'The Occupant' Movie Ending Explained & Summary: Did Abby Return Home?

The Occupant is a new science-fiction mystery film that uses the usual forms of the genre to essentially tell a dramatic tale about human beings and our struggles dealing with grief. The plot is centered around Abby, a geologist who finds herself in an extremely difficult situation while returning from an unusual field trip in the vast snowy expanses of Georgia, just along the Russian border. But behind Abby’s desperation to return home is her immense desire to reunite with her sister, Beth, for whom she has come out on this unconventional trip in the very first place. Overall, the philosophical nature of The Occupant will surely impress many, and the film is a mostly enjoyable watch, even though it might sometimes come off as a bit too obscure.

Spoiler Alert

What is the film about?

The Occupant begins with a quick introduction to the protagonist, Abby, although it is quite a few months before the main story of the film takes place, as she is seen spending her days with her elder sister, Beth. The sisters have recently lost their mother and are trying to cope with the loss together and supporting one another emotionally. Abby feels overwhelmed at how Beth has very lovingly and almost spontaneously taken over the role of being her nurturer and protector, and so she is extremely broken by what happens a few months later. Beth suddenly falls sick and is diagnosed with an advanced stage of leukemia, and even the best hospitals are unable to guarantee she’ll be cured. The doctor makes it obvious to the family that the illness itself, together with some more medical complications, means that it will be impossible to save Beth, and advises Abby and her father to spend as much time with the patient as they can, preparing for her passing.

However, Abby refuses to give up so easily, and she is confident that there is still some way for her to save her sister. Thus, she decides to get Beth admitted at a foreign clinic that is known for some new and unconventional treatment, and she does not care about this treatment being often considered unethical. But before Beth can be moved, Abby has to earn the money required for this extremely expensive treatment, and so she decides to take up a potentially risky job, making use of her profession as a geologist. She starts working for a private metal mining company and has to fly to a remote location in Georgia, close to the border with Russia. Here, she is given the task of walking through predetermined sectors and looking for uranium deposits so that the company can mine the radioactive metal and sell it to clients. 

Abby’s desperation to earn enough cash in a short time is evident from her decision to look beyond her specified sector, and on one such occasion, she finds a unique and strange-looking piece of rock. She runs a few tests on the rock by herself, not yet reporting or handing it in, as she hopes to name her price for it accordingly, but is unable to find any details about it. But before she can carry out any more research, Abby is informed by her father that he is pulling Beth out of the hospital and bringing her home to let her die in peace and amidst familiarity, as per the advice of the doctors. Abby is not at all happy at this development, and she immediately decides to fly back and intervene, still hoping to cure Beth’s cancer. However, things go from bad to worse for Abby when her helicopter mysteriously crashes, and she is left the lone survivor in the vast snowy expanse.

What had caused the helicopter crash?

While there might be multiple ways to interpret everything that happens in The Occupant, something that would be evident in every interpretation is the fact that there is a divide between the visual and the symbolic. What we see is more to do with the mind-bending science-fiction elements, while they actually signify something deeper and more symbolic about human beings. With these two layers working simultaneously throughout the film, the plot of The Occupant becomes equally thrilling and also dramatic. The helicopter crash that strands Abby in the middle of nowhere, very close to the Russian border, is shrouded in mystery. We later learn that other aircraft have also gone down around the same area, which simply cannot be coincidental.

The helicopter is seen having a sort of collision, if we can call it so, with a swarm of flying objects, the exact nature of which remains a mystery till the end. When Abby first sees it, she thinks it to be a flock of starling birds, although she also remarks at how these small birds should not be flying at such a height. But as her strange adventures through the valley continue, the swarm is seen again, making a crackling sound as it flies around. It is perhaps possible to see this swarm as some kind of a technological invention, like drones or something similar, being tested by the Russians, as the area is right on the border between Georgia and Russia, and there are Russian outposts very close to the spot as well. It is also suggested by the characters that the Russians might be somehow responsible for the strange aircrash hotspot. The fact that there is later a Russian soldier in the area also can be seen as a hint at the fact that the government has been conducting some secret experiment with this new invention.

There is also clearly a link between the swarm and the mysterious rock that Abby had picked up earlier. It is made very evident that the protagonist finds herself in such a dangerous situation only because she had picked up the strange rock, and the second time that the swarm is seen after the helicopter crash, Abby has just used the rock to her advantage to climb up a hill face. Since the rock itself is later revealed to be a sort of sci-fi element that is alive and is able to connect with various other forms of nature to form a kind of entity, the swarm can therefore be seen as a more mobile part of this entity. It is almost like this swarm is attracted to the rock, like a metal to a magnet, each time that the rock plays some significant role in the plot. Thus, the helicopter crash can be very well seen as a result of either a technological experiment or of the evil nature of the entity that wants to take control of Abby.

But on the symbolic level, the helicopter crash acts like the inevitable event that starts off a chain of further events that pose a crisis in the protagonist’s life, as is quite common in every narrative form. The reason for the crash becomes somewhat insignificant from this perspective, as it would have happened anyway. The swarm just acts as a tool, perhaps in the form of a sci-fi element or as a symbolic representation of Abby’s self-centered thoughts, to propel the story forward and to place the protagonist in such a situation, which is soon to lead to a moment of epiphany for her.

Who does Abby meet during her journey?

After realizing that the walkie-talkie carried by her now deceased pilot is still functional, and after establishing communications with an American pilot named John, Abby takes a long and dangerous walk towards the latter, who is supposedly also lost and stuck in another section of the region. On her way, Abby soon runs into a Russian soldier, who orders her to drop her weapon but gets shot by her first. It is unclear whether the soldier would have opened fire first, and the suggestion is that he would not have done so. The soldier was clearly lost and trying to get to safety himself, although there are Russian outposts only some distance away.

This last point, and also the fact that the soldier eventually vanishes into thin air, unless he gets covered by the snowstorm or falls into some ditch, seems to suggest that he did not really exist. If we are to believe that Abby had been imagining the entire situation, including the really strange experiences later on in the cave, then the soldier was perhaps a part of her hallucinations. It is more convincing to think that the soldier was a creation of the seemingly helpful, but ultimately evil, voice, John, and the supernatural entity that he actually is. The purpose of this creation was probably to lure Abby towards the cave and to execute the entity’s plan with regards to her.

But on the symbolic level, once again, the Russian soldier serves the purpose of setting up the strong emotional mettle of Abby and setting her apart from other possible characters in her situation. The main idea behind The Occupant is the tendency of us humans to give in to whatever seems like the easiest path while dealing with extreme grief and loss. While some find respite in addiction or in excess scrutiny of their lives, Abby seeks comfort in a strong-willed feeling of denial, believing that she can still fight her sister’s cancer off and keep her safe from all danger. 

Thus, if we are to imagine the snowy wilderness as a visual representation of the dark times that we have to wade through while dealing with grief, Abby and the Russian soldier are both equally lost and clueless about how to move ahead. But while Abby manages to ultimately learn her lesson and pull back, the soldier is not lucky, or rather strong enough, to accept his losses, whatever they may be. Thus, he appears for a short time, not really playing any significant role in Abby’s journey, and then simply disappears, representing how he is now completely consumed by and lost in his grief. His only purpose is to set Abby apart from himself, and this is also why John keeps telling Abby that she is his favorite among everyone else, because of her mental strength to question and fight back.

What is the mystery behind the strange rock?

The rock that Abby picks up is not just unique in its appearance and crystal-like surface, but it turns out to be a living object that can expand and take different shapes as per the needs of the person holding it. This is how Abby uses it to create a foothold during her climb, and so it is quite evidently an extremely rare and new material that could be groundbreaking for human civilization. While Abby had decided to carry it with her, thinking of its value in a cosmetic sense, she gradually realizes that her discovery of the material could make her unimaginably rich if she can take it back to her country. However, before she can do any of that, she also realizes that the rock is causing all the troubles and obstacles in her way, like by attracting the mysterious swarm, and so she throws it away simply to get rid of its unusual powers.

But throwing the rock away is clearly not enough, for it is actually the embodiment of the self-centered confidence and even obnoxiousness that exists in Abby’s mind. Over the course of the plot, it is revealed how neither Abby’s father nor Beth herself had wanted the protagonist to take this long journey to Georgia to earn money for the family. In fact, Beth had clearly told Abby that all she now wanted was to have a peaceful end to her life, after having spent her final few days surrounded by her loved ones. This is why their father, and later a hallucination, remind Abby that although she believes that she is on this journey in order to help her sister recover, in reality, she is only driven by her obstinate nature to prove herself right and to demonstrate how indomitable she is in finding (or rather funding) some miraculous cure for cancer. It is this negative and egocentric quality of hers that finds visual representation through the rock, along with the object also symbolizing her greed.

Abby literally picks up the rock and keeps it with her out of greed for money and success, and like in a fable, this object lands her in a lot of trouble. In fact, the character of John is also revealed to have been lured in by the greed of picking up the rock and letting it control his mind, as was perhaps the soldier as well. Any human lost in grief is apparently bound to come across such a rock, which can be shaped according to one’s needs, and so it only gives someone in such a situation false hope and confidence. The rock is symbolic of Abby’s hubris, and so she eventually realizes her mistake in getting lured in by all the fame and money it would have brought her.

What is John’s real identity?

The voice of John that is heard, and followed, by Abby ultimately turns out to be that of a supernatural entity whose exact nature is also not made very clear. The rotten dead body of John Fisher is indeed seen inside the cave when Abby falls into it, and his story can be guessed from the badge on his sleeve. John Fisher was a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, and so he must have come to the area as part of an American surveillance program to keep an eye on Russian operations along the border. He must have crashed in the same area and then found the mysterious rock, eventually getting engulfed by its powers. 

John is now a part of the entity, and it is suggested that his body, or being, itself can break into pieces and become the swarm that keeps flying around the area. From a science fiction perspective, this entity can be looked at as an evil creature that intends to prey on humans who are literally lost in the valley and lure them in to take over their bodies and souls. It has typically predatory characteristics, as if it enjoys hunting humans and taking over them. It chooses a known language and even a name that would be familiar to communicate with each target. Therefore, it uses the identity of John, an American pilot, to lure in Abby, while it uses the Russian name, Ivan, to lure in the soldier. 

The entity’s main purpose is to take over fresher human bodies, and so it gives Abby the choice of either giving herself in and succumbing to its control or facing death under the harsh climate outside the cave. It literally keeps looking for an occupant for the cave, as the mysterious black material seems to feed on human bodies. This is why small pieces of it are seen attaching themselves onto Abby’s body as soon as she falls into the cave. Similar pieces are seen all over the body of John, signaling that he is spiritually, and also physically, dead and totally under their control.

But the character of John, and the entity itself, seems to signify something more philosophical, with the entity being the embodiment of all the negative tendencies and feelings that arise when dealing with grief. It wants Abby to give in to her sense of denial and completely lose herself, which is why it projects an image of her living happily with Beth, who has now recovered. This is literally the thought that Abby wants to live with, but it is definitely not the truth of her situation. She finally learns her lesson through this bizarre and twisted adventure and realizes that her denial was only pushing her away from the truth and from her loved ones.

Did Abby ultimately return home?

Once Abby realizes that the goal she was pushing for is not going to be achievable, she pushes herself out of the cave, refusing to give herself up to the entity and its comforting, but fake, projections. She now actively chooses to return to Beth, solely to accept her fate and spend as many days as possible by her side, and it is as if the universe immediately helps her out. Abby is rescued by a helicopter and taken to a hospital, where her injuries are treated for two days, and she is then helped by her old coworker from the mining company. After she regains her consciousness, Abby is a changed person, with none of her previous denial and headstrong nature to help her sister, as she now knows that she has only hurt Beth in the process. Thus, she returns home, just in time, as Beth is now at the very end of her life. 

The Occupant ends with Abby and her father lying beside Beth on her bed as the woman tragically takes her last breath. Although there is no triumphant end for Abby, what matters is that she is together with her family at this grievous time, having learned that the heroic triumph she had dreamt of was never truly possible. 

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