The Turning (2020) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

The woman at the beginning is revealed to be the previous governess, Miss Jessel. She desperately attempts to flee the estate but is confronted and killed by Quint's spirit at the gates. This opening establishes the sinister pattern that will repeat with Kate.

Foreshadowing: The opening scene foreshadows Kate's own fate as she later becomes trapped in the same terrifying cycle of escape attempts.

• miss jessel
• escape attempt
• quint
• governess

Flora reveals that she has never been allowed to leave the estate, suggesting she has been kept isolated by the adults in the household. This isolation is part of the controlling environment that Mrs. Grose and the estate's dark history maintain over the children.

Foreshadowing: Flora's confinement foreshadows the reveal that the entire escape sequence was a hallucination, reflecting how trapped Kate actually is.

• flora
• isolation
• estate
• children

Miles was expelled from boarding school after he brutally attacked a classmate. This violent outburst is later connected to the toxic influence of Quint, who had been abusing Miss Jessel and whose malevolent spirit appears to corrupt Miles's behavior.

• miles
• expulsion
• boarding school
• violence

Miss Jessel was murdered by Quint, the estate's horse trainer, who made sexual advances toward her and eventually killed her when she resisted. Kate discovers Jessel's remains submerged in water on the estate grounds, confirming her tragic fate.

• miss jessel
• quint
• murder
• body
• death

The diary reveals that Quint was making unwanted sexual advances toward Jessel, describing his predatory behavior and the abuse she suffered while working at the estate. These revelations explain the source of the haunting and the connection between Quint's spirit and the terror inflicted on the new governess.

Foreshadowing: The diary entries foreshadow the assault scene Kate experiences in her nightmares, where Quint and Miles become indistinguishable.

• jessel diary
• quint
• abuse
• diary
• revelations

The black paintings are artworks created by Kate's mother in the asylum, depicting chaotic and disturbing imagery. These paintings are revealed to be hallucinogenic, causing Kate's mind to conjure the entire supernatural plot of the film. They are the key to understanding that nothing the audience witnessed was real.

• black paintings
• kate mother
• hallucination
• asylum
• art

No, the escape is not real. The entire sequence where Kate, Flora, and Miles drive away from the estate together is a hallucination induced by the black paintings. In reality, Kate remains trapped in the asylum with her mentally unstable mother, and the escape was a psychological fantasy.

Foreshadowing: The twist recontextualizes earlier moments where reality seemed uncertain, revealing that all supernatural events were products of Kate's fractured mind.

• escape
• hallucination
• twist
• reality
• fantasy

Mrs. Grose is revealed to be complicit in the dark events surrounding Quint and the children. She has allowed the malevolent events to unfold and ultimately orchestrates much of the chaos that befalls Kate. Quint's spirit ultimately claims her life during the climactic confrontation, showing the consequences of her participation in the estate's sinister history.

• mrs grose
• complicity
• quint
• estate
• conspiracy

Kate's mother has been confined to an asylum since Kate was a child, when her father abandoned the family and caused her mother's descent into madness. The final vision reveals that Kate herself has been hospitalized alongside her mother, creating a tragic parallel between their fates and suggesting Kate has inherited her mother's mental illness.

• kate mother
• asylum
• madness
• inheritance
• family

Almost nothing shown in the film is real. The entire plot, including the estate, the children, Miss Jessel's death, Mrs. Grose, and the escape attempt, is a prolonged hallucination created by the black paintings. The only confirmed reality is that Kate and her mother are both patients in an asylum, with Kate's mind creating the elaborate horror story to process her trauma.

• reality
• hallucination
• psychosis
• truth
• ending

Quint's spirit assaults Kate because she has been uncovering the truth about his murder of Miss Jessel. As Kate reads the diary and discovers the body, she becomes a threat to the unresolved spiritual malevolence of the estate. The assault represents Quint's continued predatory nature, even in death, and his connection to the cycle of abuse.

• quint spirit
• assault
• east wing
• supernatural

Flora's violent reaction to her doll breaking mirrors Kate's own fractured psychological state. Since the entire narrative is taking place in Kate's mind, Flora's extreme response reflects Kate's internal trauma and the unstable nature of the hallucination itself. The moment highlights how the fantasy world is beginning to collapse.

• flora
• doll
• reaction
• break
• psychological