Prime Video’s The Calendar Killer follows the life of a woman who is tormented by her own husband. The film makes us realize how helpless a woman who is subjected to domestic abuse can feel at times. Domestic abuse, I believe, is the only serious crime where law enforcement authorities, most of the time, are incapable of providing relief to the victim. The reason behind this is that citizens do not have evidence to base their claims with, in the court of law. And how could they? How could you provide evidence of your constant state of fear? How can you provide evidence of how helpless you feel at times?
Spoiler Alert
What did Klara tell Jules?
At the beginning of The Calendar Killer, we saw a man named Jules sitting in his house taking calls from people and making sure that they made it home safely. He was volunteering for an initiative known as Walk Me Home. The service aimed to make people traveling alone at night feel safe. They were not a part of the law enforcement authorities, but they just talked to individuals in need and advised them to follow certain safety guidelines until the police arrived and took matters into their own hands. A service like that was quite helpful, because until and unless a person was in imminent danger, the police didn’t take matters seriously. Talking to the agent over the helpline helped people calm their nerves. That night, Jules was on duty, and he was constantly receiving calls from all parts of the city. He got a call from a woman named Klara, who, for the longest time, didn’t speak a word. Jules knew by listening to her voice that she was scared beyond any measure. Jules kept talking to her, and he made sure that she told him what was bothering her. Klara told Jules over the helpline that, about two weeks ago, the infamous Calendar Killer, who had taken many lives in the past few months, had given an ultimatum to her that on the 6th of December, he would either kill her or her husband, Martin.
The first thing that Jules told Klara was to reach a place of safety, but Klara told him that she couldn’t go back home. Jules sensed that Klara was keeping some information from him, and that she was hesitant to let him know why she could not go back to her place. After talking for a while, she told Jules that she was a victim of domestic abuse. She told Jules that her husband didn’t believe her when she told him that the Calendar Killer had painted the date of their death on their walls, using real blood. Martin had mocked her, and he even told the police not to register any formal complaint as his wife was merely imagining things. Klara went to her lake house, and she tried taking her own life. Jules kept telling her over the call not to do so, but she didn’t listen to him. Fortunately enough, Klara changed her mind at the very last moment, and Jules was relieved. Around the same time, Jules’ father called him and asked him if he could be of any help to him. Jules wanted to know where Klara’s lake house was, as he wanted to go and rescue her (at least that’s what he made her believe at the beginning of the film). Jules’ father dug up Klara’s address, and he reached the lake house to check on her. Meanwhile, Klara found out that the Calendar Killer had gotten to know where she was hiding. She saw that, once again, the date of her death was written in blood on a glass door. Klara saw Jules’ father from a distance, and she mistook him for her husband, Martin. She escaped from the lake house before Jules’ father could meet her. Klara ran as fast as she could, but before she could reach a safe place, she stumbled and fell unconscious. Luckily, a passerby named Hendrick saw her and rescued her.
Did Klara imagine things?
Klara was in Hendrick’s car when, suddenly, a car stopped right in front of them. Martin had tracked down Klara, and he pulled Hendrick out of his car and assaulted him in the middle of the road. Up until that moment, it was not clear if Klara had actually been subjected to domestic abuse or if she was just hallucinating everything. She’d been diagnosed with dissociative disorder, and so it became easier for Martin to tell everybody that his wife was not mentally stable. Klara told Jules that Martin had taken her to a club where a lot of influential people met and indulged in certain erotic practices with or without the consent of their partners. Martin took Klara to that Eyes Wide Shut secret masked community, and he let other men torture Klara for hours. He spiked Klara’s drink so that she gave in without raising a fuss. But Klara was able to escape from there, and that’s when she gave Jules a call for the first time. Once Klara went and sat in Martin’s car, we came to know that she was actually a victim. Martin gaslighted her by saying that his behavior was a result of her actions. He told her that her mere presence instigated him so much that he wasn’t able to stop his impulses. He even assaulted her while getting into the car, and ironically, he asked her to behave herself. Klara was in desperate need of help, but she knew that it would not be so easy to get rid of the man. One of the most horrifying scenes of The Calendar Killer was when Martin asked Klara to eat seafood even when he knew that she didn’t like it. That’s when we realize that abuse is not just hitting a person but also includes the mental torture that one has to go through while living in a constant state of fear. Klara felt trapped, and she didn’t know what to do to get rid of her abusive husband.
Who was The Calendar Killer?
The biggest revelation was made when Klara entered her home after she locked Martin in the car and took the keys with her. We came to know that Jules, all that while, had been sitting in Klara’s home. He had held Vigo, the babysitter, captive for the longest time, and he was tracking each and every movement that Klara made. Jules was the Calendar Killer himself, and he told Klara that she would have to kill her husband if she didn’t want to die a painful death. She requested Jules to let her go as she was going to leave Martin anyway. But Jules was not ready to listen to her. Meanwhile, Martin was able to break his car window and escape from there. He entered his house but was unable to overpower Jules. Jules tied both of them up and told Klara that if she didn’t do as she was asked before the clock struck 12, he would have to take her life. The reason why Jules became the Calendar Killer was that his own wife, Dajana, had taken her life after battling depression for years. Dajana was abused by her father, which led her to face severe mental health issues later in her life. Dajana locked her kids in a room so that they didn’t have to witness the traumatizing sight of her taking her life. But a fire broke out in the house, and before Dajana could do anything, all of them, except one daughter, got burnt to death. Fabienna, the daughter who survived, was taken to the hospital, but she, too, succumbed to her injuries, eventually. Life was never the same for Jules after that day. He seeked out families where the women were subjected to domestic abuse. He always gave a choice to the woman to kill her partner, and if she didn’t do that, he took her life. But this time around, Jules wasn’t able to execute his plan. Before he could kill Klara, his father, who had been following Klara since she left her lake house, shot him dead. Jules’ father took his life as he had come to know that he was the Calendar Killer. He had recognized his writing when the media channels showed the picture of the note he left on the walls. Jules’ father knew that his son was not doing well, and he wanted to save him. But Jules had gone too far, and there was no coming back for him.
Was Klara able to expose Martin?
Klara knew that she would have to find a solution to her problem, as otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to survive in that abusive environment. She knew that Martin was the kind of guy who wouldn’t even feel guilty if she ended up dying one day due to his actions. She knew that he would find a way to talk his way out of the consequences, and probably, he would get married once again and make someone else’s life a living hell. Klara also knew that since her husband was the secretary of state, there was no point in going to the law enforcement authorities. Klara wanted evidence that was self-explanatory, and that could expose Martin in front of the whole world.
In The Calendar Killer’s ending, Klara did a smart thing by switching on the recorder on her phone after Martin assaulted Hendrick and made her sit in his car. In the conversation that ensued, Martin admitted that he abused Klara, and he tried to pin all the blame on her. Klara made that recording public, and when Martin gave a public statement and took all the sympathies for being attacked by the Calendar Killer, the world got to know the kind of man he was. Martin was taken into custody, and he was sentenced to five years by the court of law.
The Calendar Killer’s ending is quite satisfactory, but unfortunately not every time a woman can turn the odds in her favor as Klara did. The film once again reiterated the importance of creating laws that prevent such kinds of abuse in our society. Moreover, it tells us how important it is to create a legal framework where a victim gets the support they need, even if, for some reason, they are hesitant to approach the authorities.
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