denrée disappears?

After witnessing Denrée's abductors at the harbor, One is drawn into the Octopus's criminal operation. The conjoined twins hire him to steal a safe, using his desperation to find his brother as leverage. This partnership leads One deeper into the criminal underworld and ultimately to the Cyclops headquarters.

  • octopus
  • one
  • criminal gang
  • safe robbery
Q5

How does Miette survive drowning in the harbor?

After falling into the harbor during the escape attempt, Miette is saved by an amnesiac diver living beneath the waves. This mysterious diver rescues her and later helps her surface, though he has no memory of his own identity at that point.

Foreshadowing: The diver's mysterious existence under the water foreshadows his deeper connection to Krank's origins.

  • miette
  • diver
  • drowning
  • saved
  • amnesia
Q6

Who is the diver and why does he have amnesia?

The diver is actually the scientist who created Krank, the clones, and the other creations on the oil rig. He lost his memory and ended up living beneath the waves. When the bottled dream message reaches him, his identity is restored, and he remembers his purpose to destroy his own creation.

  • diver
  • scientist
  • amnesia
  • creator
  • memory
Q7

What triggers the ship collision during the pier confrontation?

The Octopus releases fleas to turn One into a mindless killer against Miette. As One teeters on the edge of violence, a tear from Miette triggers a chain of events that causes a ship to slam into the pier. This chaos allows Marcello to intervene and disperse the fleas, breaking the control.

  • pier
  • ship
  • fleas
  • violence
  • marcello
Q8

How does Miette defeat Krank inside the dream machine?

Miette enters Krank's dream-extracting machine to rescue Denrée. Inside the dream, she uses her imagination to bend the dream reality into an infinite loop. This traps Krank in a endlessly fracturing mind, destroying him from within while freeing the captured children.

  • miette
  • dream
  • infinite loop
  • defeating villain
Q9

Why does the diver use iron against Martha?

The diver knows that iron is Martha's weakness. He exploits this vulnerability during the confrontation on the oil rig, nearly killing her with iron before she is harpooned to death in a desperate counterattack.

  • martha
  • iron
  • weakness
  • dwarf
  • harpoon
Q10

How does the seabird trigger the final explosion?

The diver straps himself to the blasting mechanism on the rig, planning to sacrifice himself to ensure its destruction. He loses consciousness as everyone rows away, but a seabird lands on the blasting handle, triggering the explosion that destroys the rig and ends Krank's power forever.

  • seabird
  • explosion
  • sacrifice
  • diver
  • rig
Q11

What happens to all the children after Krank is defeated?

After Miette destroys Krank's mind through the dream loop, One and Miette rescue all the kidnapped children, including Denrée. The children are reunited with their families, and the trio of One, Miette, and Denrée remain together, finding hope for a future free from the dream-stealing nightmare.

  • children rescued
  • denree
  • reunion
  • happy ending
Q12

What is Irvin's role in helping the heroes reach the rig?

Irvin is the brain in a vat on Krank's oil rig. He engineers a delayed, whispered plea for help through a bottled dream released by one of the clones. This message reaches One, Miette, and the diver, guiding them to the rig and reigniting the diver's memory of his true identity.

  • irvin
  • brain
  • bottled dream
  • message
  • clones
Q13

What exactly is Krank, a human, a robot, or something else?

Krank is described as an exceptionally intelligent yet deeply malevolent being, the product of a vanished scientist. He appears humanoid but is fundamentally different, a creation of science gone wrong, unable to dream and therefore corrupted by his own existence.

  • krank
  • being
  • creation
  • scientist
  • origin

Movie threads

More Movies Like The City of Children, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes The City of Children tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Complex Moral Dramas like The City of Children

Stories where multiple lives collide under the weight of difficult choices. If you liked the intricate, character-driven tragedy of The City of Children, explore more movies like it. These films feature multiple interconnected storylines, heavy emotional themes, and characters facing profound moral choices that test their relationships and values.

  • somber
  • tense
  • desperate
  • melancholic
  • oppressive
  • dramatic
  • Tone: dark, somber, dramatic
  • Pacing: steady, deliberate
Why these movies?

The story pattern: These narratives typically unfold through parallel storylines that gradually converge, often centered on a central theme like parenthood, survival, or ethical crisis. Characters are forced into impossible situations, leading to dramatic confrontations and a bittersweet resolution that acknowledges both loss and a fragile form of hope.

Why they belong together: Movies in this thread share a complex narrative structure, a dark and somber tone, and a focus on the heavy emotional weight of life-altering decisions. They are grouped by their ability to create a deeply immersive and thought-provoking experience through interconnected human dramas.

Intermission movie poster

Intermission

2004
Time of Love movie poster

Time of Love

1991
Where Love Has Gone movie poster

Where Love Has Gone

1964
Entangled movie poster

Entangled

1993
One on Top of the Other movie poster

One on Top of the Other

1969
Thieves movie poster

Thieves

1996
The Weight of Water movie poster

The Weight of Water

2002
Crimes and Misdemeanors movie poster

Crimes and Misdemeanors

1989

Bleak Realist Dramas with the feel of The City of Children

Gritty, emotionally heavy stories set against a harsh, unforgiving backdrop. Find movies that share the bleak, oppressive atmosphere and heavy emotional impact of The City of Children. These similar dramas are set in harsh, realistic worlds and explore themes of survival, desperation, and the high cost of human connection.

  • bleak
  • oppressive
  • somber
  • desperate
  • gritty
  • melancholic
  • Tone: dark, melancholic, desperate
  • Pacing: steady, relentless
Why these movies?

The story pattern: Stories in this thread follow characters navigating a world that offers little solace. The journey is typically a steady, downward spiral or a desperate struggle for survival, culminating in an ending that is more bittersweet or bleak than truly hopeful, reflecting the harsh realities of the world depicted.

Why they belong together: These films are grouped by their shared dark tone, high emotional intensity, and a pervasive sense of melancholy and desperation. They create a cohesive experience through their unwavering commitment to a grim, realistic atmosphere and the heavy weight of their themes.

Lovely, Dark, and Deep movie poster

Lovely, Dark, and Deep

2024
Fading of the Cries movie poster

Fading of the Cries

2011
Breaking the Frame movie poster

Breaking the Frame

2014
The Searchers movie poster

The Searchers

1956
Lost River movie poster

Lost River

2015
The Brutalist movie poster

The Brutalist

2024
Elyse movie poster

Elyse

2020
The Dark movie poster

The Dark

2005

Every angle

The City of Children (2012) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about The City of Children in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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