What happened to Monday (2017)

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Glenn Close, Willem Dafoe

In a world where families are limited to one child due to overpopulation, a set of identical septuplets must avoid being put to a long sleep by the government and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.

In a dystopian world, the Child Allocation Bureau enforces the One Child Policy in order to combat over-population. By this law families are allowed to have one child only. Terrence Settman’s daughter, Karen, gives birth to septuplets, and then dies during childbirth. As their Grandfather, Terrence then takes custody of them, but has to hide them to the world.

As part of their upbringing, he teaches the girls to function as one. He names them the days of the week, and allows them to go out on the day of their name. Each day on their return, they have to share every bit of information with the rest of them.

30 Years later, they’re working in the corporate world, and still acts as one person. They wear wigs and make-up to look alike, and each of them still only goes out once a week, but when Monday doesn’t return one day, their lives are thrown into turmoil. Now, they have to find out what happened to her, or none of them can exist. And in a world of advanced technology, its difficult to disappear from the grid.

A film like this is bound to have many plot holes, but you have to admire the film for its originality and the good execution. Noomi Rapace does an incredible job portraying all seven women, and Tommy Wirkola does an equally incredible job directing the film. This must have been quite an undertaking, where attention to detail was crucial for the film to work.

For a film that starts off tame, it sure does become violent. In fact, as the film develops, the tension and action intensifies until it becomes a full-blown, nail-biting action thriller. The action sequences are fantastic. There are a few twists and surprises along the way, all adding up to one hell of a thrill ride. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Would I watch it again? Yes.