The Exterminating Angel

After a night at the opera, Edmundo and Lucía host eighteen wealthy acquaintances at their mansion. The servants inexplicably begin to leave as guests arrive, leaving only Julio the majordomo. The atmosphere is tense and uncanny from the start.

During the gathering, guests seemingly slip into the mansion and go upstairs twice, as if time is looping. Edmundo repeats his toast to the opera singer Silvia, creating a ritual that unsettles the hosts and guests. Cristián Ugalde and Leandro Gomez greet each other three times in varying tones—strangers, cordial, and antagonistic.

The guests listen as Blanca plays a Paradisi keyboard sonata in the salon. She finishes and says she is tired, and several guests indicate they plan to go home, but no one actually leaves. Instead, the hosts and guests linger and settle in for the night.

The group spends the night in the salon, defying expectations and preventing Lucía from slipping away for a secret tryst. The sense of confinement deepens as social norms break down. The night stretches with an eerie stillness over the mansion.

In the morning, Sergio is found unconscious, stirring concern and confusion among the hosts and guests. People wonder why no one attempted to leave the previous night, and several try to exit but are drawn back or become distressed at the threshold.

Sergio dies during the night, and Dr. Carlos Conde and Alvaro hide the corpse in a closet. The mystery of the mansion deepens as the survivors grapple with the strange events surrounding the death. The outside crowd remains a looming presence just beyond the gates.

A crowd of onlookers gathers outside the gates over the following days, while the trapped residents cope with dwindling resources. They tap into a pipe in the wall to obtain water, but supplies run low quickly. Dr. Conde discovers a stash of opiates, which some guests secretly use to cope with the crisis.

Three sheep and a bear roam the mansion, contributing to a surreal atmosphere. The sheep wander into the salon and are roasted on a fire in the middle of the room. Eduardo and Beatriz, a young engaged couple, kill themselves in a closet.

One night, all of the Nóbiles' servants are drawn back to the mansion. Raúl convinces most of the other guests that their salvation lies in Edmundo's death. Dr. Conde attempts to reason with them, and a fight breaks out, the doctor aided by Alvaro and Julio.

Edmundo reveals a hidden pistol and contemplates ending his life, but Leticia urges him to wait. She notices that all the people and furniture occupy the same spots as the night of the party, hinting at a reset. Blanca is asked to play the end of the piano sonata again to cue the recapitulation.

As Blanca finishes the second ending, the group repeats the prior conversation and is finally able to leave the salon and the mansion. The crowd outside sees them step out through the gates to greet the waiting onlookers. A fragile sense of salvation settles over the escaped group.

To give thanks for their salvation, most of the group from the salon attend a Te Deum service. Inside the cathedral, neither the clergy nor the churchgoers can leave, trapping participants within the sacred space. The mood shifts to claustrophobic tension as the church becomes a new site of fear.

Outside, the military fires on a group waiting in front of the cathedral, intensifying the panic. A flock of sheep unexpectedly enters the cathedral, transforming the siege into a surreal and chaotic moment. The ending underscores the collapse of order and the intrusion of animals into sacred space.