The Offering (2023) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The film is set in a Hasidic Jewish enclave in Brooklyn, New York, centered on a family-run funeral home. The funeral home operates out of the basement, which serves as both a workspace for the family's traditional business and a ritual chamber where the supernatural events unfold.

• brooklyn
• hasidic
• funeral home
• setting
• new york

The movie takes place in present-day contemporary Brooklyn. The story unfolds over a short but intense period, set against the backdrop of current urban life in a traditional Hasidic community.

• present day
• contemporary
• time period
• brooklyn

The film explores three primary themes: ritual and binding, with ancient rites and sigils used to summon and contain the demon Abyzou; family and sacrifice, as characters face deadly choices to protect loved ones; and secrets and consequences, where buried histories and hidden motives drive the tragic events.

• themes
• ritual
• sacrifice
• secrets
• binding
• demon

Arthur (Art) is a struggling real estate developer who returns to his father's funeral home seeking financial help with his mortgage. He is morally conflicted, juggling debt, faith, and a protective instinct toward his pregnant wife Claire. His desperation leads him into dangerous choices within the deadly ritual.

• arthur
• art
• protagonist
• character
• debt
• mortgage

Abyzou is a demon that is summoned through a failed ritual performed by Yosille, who attempted to resurrect his dead wife Aida. The demon emerges from the botched summoning of an archangel and becomes the film's central supernatural threat, terrorizing the family and exploiting human weakness.

• abyzou
• demon
• villain
• ritual
• supernatural

The Hasidic community provides the cultural and traditional framework for the story. The funeral home operates within this close-knit community, and the rituals performed draw from their customs. The film explores how tradition can both shelter and threaten, with the basement funeral home becoming a ritual chamber.

• hasidic
• community
• tradition
• rituals
• jewish

Yosille (Yossle) is the deceased man whose body arrives at the funeral home and catalyzes the haunting. Desperate to resurrect his dead wife Aida, he attempted to conjure the archangel Martiel but used another woman named Sarah in the ritual instead, which unleashed the demon Abyzou.

• yosille
• yossle
• ritual
• resurrection
• sarah
• aida

The funeral home basement serves as both a literal and symbolic space where life and death intersect. It represents the family's traditional role in handling death within the community, but also becomes a ritual chamber where ancient rites are performed. The setting grounds the supernatural events in an intimate, real locale while highlighting how tradition can shelter and threaten simultaneously.

• funeral home
• basement
• setting
• tradition
• ritual chamber

Claire is Arthur's pregnant wife, a British food journalist who accompanies him to the funeral home. Her safety becomes the central motivation for Arthur's dangerous choices throughout the film. She becomes a target of the demon Abyzou, representing the emotional core of the story's stakes.

• claire
• pregnant wife
• character
• target
• emotional core

Chayim serves as a spiritual advisor who helps decipher the ritual's rules and the binding process needed to contain Abyzou. He provides crucial lore about the demon and the supernatural mechanics at play, though he ultimately becomes a casualty in the demon's rampage.

• chayim
• spiritual advisor
• lore
• ritual rules
• binding