We Might As Well Be Dead (2023) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Iris becomes convinced that her own bad luck has summoned a malevolent force. After the dog goes missing, she interprets this as evidence that the Evil Eye, a curse she believes she has attracted, is responsible for the tragedy. This belief stems from her teenage mindset and the psychological stress of the situation, leading her to lock herself in the bathroom to protect others from her supposed misfortune.

• iris
• evil eye
• curse
• missing dog
• paranoia

While managing the chaos surrounding the missing dog and her daughter's worsening mental state, Anna inadvertently attracts the attention of suspicious residents. She is misidentified as a burglar and voyeur, likely due to her constant movement through the building and her efforts to monitor a suspicious couple. This misidentification ignites fear among the inhabitants and marks her as a potential threat to the community's safety.

• anna
• suspicion
• burglar
• voyeur
• paranoia

Desperate to regain control of the increasingly paranoid community and redirect suspicion away from herself, Anna devises a plan to frame Wolfram Mantel, an aspiring poet who sells his work in the elevator. She likely chose him as a scapegoat because he is a familiar outsider within the building, an easy target whose presence might already make some residents uncomfortable. When her deceit is uncovered, the residents turn on Wolfram instead, forcing him out as the culprit.

• anna
• wolfram
• frame
• poet
• scapegoat

After Gerti spreads rumors that the real culprit responsible for the missing dog might be hiding among the residents, trust within the community crumbles. The residents respond by forming a neighborhood watch and implementing a new vetting process for all inhabitants. This represents the shift from their utopian harmony to a paranoid surveillance state, where every neighbor becomes a potential threat.

• neighborhood watch
• vetting
• trust
• suspicion
• gerti

Gerti serves as the primary catalyst for fear within the community. After his dog goes missing, he claims to have found another dead animal that he insists is his missing dog. More significantly, he spreads rumors that the true culprit is lurking among the residents. His persistent allegations fuel the growing suspicion and distrust that ultimately destroys the community's harmony.

• gerti
• rumors
• missing dog
• paranoia
• community

Tensions reach a breaking point when Anna and Iris have a heated argument that escalates into a loud altercation in the common area. This public conflict, combined with the existing suspicion around Anna and her daughter's increasingly erratic behavior, leads the residents to evict both of them from the sanctuary they once called home.

• anna
• iris
• eviction
• argument
• building

As Anna and Iris leave the building after their eviction, they encounter the Richards family, a group that was previously denied entry into the sanctuary earlier in their lives. This encounter suggests a cyclical nature to the community's exclusionary practices and hints that Anna and Iris may now share the same fate as those who were once turned away, reinforcing the film's themes of ostracization and the fragility of safety.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, the Richards family was denied entry into the sanctuary, establishing them as outsiders.

• richards family
• ending
• eviction
• outsiders
• cycle

The missing dog serves as the catalyst that exposes the hidden anxieties beneath the community's utopian surface. What appears to be a perfect harmony is actually fragile, built on unspoken fears and unspoken tensions. The disappearance provides a tangible focus for these underlying insecurities, allowing suspicion and distrust to spread rapidly among residents who previously maintained a polite facade.

• missing dog
• paranoia
• community
• collapse
• utopia

Iris isolates herself in the bathroom because she genuinely believes her bad luck has summoned the Evil Eye, a curse responsible for the dog's disappearance. She thinks that by secluding herself, she can protect others from the misfortune she believes she has brought upon the community. Her isolation deepens as she suffers from night terrors, further disconnecting her from reality and the world around her.

• iris
• bathroom
• isolation
• evil eye
• night terrors

The community's trust collapses because their harmony was superficial, built on the absence of real conflict rather than genuine trust. Once the missing dog provides a concrete reason for suspicion, residents who had previously coexisted peacefully begin to question each other's motives and loyalties. Gerti's rumors accelerate this process, and the establishment of the neighborhood watch formalizes the new atmosphere of surveillance and mutual distrust.

• trust
• community
• collapse
• paranoia
• suspicion