Pollen (2023)--Ending Explained with Spoilers

 

Plot: Hera is haunted by a creature after she goes on a date with a colleague from work

A few years ago, when the #MeToo movement started, it was supposed to be about giving voice to the countless victims of sexual harassment. A lot of men and women came forward with their own stories and while some called them brave, others wondered why they didn’t raise their voice before and only now after a celebrity started this trend. 

The answer was simple. When a victim goes through a harassment incident, they are too shocked. When the shock finally dissipates, it is replaced by indecision because there is too much on the line. If you complain about it at work, chances are you could be removed from your job or given lesser responsibility. Tell anyone else, and people are bound to judge and blame the victim for inciting the incident. 

Nevertheless, the movement brought forward the issue of consent. In romantic movies, we often see a hero pulling the heroine into his arms and pressing a kiss. It was seen as a manly thing to do. The heroine is coy, remember, so that hero has to take the lead into the relationship. 

In today’s world, it will be seen as a man forcing himself on a woman. He is supposed to ask the heroine if he may kiss her and she has to be equally willing and in the mood to accept that. 

POLLEN has raised an issue regarding consent. When the victim is forced to say yes, does that really count as consent?

Pollen is an interesting tale about consent and mental health. It pulls you in with it’s unique take on a pressing, and prevalent issue. But it is Ava Rose Kinard’s portrayal of Hera that will make you stay right to the very end of the movie. 

POLLEN Movie Plot

The movie begins with a woman frantically calling her daughter who has been missing for a while. She mentions her daughter went missing after a break up with a guy she was dating from work. We are then shown a woman, covered in pollen, and hanging from a tree. 

We then meet Hera. She works as a female junior financial analyst. She loves her job but is socially awkward. 

Her sister Demi calls her and asks if she can babysit Corey tonight. Hera tells her sister she can’t look after her niece because she has work. 

Except it isn’t work she will be doing in the evening. 

In the conference room where she is taking her lunch, her coworkers Vicky and Claire tease her about dating their coworker Zach. 

Hera is very much attracted to Zach but she is also not ready to take the next step with him. Zach has gotten her potted red flowers, rather than a bouquet. Bouquets die and so it was smart of him to buy her a plant instead. 

He tells Hera to invite him in. She says nope. He tells her to quit fooling around. She keeps saying no until he forcefully kisses her. Certain that Hera enjoyed it, he tells her if she would prefer he open the door since she is too shy to invite him in. Her door is unlocked and so Zach pushes her in and has his way with her. 

In the morning, Zach is already out the door and Hera picks up the not so used contraceptive. She finds Zach has left his jacket and thinks that he did it on purpose so he could see her again. Since they have spent the night, Hera is sure that they are now in a solid relationship. 

Except things are awkward at work and Zach shows no interest in speaking to her. The only time he does is when he tells her to take a morning after pill and if she will be free during lunch to go to his car and service him. 

Hera gives him a solid no and he rolls his eyes. She does however take the pill and cries as she does so. She had no idea that Zach had not used a contraceptive and he mocks her for not realizing he had pulled it off. She is shocked at the revelation but is still not ready to tell him off. 

When Zach finally picks up her call one day, he tells her he will collect it from her house provided she greets him wearing only that. Hera quickly tells him she doesn’t have it. 

All this while, Hera has her sister Demi to talk to who, even though annoyed that Hera isn’t available to babysit anymore, tries to inspire her to overcome her problems. But Hera has drawn closer to the flowers Zach has given her. She talks to it and goes as far as to ask for its opinion on which dress she should wear. 

When she dresses up and goes to work, her superior, Lori, tells her that since she isn’t talking to clients, she needn’t dress up. So Hera wears a simple shirt and pants only to be mocked by Vicky and Zach for looking like a dock worker. 

Hera is saddened to find that Zach has been spending time with Vicky and also, that she has been given the same flowers as her. Hera begins to see a creature that she calls the Tree Man who keeps showing up whenever she is distressed. 

She also finds pollen around her. 

At the office, she still focuses on her job and dreams of one day ringing the bell to signify that she has landed an important account. Claire misunderstands the situation and announces that hera has landed a big account. Zach and Vicky are not happy and Hera admits she was just looking at the bell. Zach and Vicky roll their eyes, relieved. Claire calls Hera foolish. 

Hera begins to act weird and doesn’t pick up her sister’s calls. When Demi comes to find her, she sees Hera standing in the garden, covered in pollen. Hera isn’t taking her separation from Zach well. 

One day, sick of her relationship with Zach going down the dumps, she follows Zach all around the office. Zach is smug as he realizes that Hera is following him. She is led straight into the conference room. 

Gabe, another coworker, asks Hera what she wants. She lies about needing to ask Zach a question. Zach tells her to ask that question in front of everyone. Hera lies about not knowing a simple formula. Gabe helps her with that and Hera waits for Zach outside. 

She tells him she is ready to go to the car and do whatever he wants. Zach takes some time to consider before finally rejecting her. Hera scrunches up her face and Zach asks her if she is about to cry. Nope. It’s just a sneeze. 

But it isn’t any ordinary sneeze. It’s bright yellow and gooey with green seeds. Hera rushes to the bathroom to clean herself up. She thinks she sees the Tree Man in one of the stalls and slams on the door, asking him to get out. He isn’t there, but a furious Lori is who wants to see Hera in her office. 

Lori then meets Hera in her office and has hopefully washed her hands. Zach and Vicky knock on the glass and make fun of Hera. Lori reminds her to focus because she is intelligent and can’t afford any distractions. And she needs to do something about her attire because she looks sick, puffy, and a mess. 

She then tells her that Gabe has recommended her for future CFA studies. Hera is happy and goes to thank Gabe. 

Could Gabe be her new best friend now?

Later, Hera is babysitting Corey. Demi is off on a date and Hera struggles to tell her about what has been going on with her. After Demi leaves, Hera is attacked by the Tree Man, but whoops, it is only a dream. She awakens to find Corey gone and Demi knocking on the door. 

Demi demands to know where her daughter is and they find Corey in a closet, hiding from the Tree Man. Demi is irate and tells Hera to stop putting ideas into her daughter’s head. The sisters are mad at each other but still manage to tell each other that they love the other before leaving. 

At work, Hera notices the same flowers on Vicky’s desk. Vicky taunts her by saying that Zach and her are officially dating. Hera takes this hard and pulls Vicky’s hair. She makes a big fuss about it, claiming to have sprained her neck. 

Hera doesn’t take this well and spirals out of control. She goes to the office and puts several packets of salt in Vicky’s flower pot while blubbering how much she hates Vicky. 

The next morning, Lori wakes her up from her keyboard. She tells Hera she needs to get it together. Vicky comes up to her, enraged. She accuses Hera of killing her plant just because she was jealous of her relationship. Vicky threatens to spoil her plant. 

Hera loses her cool and stabs Vicky with a pen. Zach opens the door to see what the fuss is all about, sees Vicky and Hera and seems satisfied that two women are fighting over him before he closes the door. 

Of course Hera is fired. She is sitting on the sidewalk with Zach’s jacket when Gabe approaches her. He tells her she needs to return the jacket and that he will give her a recommendation. Hera is grateful until Gabe puts his finger in her pocket. Hera tells him not to touch her and storms off. 

Gabe takes a while to see her drive off before he casually dumps the jacket into the box and heads inside. 

At home, Hera and Demi are talking with her sister complaining about how difficult her life has become being a single mother, working at the hospital and takinhg care of her sister. 

Corey picks up the flower pot and drops it. Hera rushes over and when she sees the mess, slaps Corey. Corey tells her that “he” told her to drop it but Hera is inconsolable. 

Demi asks what is wrong with her and then leaves. 

POLLEN Ending Explained with SPOILERS

Terrified that her beloved plant is dying, Hera rushes back into the office, demanding to know where Zach is. Vicky is terrified of her and falls to the floor. Lori comes over to soothe the situation and Hera blubbers about taking the morning after pill and her flower dying.

Perhaps at this point Hera thinks she was pregnant with Zach’s child and after taking the pill, has killed it. 

Lori tells Hera to leave or she would have to get a restraining order. 

Hera is sitting outside, barefoot, when Demi comes to pick her up. Hera confesses what Zach did to her and then apologizes for her erratic behavior and for hitting Corey. But she insists she go back home and not to Demi’s house.  

At home, Hera realizes the Tree Man is not someone she needs to be frightened of. She even lays in the bed with him when someone comes to the door. 

It is Zach. He must have heard that Hera had come to see him and wants to know if Hera is available. She tells him to leave but he is persistent with what he wants.

Hera uses a piece from the broken flower pot that she was going to use  to commit suicide, on Zach instead. He pleads with her to let him go but she has made up her mind. This is the only way she can move on now. 

She repeatedly stabs Zach and dumps him in the garden and quite possibly plants the red flowers there. 

The next day, Hera apologizes to Corey and reminds her not to touch other people’s stuff, and also that she should not have slapped Corey. And should anyone hurt her, she needs to tell her aunt immediately. 

They then go to the garden and Corey asks whether the Tree Man would hurt her. Hera assures her he won’t and plucks a red flower and puts it in Corey’s hair. 

Demi joins them and they all stand together. 

The movie ends. 

POLLEN is a remarkably well-told tale of how assailants can sometimes confuse victims and make them believe that what happened to them was normal. It was interesting to see different aspects of symbolism throughout the movie to show how Hera is dealing with her trauma. 

Her attachment to the flowers were because her “flower” had been taken away without her consent. Her way of coping with it was to talk to the flower and give it life so that she could forget that what happened to her was an act of violence. 

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