‘The Calendar Killer’ Ending Explained & Full Story: What Happens To Martin And Klara?

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German thriller The Calendar Killer has a very problematic but well-intentioned plot. The execution is extremely messy, and a lot of it doesn’t make sense. The last scene of the movie is its only saving grace. and that’s about it. I wonder what good is going to come out of a movie like this, which is not particularly entertaining as a basic thriller movie and inefficient in terms of conveying its message.

Spoilers Ahead


What is the movie about? 

Klara wakes up inside a garage and finds a photo of her and her husband Martin stuck to the wall with a message written in blood. As per the message, either she or Martin is going to die on the sixth of December. The focus now shifts to Jules, who works for a ‘walk me home’ helpline service. We see him helping a woman who was being heckled by a group of men at a bus stop. It was only a matter of time till Klara called Jules, and I would give it to the movie for getting there quite early. She sounds quite anxious and takes a while to start talking. The day happens to be the sixth of December, and the ‘calendar killer’ is going to kill her. Nobody, including Martin, believes her because she has a history of mental illness. Although it doesn’t make much sense, given Martin is the secretary of state, and the killer has become the talk of the town as we see Jules watching a news report on him. It is another matter that Martin is a terrible piece of garbage who physically abuses his wife and takes pleasure in it. When Jules mentions to Klara that he suspects that she might be a victim of domestic abuse, she starts sharing her horrifying experiences to him. 


A ‘not so happy’ anniversary for Klara

As it happens, the sixth of December also marks Klara’s anniversary. In case you’re wondering, the flashback of Martin and Klara that we see has actually happened on the same day, and Klara is hiding from both the husband and the killer. A suspicion of both of them being the same person has crossed her mind too. Anyway, the director leaves no stone unturned to establish how much of a disgrace Martin is. He takes her to a restaurant to celebrate the anniversary and gets agitated when they come across Merret, a former colleague of Klara’s who mentions that she still misses her at work. We get to know that Klara used to be a great lawyer but decided to be a full-time mom for her daughter, Amelie. It is a given that it was not her choice, but one that has been forced by Martin. Just when you think that the dude is a plain  bad man with a patriarchal mindset, he unleashes more horror on Klara. He forcefully feeds her protein (she might be a vegetarian) to prepare for what is about to happen later that night. I guess those who watch the film can predict what is about to follow —Martin taking his wife to an exclusive club where men subject women, including their own wives and girlfriends, to excruciating pain and get off on that. It would have still been okay if there was consent, but that is not at all the case here. They also wear masks like the ones in “Eyes Wide Shut”, which surely makes them look more menacing. Klara is shocked to encounter  all this. Not that she didn’t know what her husband was, but this is still a new low for him. She has no choice but to endure the initial torture—being tied up and lashed by many men, including her ‘beloved’ husband. But then she gets the chance to run away. Jules is understandably mad to hear all this and urges Klara to leave her husband. She dwells on that, but for now, there’s a killer out there trying to kill her (or Martin). Klara takes shelter in a cabin away from the city – which is baffling to me, as the cabin is owned by Martin only, who is not going to have any problem locating her (which he does eventually ).


Who is the calendar killer? 

Sure, the movie tried to keep that away from you for almost the whole time, but I’ve watched way too many thrillers of this kind to figure out the twist. It is, Jules, of course. Earlier we see him having quite the argument with his father on the phone. In the argument, he mentions  that he was trying to help a woman, and his father was repeatedly asking her name and whereabouts. Jules doesn’t  give him the information, but his father still reaches the cabin. Klara sees him, gets frightened, and runs away, thinking the old man might be the killer. It was actually him trying to protect her from his lunatic son. This brings me to the question of why Jules is murdering people, and his justification is hilarious. He argues that he is  trying to liberate abused women here. His intention is to make them kill their abusive husbands or partners. But if they don’t agree to do the killing, he steps in and kills them. For Jules, a woman who chooses to stay in a toxic relationship has no value in  this world. There’s a sad backstory, though—his wife, Diana, suffered from childhood trauma inflicted on her by her abusive father. The burden was so large  for her to bear that she ended up killing herself. Unfortunately, at the very same moment the house had a fire hazard, and both of Jules’ children became victims to  that. So Jules concludes that his wife’s trauma was the reason for him losing everything, and now he is on a quest to rescue other women from getting traumatized. I couldn’t help but notice that he’s making it about himself here – which is a very common narcissistic behaviour seen in many men. Anyway, I was actually scared that the movie would end up making this guy a misunderstood messiah, but thankfully, it didn’t go there. 

After fleeing from the cabin, Klara hitchhikes with Hendrick, a stripper in Santa costume who’s returning from a bachelor party. The movie foolishly tries to make us suspect the man, but he is  nothing but a good Samaritan. Sadly for him, Martin catches up to them and beats him black and blue. Klara dishearteningly returns to her husband, and inside the car, they have a heart-to-heart where Martin ends up blaming Klara for provoking him to abuse her- a common trope for all abusive men. She also gets beaten, which has now become the normal state of affairs. However, she has a weapon in her sleeves this time—a taser gun she took from Hendrick. She uses that to injure Martin, traps him inside his car, and rushes back home to take Amelie away. There, of course, she finds Jules, who has been waiting for her. With not much time left for the clock to strike midnight, Jules reveals his true self to Klara. He has killed Amelie’s babysitter, Vigo—an unfortunate young man—in the meantime. Anyway, Martin breaks free from the car, returns home to the madness, and gets knocked off by Jules. The killer now wants Klara to kill Martin, who’s tied up with a tape on his mouth—I appreciate this, though, as we don’t have to hear him talking. Klara does what you’d expect from her only in a situation like this. She pretends to kill Martin but ends up stabbing Jules on his foot. That’s not enough to beat Jules, as he quickly gets up and goes on to kill her. Just when he’s about to put a knife inside her, he’s shot in the head, and Klara is saved. Her (and Martin’s) savior is none other than the old man, aka Jules’ father. Apparently, he realizes that the calendar killer was his deranged son from the handwriting he saw on the news.

The Calendar Killer ends with Martin doing a press conference about the traumatizing attack on his wife and him, only to be interrupted by a recording of his candid conversation with Klara inside the car. Yes, she happened to record it and put him in the open. What’s a better time to do that than when he’s on full display with his “good husband” act in front of the whole world? The movie leaves us with the news of Martin getting five years in jail, along with a glimpse of a free and happy Klara. Needless to say, this is the best possible ending this film could have.


Rohitavra Majumdar
Rohitavra Majumdar
Rohitavra likes to talk about movies, music, photography, food, and football. He has a government job to get by, but all those other things are what keep him going.


 

 

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