''What Happened to Monday'' (known in several territories as ''Seven Sisters'') is a 2017

dystopian A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

action thriller Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...

film directed by

Tommy Wirkola Tommy Wirkola (born 6 December 1979) is a Norwegian film director and writer. Career His first film was 2007's '' Kill Buljo'', which he co-wrote with Stig Frode Henriksen. They later made the 2009 horror comedy ''Dead Snow''. In 2010 they agai ...

and written by

Max Botkin Max Botkin is an American screenwriter and film producer, producer. Botkin's original script for ''What Happened to Monday, What Happened to Monday?'' was featured on the 2010 Blacklist for best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. Career He began ...

and Kerry Williamson. The film stars

Noomi Rapace Noomi Rapace (; ; born 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress.Karen Olsson, ''The New York Times Magazine'', 27 May 2012, p. 26. She achieved international fame with her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish film adaptations of the ''Mil ...

Glenn Close Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, Close has garnered numerous accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards ...

and

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Willem Dafoe, various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for ...

. ''What Happened to Monday'' was released theatrically in Europe and Asia, with

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

distributing the film in the United States, United Kingdom, and Latin America on August 18, 2017. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Around 2043,

overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a phenomenon in which a species' population becomes larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale m ...

has caused a worldwide crisis, resulting in a strict

one-child policy The term one-child policy () refers to a population planning initiative in China implemented between 1980 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. That initiative was part of a much bro ...

enforced by the Child Allocation Bureau. All but the eldest children are put into cryosleep. Electronic bracelets track all citizens. Karen Settman dies while giving birth to identical septuplets. Their grandfather and Karen's father, Terrence, names them after the days of the week and trains them to pose as a single individual named after their mother, leaving the house only on the day of their name. Terrence ensures that they share information daily and replicate any physical accidents that alter their appearance. The sisters use wigs and makeup to cover up any identifying features. After a young Thursday sneaks out of the apartment and injures herself skateboarding, Terrence amputates part of the index finger of each sister to mimic Thursday’s injury. In 2073, Monday prepares her disguise, nervous about giving a presentation. At a checkpoint, Monday runs into Adrian Knowles, a C.A.B. agent who talks to her. At the bank, Monday's co-worker, Jerry, a competitor for a promotion, hints at

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

ing her. When Monday fails to return home, Tuesday retraces her steps. Tuesday learns that Monday got the promotion and met Jerry at a bar. Before she can investigate further, C.A.B. agents detain her and cut off her communications. In the C.A.B. facility, Adrian sees Tuesday escorted to a cell, where she meets Nicolette Cayman, head of the Bureau and a candidate for Parliament. Cayman says she knows about Tuesday's siblings and, when Tuesday offers a bribe, Cayman reveals that Monday had offered her the same deal. Cayman orders C.A.B. agents to assassinate Tuesday's sisters. C.A.B. agents use an enucleated eye to bypass a retinal scanner at the Settman home. The sisters kill the agents, but Sunday is killed. Learning the eye is Tuesday's, the sisters suspect Jerry may have sold them out. The next day, Wednesday leaves without disguising herself and confronts Jerry. He reveals that "Karen" got the promotion when she sent millions of euros to Cayman to fund her campaign. After a C.A.B. sniper kills Jerry, Wednesday flees his apartment. The others remotely guide Wednesday to safety but are interrupted when Adrian shows up at the sisters' apartment, concerned about "Karen.” Surmising that Adrian has a relationship with one of them, Thursday convinces Saturday to leave with him. Saturday, a virgin, talks with Adrian at his apartment. She covertly links their bracelets while sleeping with him, allowing Friday to hack into the C.A.B. On a video feed, the sisters believe they have found Monday in a holding cell. Meanwhile, C.A.B. agents corner and kill Wednesday. After Adrian leaves his apartment, C.A.B. agents arrive and kill Saturday after she tells her siblings Monday was dating Adrian. The sisters' apartment is raided simultaneously by a C.A.B. squad led by Joe, the head of security of C.A.B. Admitting that she cannot survive on her own, Friday sacrifices herself by blowing up their apartment to allow Thursday to escape and rescue Monday. Adrian hears about the incident and rushes back to the Settman apartment. Thursday confronts him in his car, blaming him for her sisters' deaths. Adrian now realizes "Karen" is an assumed identity for several siblings and claims to love Monday, whom he agrees to help rescue. Adrian sneaks Thursday, concealed in a body bag, into C.A.B. headquarters. She secretly records a child undergoing cryosleep. Instead of being frozen, the child is

incinerated Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...

. Adrian and Thursday discover Tuesday, missing an eye, inside the cell. They search for Monday, only to discover that she has sold them out to Cayman. At Cayman's campaign fundraiser, Thursday and Monday fight in a women's restroom, with Thursday accidentally shooting Monday. Meanwhile, Tuesday and Adrian broadcast Thursday's video footage of the child's incineration, leaving everyone at the event shocked. The now-traumatized crowd directs its attention on Cayman, who angrily confronts Thursday before her bodyguards pull her off. Monday comes out of the restroom brandishing a gun. Joe shoots Monday, thinking that she intends to kill Cayman, and Adrian kills Joe. As the crowd flees, Monday reveals to Thursday that she is pregnant and asks her to not let the C.A.B. take her unborn twins. Thursday realizes Monday sacrificed her sisters in much the same way their grandfather cut off their fingers, in order to protect her children. Monday dies from her wounds. The Child Allocation Act is abolished, and Cayman faces the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for her actions, which she continues to insist were necessary. Thursday, Adrian, and Tuesday (with a new artificial eye) watch Monday's and Adrian's twins develop in an artificial womb. Tuesday declares Terry to be her new name, while Thursday declares hers to be Karen (henceforth becoming the "real" Karen Settman). As the camera dollies out, hundreds of babies are seen and heard crying in one enormous ward, as nursing staff care for them.

Cast

as the Settman siblings (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), septuplets sharing the identity of "Karen Settman." ** Clara Read as the young Settman siblings. *

as Terrence Settman, the siblings' grandfather. *

as Nicolette Cayman, the head of the Child Allocation Bureau (C.A.B.). *

Marwan Kenzari Marwan Kenzari ( ar, مروان كنزاري; born 16 January 1983) is a Dutch actor born in The Hague, Netherlands. Starting his career in 2008, he first came to prominence for his role in the 2013 film ''Wolf'', which earned him a Golden Calf ...

as Adrian Knowles, a C.A.B. security guard and love interest of Monday Settman. * Marie Everett as Karen Settman, the mother of the siblings and daughter of Terrence Settman. * Nadiv Molcho as Young Doctor, the daughters’ private doctor. * Christian Rubeck as Joe, the head of security at C.A.B. *

Pål Sverre Hagen Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen (born 6 November 1980) is a Norwegian stage and screen actor. He is perhaps best known internationally for playing Thor Heyerdahl in the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated film ''Kon-Tiki''. Early life and education Pål ...

as Jerry, Karen's coworker. * Tomiwa Edun as Eddie, the septuplets' doorman. * Cassie Clare as Zaquia, a C.A.B. agent. *

Robert Wagner Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor of stage, screen, and television. He is known for starring in the television shows '' It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch'' (1975–1978), and ''Hart to Hart'' (1979– ...

as Charles Benning

Production

The film was originally written for a man, but director

had always wanted to work with

. He pitched the idea of having a female as the main protagonist to producer

Raffaella De Laurentiis Raffaella De Laurentiis (born 28 June 1952) is an Italian film producer. Films that she has produced include ''Conan the Barbarian'', '' Conan the Destroyer'', ''Dune'', '' Prancer'', '' Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story'', all films in the ''Dragonhear ...

who agreed to the idea. Wirkola was inspired by films such as ''

Children of Men ''Children of Men'' is a 2006 dystopian action thriller film co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The screenplay, based on P. D. James' 1992 novel '' The Children of Men'', was credited to five writers, with Clive Owen making uncredi ...

'' and ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'' due to their realism and world building. The film was shot in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

over 94 days with a budget of $20 million.Ford, Rebecca (November 5, 2016). "Tommy Wirkola Talks Directing Noomi Rapace as Seven Identical Twins in 'What Happened to Monday?' (Q&A)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 28, 2021.

Release

''What Happened to Monday'' premiered at the 2017

Locarno Festival The Locarno Film Festival is an annual film festival, held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, sh ...

. The streaming rights for the film were purchased by Netflix.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

, reports that 59% of 37 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.8/10. According to

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which calculated a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 12 critics, the film received "mixed or average reviews". Jessica Kiang of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it a "ludicrous, violent, amusingly dumb sci-fi actioner". Kiang said that, although it is full of plot holes and Rapace's characters are thinly characterized, it is likely to become a

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

References

External links

Happened to Monday''
on

* * {{Authority control 2017 films 2017 science fiction action films 2010s science fiction thriller films American science fiction action films American science fiction thriller films Belgian action films Belgian science fiction thriller films British science fiction action films British science fiction thriller films French science fiction action films French science fiction thriller films English-language French films English-language Belgian films American dystopian films Films set in the 2070s Films set in apartment buildings Films shot in Romania Films shot in Bucharest Overpopulation fiction Films directed by Tommy Wirkola Films set in 2073 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films 2010s French films