Plot: An influencer returns to his childhood home with his family and gets embroiled in a mystery concerning his father.
After the birth of a child, we see a woman cope with her new responsibilities and, most often, being overwhelmed by it. Some women even experience depression episodes, and in movies and shows, we see them struggle trying to cope with it.
Does a man also struggle with this change in his life?
NOISE focuses on Matthias and how the birth of his child causes him to experience some frustrations and grievances of his own.
NOISE deals with a lot of topics in very little time, which means that these themes are never fully explored properly. There are also stories that feel incomplete, but at the end, at least some of the main plot gets a proper ending.
NOISE Plot
A woman walks towards a pond. A man calls her by her name—Michelle. She doesn't stop and drowns herself.
We then meet Matthias, who is moving into his childhood home with his wife Liv. They have a newborn called Julius.
Timme, Liv's brother is helping with the move.
As Liv cooks, Matthias keeps taking digs at Timme, asking him who is going to cook for him and how he will manage on his own. Timme takes it all in his stride.
He then tells Liv that he got a present for Julius. Matthias makes more snide remarks. Clearly, he's full of himself.
Timme has a stuffed toy bunny with him that he had as a kid and now wants to hand it to his nephew. Brother and sister share a sweet moment, but Matthias isn't impressed and returns to checking his social media. He show-offs about having 196,000 followers and having sponsors for his child's diapers and other things.
Timme leaves, and Matthias and Liv are having fun when Julius begins to cry. Matthias then spots a figure heading towards the pond and rushes outside. Liv notices the man too and makes a call.
The man is Pol, Matthias' father, who has dementia and escaped retirement home to come look at the pond. Liv comes out later to hand him some honey.
Matthias has him seated with half a cup of tea that Pol then adds almost half a bottle of honey to. Matthias remarks about the abundance of honey that will make his teeth fall, Pol ignores him and enjoys his tea before he is taken away.
But before that he mentions that he was the one who dug a pond for his wife as she always wanted a pond, and that an incident had taken place in the factory he worked in for which Pol was blamed.
Intrigued, Matthias goes to investigate the factory called Soubaylo. The gates are closed, and he wonders if he should further investigate. That decision, he leaves to his followers. He notices a couple of teenagers jumping over the gate and trespassing, too, with the girl making an action as if she was jumping into the water.
The action may mean nothing or perhaps in this small town. Everyone knows what happened to Michelle and was teasing Matthias.
At night, we see Matthias being the one, getting up to soothe the crying baby while Liv sleeps on.
The next day, Liv is off cycling around town and being friendly with the locals who react with frowns.
Liv goes to the local butcher, who isn't pleased to see her because she knows who she is married to. Liv runs a catering business and wants to leave her cards. The butcher gives her a hard no.
Liv doesn't give up and goes to an organic mart. The woman she meets is friendly and lets Liv keep her business cards in her store. But she too reacts negatively to her being Matthias girlfriend.
She insinuates that she is surprised that Matthias would return home. The rest of the story she divulges later in the movie.
At night, Matthias is unable to sleep and wakes up when he hears several pings. His followers have made a decision. They want Matthias to investigate the mysterious factory.
And so, Matthias, eager to please his followers, spends the whole night researching what happened in the factory. There are reports of workers dying and chemical spills and toxins that seeped into the food supply.
Matthias becomes paranoid hallucinates. The fishes on his child's playmobile are melting.
He becomes sensitive to hearing, and every sound annoys him, even the buzzing of the fridge, and so he unplugs it.
Liv doesn't care if the fridge was unplugged and the meat may have spoiled. She still bakes the fish that Matthias refuses to eat. Liv takes a bite in front of him and says it's yummy, but Matthias has his doubts.
As Matthias delves further into the mystery, his paranoia increases to the point that he sees the floor tiles of the basement breathing and sees the ghosts of the workers during the car wash.
Unable to find any more information, he goes straight to the source: his father. His father tells him that the factory was a confusing building, and that helps need to find the blueprints to navigate through.
Matthias becomes testy and frustrated. He picks fights with Liv, even dropping one of her pies on the floor that she was supposed to deliver. Apparently, her customers or friends won't mind one less promised pie.
Liv storms out, but not before ordering Matthias to clean up the mess he made.
After the party, Liv dances alone. Literally, none of the guests are dancing. After unwinding, she takes a taxi home, clearly too drunk to drive. She enters home to see Matthias sitting downstairs and looking upset. She hugs him, and all is forgiven.
Hopefully, he did clean up the pie.
As Matthias' paranoia increases, he becomes more distant from his wife and becomes determined to find out what happened at the factory. He finds a box of the blueprints and takes them to his father, who compliments him. Matthias is clearly thrilled to have his father's approval and doesn't really feel like leaving him after visiting hours are over.
Liv is livid when Matthias rejects her intervention and throws out Timme for being too concerned. She takes her child, and goes for a walk. She meets the woman from the organic mart again who finally tells her that Matthias and Pol had a tough time living in this town after Michelle died.
Liv softens and heads back home where Matthias has cooked for her. The meal is atrocious, and both of them end up spitting it out.
While Liv is away, Matthias keeps making videos about going into tunnels to clear his father's name. Timme, who is always constantly watching Matthias videos, grows concerned and calls Liv who doesn't pick up her phone.
He goes to find Matthias who has gone completely bonkers at this point. He strikes Timme and flees.
NOISE Ending Explained with Spoilers
Liv goes to see Pol who keeps imagining Michelle in her place. He almost tries to make out with her and in the process, reveals that Michelle hadn't gone alone into the pond, but taken baby Matthias with her.
Liv looks at the papers where Michelle had been diagnosed with post-partum depression and other mental disorders that were hereditary. Clearly, those disorders were passed on to Matthias who wasn't even sleeping well.
Pol had jumped in to save the baby first and was too late to save his wife. He resented his decision since then which is why he never showered his son with love, and which is why Matthias doesn't really care much for family and relationships.
Liv goes home to find Matthias has dug a hole in the basement floor because he thinks there may be bodies buried underneath. He jumps in, certain he can clear his father's name from the incident at the factory.
Liv jumps in right after him and almost drowns pulling him out.
That's when Pol decides to be a hero and comes in to save the both of them. Pol may have dementia but he is strong enough to save two healthy adults.
The scene is supposed to show that Pol chose to willingly save his son this time around. Although, he did save Liv first who he hallucinated as his wife. So Matthias may still be a second thought.
Matthias and Liv are shown looking at the pond and playing with their son.
The movie ends.
Timme is hopefully fine because his injuries didn't look too severe. We will never find out what actually happened at the factory.
Or perhaps, any clue that suggested that Pol wasn't wholly responsible was Matthias' hallucination.
NOISE is an interesting thriller and the actors are clearly skilled. The story, however, lacks clarity. Was the movie about men facing issues after the birth of a child? Was it about childhood trauma?
The movie lacks the ability to fully explain its message.
On the plus side, the tense atmosphere is adeptly created and the characters are compelling enough for you to want to see what happens to them next.
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