The film kicks off with the protagonist’s brother notifying her of his decision, pleading with her over the phone to go and visit their mother before he lets her go. He is met with a numbly stoic refusal, and she hangs up. She cannot face this. It is then when she sees her floor is covered in a film of water. It has surrounded her home, a vast sea. It percolates up and oozes through gaps in her home. Her focus turns to battling with this, whilst she stubbornly ignores the ringing phone which is her brother continuing to try and get her to face their mother before it is too late.

There is a tense chain of events as the protagonist tries various different, futile tactics to limit the flood. Like the water, her emotions are bubbling up and unstoppable. Eventually she’s forced to cut the power to avoid electrocution. Just before she does this, she attempts to ring her brother, aware she really does need help, but it is too late and there is no response. She plunges herself into true isolation and darkness.

As night comes there is a sense of calm before the storm. In clearing up her mess she has found some artefacts that help her emotions come to the surface. Now she has essentially realised there is nothing she can do to stop the water, she has time to process and reflect. Finally, after being unable to show emotion for so long, she begins to cry.

This leads to the film’s climax. As her cries turn to sobs and wails, a thunderstorm builds. The lightning punctuates her emotions until it is a raging storm, a window bursting open so she is at the mercy of the elements. At the storm’s crescendo, we cut to her brother breaking the front door open. It’s daytime and the storm has passed now. He finds his sister on the floor, a wreck, and understands her grief is no less real than his.

They both get into the car parked outside her house, which is a moment which subtly reveals the water to be an illusion. They share a knowing look before they drive towards the hospital where their mother is staying, concluding the first chapter in her journey towards grieving the loss of a loved one.

What does the climax represent within this framework? - As the character reminisces, there is a crack in her stoic exterior. This causes a lightning storm, and an amount of water that is impossible to contain. When her brother manages to enter her house she is sat in the water, her grief finally indulged in. This is a level of external emotion the brother has not witnessed before. 

What is the family dynamic? - The main character’s mother has been in a coma for a long time. The stress of this on the main character, coupled with a relentless workload has caused her to give up on her mother to an extent, the pain of watching her lifeless body too much to bear. Her brother has continued to visit their mother and encourages his sister to do so. He attempts to be understanding but struggles to comprehend why she apparently isn’t feeling anything. Her non-committal reaction to her mother in a coma has drawn out the whole situation longer than it should have and the brother has made the decision that they need to turn off the life support