Vortex (2022) Plot Summary & Ending Explained

The husband refuses because he fears losing the apartment, his books, and the physical reminders of his past life. These objects anchor him to a fading world and provide a sense of control as both his wife's dementia and his own frailty deepen.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, the husband concentrates on finishing his book, trying to preserve momentum in the face of decay.

• supervised housing
• apartment
• fear
• control
• memories
• books

Stéphane begins using drugs again because he is overwhelmed by guilt and despair following his father's death. The emotional burden of caring for his deteriorating parents and witnessing their decline becomes too much to bear.

Foreshadowing: The timeline notes that Stéphane carries his own burden of addiction even before the father's death.

• Stéphane
• relapse
• drugs
• guilt
• death
• grief

The wife dies peacefully in bed, though the film implies she succumbed to gas poisoning after turning on the kitchen stove before going to bed. Her death arrives quietly, adding to the film's meditation on care and neglect.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, the wife's dementia causes her to make questionable decisions, and her confusion with household objects has been shown.

• Claire
• death
• gas poisoning
• stove
• peaceful

The split-screen literally mirrors the characters' overlapping but diverging worlds. As illness deepens and reality slips away, the two planes show parallel lives that echo but don't truly connect, reinforcing the growing distance between the couple.

Foreshadowing: The film opens with the screen splitting into two separate planes from the very beginning.

• split screen
• visual motif
• diverging realities
• dementia
• distance

The apartment is shown in still images, gradually emptied of almost everything until it is completely vacant. The final image shows the mourning photos of the couple from when they were younger, dated 1940-2020, leaving a quiet sense of what it means to let go.

Foreshadowing: The husband's fear of losing the apartment and everything in it drives his refusal to move to supervised housing.

• apartment
• ending
• empty
• possessions
• memories
• photos

When Kiki asks whether his grandparents have a new home now, Stéphane responds that homes are for the living, not the dead. This exchange underscores the film's meditation on memory, belonging, and the impermanence of possessions.

Foreshadowing: This line connects to the earlier theme of the husband clinging to physical objects as anchors to the past.

• homes
• living
• dead
• memory
• belonging
• Kiki

In a desperate attempt to protect Stéphane from his addiction, Claire removes all medications from the bathroom and tries to flush them away. The scene shows her fragile, desperate attempt to control danger in a house already full of memories and loss.

Foreshadowing: Stéphane's history of drug use has been established, and his relapse after his father's death makes his mother fear for his safety.

• medications
• bathroom
• flush
• protection
• addiction

The husband suffers a heart attack and collapses in the apartment. In the morning, Claire finds him on the floor and, at first, does not know what to do. She then telephones Stéphane for help, revealing the fragility of their bond and her inability to respond appropriately due to her dementia.

Foreshadowing: The husband's condition has been deteriorating slowly, and his frailty has been deepening throughout the film.

• heart attack
• floor
• morning
• Claire
• Stéphane
• hospital

The husband is trying to finish another book about cinema and dreams. This project represents his attempt to preserve momentum and leave a creative legacy, even as his physical health declines and he faces the challenges of caring for his wife with dementia.

Foreshadowing: The husband's reluctance to disclose details about his wife's condition may stem from his desire to maintain normalcy while he completes his work.

• book
• cinema
• dreams
• writing
• legacy
• author

With the husband's death, the split-screen dynamic shifts to reflect the changing balance of their lives. Stéphane becomes visibly emotional and curls up on his mother's lap, a moment showing his vulnerability. The wife wanders the hallway in a daze while time seems to stretch, highlighting how life continues despite loss.

Foreshadowing: The split-screen has been showing the couple's diverging realities throughout, and now it reflects the new reality of the surviving characters.

• split screen
• death
• Stéphane
• mother
• lap
• grief