By: Malasha Parker
David Sharpe (Mark Strong) is in a secluded place asking Masha (Nicole Kidman) why he was asked to meet her there. Masha accuses him of being afraid to go deeper. She thinks he is afraid of her. He says he isn’t afraid of much so he decides to do whatever she wants to get him to face everything. She tells David she is going to take him on a psychedelic journey. Music begins to play and she takes one of her prototypes, sticks it to his head and then tells him she will tell him a story that started in Prague, 2001.
The screen bursts into music and transforms into 2001, a time where David is getting dressed backstage and Masha is attaching the same device to his chest. He asks her if she speaks English and then asks her to practice his talking points. She continues to help him get ready to go on stage. Flashes of a heart monitor appear throughout the conversation. David goes on stage to speak with a reporter to discuss his company and the work they are doing. Masha watches him on stage and in the present. After his speech is completed he wakes up to the sound of Masha’s voice. She tries to ease him out of the trance by looking at his vital signs as he continues to see Masha in the past. She explains what she did by using the device to replay the memories over and over. But she says that with the right triggers they can relive the memories as if they are new again. She tells him she was waiting for him to use the newer device because she has only used it on herself and she knows David is a leader. He decides to try a little more and he begins to be transmitted back into the past.
She repeats the words, “This feeling is totally normal,” to him and he begins to chant the same thing in a trance. She waves a cup from the television show he is on in the past over him and the audience sees him drinking from that same cup, but this time, he seems more aware that he is out of place. He finishes his segment and then walks over to Masha where she says her name is Mila Zarutskova. He asks her to dinner and she starts to reject him, but he says he just wants to have a meal and meaningful conversation. They head to a bar where everyone is familiar with Mila. He asks her if the place is a test, but she says no it’s just a bar. She tells him she is a journalist after drinking, then quickly tells him she isn’t actually a journalist. He says she would actually be good at it if she decided to be one. She asks what he isn’t telling her. The two start throwing back shots and then hit the dance floor to share a dance. He tells her she burned him with a cigarette, but she quickly put some ice on it. He asks if she is ready to get out of there and she replies she is hungry. She’s sitting at a much fancier bar eating fries when she goes to view a necklace. David walks up behind her then asks if she wants to take a look around.
They’re in a room and he is on the phone having an intense conversation that then turns into a sweet one. He ends the call and tells Mila it was his son who he always makes a point to call on long trips. Mila asks about his mother, but David says it doesn’t matter, but Mila says it does and proceeds to kiss him. When she starts to unbutton his shirt, Masha whispers, “Come back to me,” and David wakes up. He says he’s not feeling like himself and he wants to stay there. Masha asks to take him somewhere else. He grabs her hand and she leads him through the house and has him lie down in the bed. She wants him to listen to her voice. We see her start to lower something on the vital machine. She starts to whisper into his ear saying his heat starts to feel heavy and he’s in darkness. She starts to sing a song in his ear as he walks through a hospital to see her in a bed holding a baby. A nurse comes in to ask for the information to put on the birth certificate. Mila says her name for mother and she says the baby has no father. She says, “She belongs to me. She is mine. She will be the world.” The woman marks the birth certificate as father unknown.
In the present, David asks why he didn’t tell her about the baby. She says she didn’t want to go to him because it was a one night stand and he wouldn’t have believed her. David says he would have helped and that he never forgot about that night. Masha tells David the baby’s name is Tatiana (Emílie Páclová). David asks to meet her so he can get to know her, but Masha tells him there is more he needs to hear.
Masha came back to Prague and tells David she went to his hotel but didn’t know what to do. She says he saw her but he was talking to a Russian man she didn’t know. She says she did some research on the man and found out his name was Sergei Aganoff (Marian Mitas). He worked as a military contractor looking to get into the drone business. She continued looking into him because she wanted to expose David. She confronts Sergei but he leaves her with no comment. She thought once he saw her face, she was a target. She goes home where her daughter is watching Brian’s (Murray Bartlett) show. She hugs her daughter and goes to the window to see a man outside. She tells Alyona (Eva Reznarová) to stay the night. Alyona does and they continue to watch the show.
In the morning she looks outside to see a man sitting in a car. She sees the same man in the subway. She moved constantly and said that they kept coming. But it wasn’t about silencing her but about punishing her. She says she reached out to him by writing. She threatened him with exposure but he never received anything. He tells her that if he had known he would have been there in seconds. He sold that part of his business because his associates kept things from him. She says she waited and he never came but one day, they did. We see her daughter riding on a bike. As she is crossing a street, a car hits her. Masha begins to cry in front of David at the same time, the screen shows her sobbing on the streets with her daughter’s lifeless body in her hands. David profusely apologizes and begins to comfort Masha with kisses. Masha walks out to look over the balcony at the mountains.
David tells Masha he never experienced anything like that in his life before. He says he felt her emotions as if they were his own. It felt so real. She says it was real. He tells her that more people need to experience that feeling and asks her how he can help. Masha tells him he doesn’t need to, but he says he failed his daughter and apologizes for her havoc to carry it on her own. She says she forgives him. He gently grabs her neck and the two begin to kiss again. The kissing gets heated quickly and they move to the bed. While on the bed, we see a mic under a chair in his room. Martin (Lucas Englander) has been listening to their conversation.