The Things You Kill (2025) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Ali decides to kill his father after learning that his mother was struck on the back of the head and found face-down in her locked home. The discovery that Hamit delayed reporting the body and had a history of domestic violence, combined with the public shaming Ali received from his father at his mother's funeral, pushes Ali toward revenge. His infertility struggles and career insecurity have already left him feeling powerless, and the desire to finally exert control over his own life becomes unbearable.

Foreshadowing: The opening dream, where Ali's father arrives demanding to come inside, establishes the looming presence of the past that Ali cannot escape.

• ali
• hamit
• father
• murder
• revenge
• mother death

Ali discovers through his investigation that his mother was struck with a fatal blow to the back of the head, yet she was found face-down in her locked home. This evidence leads him to suspect that his father Hamit, who discovered the body and delayed reporting it, may have murdered her. The physical evidence contradicts the natural death explanation and fuels Ali's conviction that his father is responsible.

Foreshadowing: The dilapidated state of the mother's home, with its broken indoor toilet and marks of fear on the walls, hints at a history of violence that preceded her death.

• mother death
• hamit
• murder investigation
• face-down body

Ali kills Reza after discovering that Reza has chained him in the farm shelter and taken over his entire life, including his university job and home. While Ali was imprisoned, Reza manipulated situations to his advantage, including attempting to seduce a student and confronting Hamit's mistress. When Reza returns to Hamit's grave and finds it empty, Ali seizes the moment to strangle him with a chain and bury his body on the farm, reclaiming his freedom and life.

Foreshadowing: Reza's increasing control over the farm and his willingness to manipulate events signal his dangerous ambition long before the violent confrontation.

• ali
• reza
• killing
• chains
• freedom
• usurpation

The ending appears to be ambiguous and surreal. After authorities confirm Hamit's death (his car pulled from a dam), Ali's father appears bleeding at the door, replicating the exact scenario from Hazar's opening dream. This suggests either a supernatural return representing guilt and the inescapable nature of family trauma, or a psychological manifestation of Ali's conscience. The repeated knocks and the dog chorus create a haunting, unresolved note implying that the past cannot be silenced or buried.

Foreshadowing: Hazar's dream at the very beginning explicitly foreshadows this exact scene, including the father asking for the light to be turned off.

• ending
• ghost
• hamit
• return
• dream
• unresolved

Ali learns he is infertile, a private burden he keeps hidden from his wife Hazar. This discovery adds to his feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, especially when his father Shamit constantly shames him. The infertility issue later forces Ali and Hazar to consider selling Hamit's home to raise funds for seeking a donor abroad, since Turkey prohibits certain sperm donations. The inability to produce an heir represents another way Ali feels he has failed both his family and himself.

Foreshadowing: The repeated theme of shame and failure that Hamit projects onto Ali throughout the film underscores why infertility devastates Ali's self-image.

• infertility
• ali
• hazar
• shame
• donor
• turkey law

Hazar's dream at the beginning shows Ali's father arriving at their door, demanding to come inside, then lying down and asking for the light to be turned off. This dream serves as a foreshadowing device that predicts the final scene exactly. It establishes the theme of the past haunting the present and creates psychological tension throughout the film, as both Ali and Hazar sense that danger from the family history is approaching their current life.

• dream
• hazar
• foreshadowing
• father
• door
• light

Reza agrees to participate in kidnapping and killing Hamit, though his motivations remain somewhat ambiguous. He appears drawn into Ali's web of practical problems and moral compromises, possibly believing he is helping a desperate man. Reza beats Hamit unconscious and orders Ali to fill the grave, asserting control over the situation. However, his later actions, taking over Ali's life entirely, suggest he may have had deeper, more opportunistic motivations from the start.

Foreshadowing: Reza's early warning that reviving the farm will require significant resources and his willingness to manipulate situations hint at his true, opportunistic nature.

• reza
• hamit
• kidnap
• murder
• complicity

Reza visits Hamit's sister, their aunt, who explains that Hamit bears a scar on his head from a childhood scorpion sting, or more accurately, their abusive father caused the injury when he tried to treat it. The aunt reveals that Hamit never condemned his own father, continuing a cycle of silence and violence across generations. This reveals that Hamit's cruelty has roots in his traumatic past, but also shows how the family enabled abuse to continue unchecked.

• aunt
• scar
• hamit
• childhood
• abuse cycle
• family history

After Hamit is presumed dead, Ali and Hazar decide to sell Hamit's house to raise money for seeking a sperm donor abroad, since Turkey prohibits certain types of donations. This decision angers Ali's sister, who clings to the hope that Hamit might return. The sale represents a final severance from the family legacy, though the film does not explicitly confirm whether the sale proceeds are used for their intended purpose before the final events unfold.

• house sale
• money
• hamit
• sister
• donor abroad

The chorus of dogs barking outside intensifies during the final scene when Ali's father appears at the door. This recurring element throughout the film, when Reza was first intimidated by Ali's large dog, creates an atmosphere of danger and foreboding. The barking amplifies the sense that something is wrong and reinforces the unsettling, supernatural quality of the father's return, as if the animals can sense an intrusion from beyond.

Foreshadowing: Ali owns a large dog that intimidates visitors, establishing the dog as a symbol of protection and threat throughout the narrative.

• dogs
• barking
• ending
• atmosphere
• danger