As a mysterious leader imposes their strict "Law" in the Platform, a new resident named Perempuan becomes embroiled in the battle against this controversial method to fight the brutal feeding system. But when eating from the wrong plate becomes a death sentence, she must decide how far she is willing to go to save her life and whether true justice can exist in a vertical hell where the ones above feast and the ones below starve.
Information |
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|---|---|
Language |
Spanish |
Country |
Spain |
Premiere date |
October 04, 2024 |
Running time |
100 minutes |
Genre |
Horror Sci-Fi Thriller |
Budget |
Undisclosed (Netflix Original) |
Box Office |
Netflix Release |
Crew |
|
Directed by |
Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia |
Produced by |
Carlos Juárez Raquel Perea Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia |
Written by |
David Desola Pedro Rivero Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia Egoitz Moreno |
Music by |
Aitor Etxebarria |
Cinematography |
Jon D. Domínguez |
Edited by |
Haritz Zubillaga |
Production Co. |
Basque Films Netflix Studios |
Distributed by |
Netflix |
Official Trailer
The Plot
The Facility and the Interview
In a surreal, concrete room, a group of children play, linking hands and dancing in a circle around a slide while others take turns sliding down. Elsewhere, prospective candidates sit for interviews to determine their eligibility for admittance into the Vertical Self-Management Center, also known as "The Pit." Among them is Zamiatin, a large, shaved-headed man who aggressively insists that if he is not provided with his favorite food—pizza—every single day, he will become "upset." He threatens the interviewer, daring him to read his file. The file reveals that Zamiatin was admitted after committing arson, specifically setting fire to his parents' house. Another candidate, Perempuán, admits herself voluntarily, seeking time to forget a past trauma. When asked what item she will bring, she chooses a painting, while Zamiatin chooses a lighter.
Level 24: The Loyalists and the Law
Zamiatin and Perempuán are assigned to Level 24. Zamiatin becomes enraged when the platform descends and he discovers his pizza has already been eaten by a prisoner on Level 21. Ignoring the rules, he grabs a chicken wing from the platform. The prisoners on Level 23, led by a man Perempuán nicknames "The Frenchman," immediately reprimand him. They remind him of "The Law," which dictates that prisoners must not eat another person's assigned dish. The Frenchman, a self-proclaimed Loyalist, promises that he and other adherents to the Law will protect Zamiatin's pizza in the future, but only if Zamiatin respects the dishes of those below him to prevent anarchy and starvation.
Perempuán, Zamiatin's cellmate, aligns herself with the Loyalists and offers Zamiatin one of her ham croquettes to pacify him. He accepts and returns the stolen chicken wing. A flashback reveals that Perempuán’s chosen dish reminds her of her ex-boyfriend, who used to make them. As night falls, the prisoners begin chanting "44" to signal a communication breakdown at that level. The Frenchman explains that there are 333 levels, and their goal is to ensure food reaches the bottom. He assures them that the Loyalists on levels 19 and 20 will handle the "Barbarians" on level 21 to protect Zamiatin’s meal tomorrow. Meanwhile, a flashback to Zamiatin’s interview reveals the arson was minor, and his parents actually sent him to the Pit because they were afraid of his erratic behavior.
The Barbarian Attack
The following day, Zamiatin eagerly chants for his pizza, but the routine is shattered by the sounds of combat from above. The Barbarians on Level 21 have slaughtered the Loyalists and are riding the platform down, consuming everything in their path. The Frenchman orders Zamiatin and Perempuán to prepare for battle. As the platform descends to Level 23, a female prisoner attempts to clear the food to save it, but the rising temperature of the level causes her to burst into flames. She falls onto Level 24, burning to death while Zamiatin watches in horror.
The Barbarian and the Frenchman crash onto Level 24. Perempuán helps the Frenchman incapacitate the attacker. With the platform lowering, they race to clear the food off the platform to prevent the level from freezing or heating up. Once the food is secured and the Barbarian restrained, the Frenchman declares he will take the prisoner down with him the next day to find the "Anointed Ones." He recounts the legend of "The Master," the figure who started the solidarity revolution. Zamiatin dismissively mocks the Frenchman, nicknaming him "Robespierre." That night, Robespierre disposes of his dead cellmate's body by dropping it down the hole.
Custodians of the Pit
The next day, the platform arrives full of food. Zamiatin is overjoyed to find his pizza intact and devours it. Robespierre, however, begins flushing the dishes of those who died the previous day down the toilet. Zamiatin is annoyed by the waste, but Robespierre insists that surplus food creates inequality and that no one should benefit from the death of another. He designates them as custodians, ordering them to flush the dishes of the dead daily. Robespierre then grabs the captured Barbarian and rides the platform down to continue his mission.
In the days that follow, Perempuán adheres to the flushing rule, though she begins to bond with Zamiatin. Despite the rules, Zamiatin occasionally eats some of the discarded food. On the final day of the month, Perempuán finishes a charcoal drawing and asks Zamiatin to draw something. He refuses, revealing he was once a mathematics professor who had a mental breakdown after discovering the square root of negative one—an imaginary number he could not reconcile with concrete reality. As the month ends, the prisoners cheer as news arrives that food has reached Level 175. To celebrate, Perempuán persuades a reluctant Zamiatin to dance with her.
Level 180: The Mathematician's End
The new month brings a grim reality: Zamiatin and Perempuán wake up on Level 180. The Loyalists report that communication is cut off at Level 169, meaning no food will reach them. As the days pass with an empty platform, the two starve. Zamiatin plays with his lighter, growing increasingly delirious, while Perempuán sketches with a razor. A severed head falls down the hole—a brutal sign from the Anointed Ones that justice is being served above.
Zamiatin falls gravely ill, coughing up blood. He confesses to Perempuán that he lied about his past; he was never a professor, but a high school dropout and failed businessman whose family rejected him for his lack of discipline. Fearful that the Anointed Ones will arrive and punish Perempuán for his consumption of the dead's food earlier, Zamiatin makes a final decision. He asks Perempuán to tell his children he loves them, then stands over the hole, sets his clothes on fire with his lighter, and throws himself into the abyss to save her from being implicated in his crimes.
Level 51: Dagin Babi's Judgment
Perempuán awakens on Level 51 with a new cellmate, Sahabat, a one-armed woman. They learn from prisoners on Level 52 that a notorious "Barbarian" is on Level 54—the same man who gorged himself on Level 2 the previous month. The men on Level 52 plan to descend and kill him. Sahabat, seeking revenge for the starvation caused by this man, wants to join. When the platform arrives, accompanied by a falling severed head, the Anointed One is revealed to be the fearsome Dagin Babi.
Sahabat and Perempuán defy orders to stay put and ride the platform down with a bearded man from Level 52. They corner the Barbarian on Level 54. After a struggle where the Barbarian feigns surrender, Perempuán subdues him but ultimately spares his life, listening to his plea that he was only trying to survive. Sahabat is furious at this mercy. Later, Sahabat reveals she lost her arm to Dagin Babi's "justice" in a previous month when she and her lover tried to feed a starving man against the Law. She proposes a desperate escape plan: swallowing a painting to fake death during the gas decontamination cycle at the month's end to be taken out with the bodies.
The Price of Mercy
The next morning, the consequences of their unauthorized descent arrive. Dagin Babi and his enforcers land on the platform. He initially offers them wine, praising their spirit, but quickly turns on them for breaking the strict hierarchy of the Law. He declares that the women had no jurisdiction to participate in the "pacification." He executes the cellmate on Level 52 for allowing them to leave. For Perempuán, it is her first offense; her punishment is the amputation of her arm. Sahabat, a repeat offender, is sentenced to death. Perempuán watches in agony as the platform is used to crush and sever her arm, while Sahabat is tied to the structure to die.
Level 72: The Rebellion
Recovering from her amputation, Perempuán wakes up on Level 72 with a new cellmate, Trimagasi, who carries a knife. Disillusioned by the brutality of the Loyalists, Perempuán decides to use the system against them. She convinces Trimagasi and the prisoners on Level 73 to join her, not to uphold the Law, but to form a massive fighting force. As the platform descends, they recruit more prisoners—including the Barbarian she previously spared—building an army to challenge Dagin Babi.
The confrontation takes place on Level 93. Dagin Babi, standing on the level above, announces he will starve the Barbarians out before descending to kill them. The rebels, led by Trimagasi, resort to cannibalizing the prisoners below them to survive the siege, including the body of Robespierre. Perempuán refuses to partake in the cannibalism. A flashback reveals the source of her trauma: she was an artist whose sculpture, a dog made of blades, accidentally killed her boyfriend's young son during an exhibit.
The Massacre and the Escape
The stalemate ends in a bloody battle on Level 105. The Loyalists descend on a fortified platform, clashing with the Barbarian army. The slaughter is absolute. Perempuán survives the chaos, eventually killing the Barbarian from Level 54 when he turns on her. Amidst the pile of corpses, she finds a dying Dagin Babi, who uses his last breath to condemn her. With everyone else dead, Perempuán and Trimagasi are the sole survivors.
Determined to escape, Perempuán decides to execute Sahabat’s plan. She swallows a piece of her oil painting, hoping the toxins will simulate death. As the gas fills the room at the end of the month, she convulses and falls unconscious, while Trimagasi remains behind, accepting his fate.
Level 333: The Child
Perempuán awakens, not outside, but during the cleaning cycle. She is strapped to a pile of bodies floating in zero gravity, being pushed by workers. Realizing they are moving deeper into the pit rather than out, she struggles free and hides under a bed on Level 333. She watches as workers place a young boy—the same one seen climbing the slide in the children's facility—onto the level. Torn between escaping and helping, she chooses to save the boy.
She grabs the child but strikes her head, falling unconscious. She experiences a hallucination of a bearded man challenging her. She wakes up on the platform with the boy. Together, they ride the platform down into the absolute darkness of the bottom of the Pit. When they reach the bottom, shadowy figures of prisoners surround them. A woman informs Perempuán that her journey is over; only the child can ascend. Perempuán accepts this, staying behind in the darkness as the platform shoots back up at high speed, carrying the boy toward the surface.
The Reunion
Time passes in the abyss. A montage shows the platform descending and ascending over various months, sometimes empty, sometimes with different prisoners. Finally, the platform descends carrying Goreng and a little girl. Trimagasi appears, greeting Goreng and telling him his journey is finished. Goreng steps off the platform into the darkness, reciting that "the girl is the message." He turns to see Perempuán emerging from the shadows. The two embrace, reunited in the depths of the Pit as the movie ends.
Top Cast
- Milena Smit as Perempuán
- Hovik Keuchkerian as Zamiatin
- Natalia Tena as Sahabat
- Óscar Jaenada as Dagin Babi
- Ivan Massagué as Goreng
- Zorion Eguileor as Trimagasi
- Bastien Ughetto as Robespierre
- Antonia San Juan as Imoguiri
Movie Collection
- The Platform (2019)
- The Platform 2 (2024)
