A Monster Calls (film)

 

In rural England, 12-year-old Conor O'Malley has a close bond with his seriously ill mother. He asks her mother for help following her regular chemotherapy treatments, but Conor does not like his strict grandmother and is troubled by the plan for him to go live with her in the event of his mother's death, as his father lives in the United States and has a new wife and daughter.

At school, Conor is regularly tormented by his classmate Harry. He is also plagued by a nightmare in which the old church near his house collapses into a hole, and he tries desperately to hold on to his mother to prevent her from plummeting to her death. Conor vents his emotions by drawing, a skill he learned from his mother.

One night, at exactly seven minutes past midnight, Conor sees the large yew tree next to the church transform into a gnarled Monster and approach his home. The Monster says it will tell Conor three stories during their next meetings, after which Conor must tell the Monster the truth of his nightmare.

In the Monster's first story, a prince flees from his step-grandmother, the supposedly-evil queen. He then kills his sleeping beloved and scapegoats the queen so the people turn against her and make him king. The Monster, knowing the truth, takes the queen and hides her far away.

As Conor's mother worsens, he moves in with his grandmother. His father comes for a visit and takes Conor to an amusement park. He invites Conor to come spend Christmas with him, but Conor is disappointed, as he had hoped his father would ask him to move to America.

That evening, Conor summons the Monster by making the hands of his grandmother's prized grandfather clock display 12:07. In the Monster's second story, a hard-hearted parson forbids an apothecary from extracting medicine from an old yew tree, only to change his mind when his own children become ill. The apothecary refuses to help him, and the Monster begins to destroy the parson's house as punishment. Conor enthusiastically joins in on the destruction, and really destroys his grandmother's sitting room in a fit of frustration. When she returns, his grandmother, while shocked and upset, does not punish Conor.


The doctors try a final treatment. As it is derived from the yew, Conor implores the Monster to heal his mother, but the Monster dismisses the matter as outside of his responsibility. At school, after Harry tells Conor he will no longer bother him because he "no longer sees [him]", the Monster tells his third story, a brief tale about a man no one sees who cannot stand it anymore, and calls a monster. Conor angrily attacks Harry, hospitalizing him. To his disappointment, the head teacher, aware of his current home situation, refrains from punishing Conor.

When it becomes clear his mother will die, Conor runs to the yew tree, and the Monster forces him to relive his recurring nightmare. His mother dangles from Conor's hand over the edge of the enormous sinkhole and then falls, disappearing into the void. The Monster repeatedly demands that Conor tell his story, saying it is the only way for him to be set free, but Conor steadfastly refuses, fearing the truth will kill him.

Eventually, Conor admits that in his nightmare he lets go of his mother's hand. He says he has long suspected his mother will not survive, and secretly hoped she would die to end their suffering, although, at the same time, he did not want her to die. The Monster commends Conor for his bravery in telling the truth and tells him that it is human to feel as he does.

Conor's grandmother finds him asleep under the tree and takes him to the hospital. Conor embraces his mother, and she glances at the Monster and dies at exactly seven minutes past midnight. Back at his grandmother's house, Conor learns his grandmother has refurbished his mother's old room for him. He finds his mother's childhood art book, which includes pictures of characters from the stories the Monster told him, as well as a drawing of his mother as a child on the Monster's shoulder.

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