Sightless 2020

Following a brutal attack in a parking lot, violinist Ellen Ashland wakes up in hospital to learn that she has been blinded. During her recuperation she receives a phone call from her brother, who says he has found an apartment for her. Clayton, a nurse her brother has hired, arrives to care for her as she begins to adjust to life without sight. Ellen soon finds herself waking in a strange new apartment with no memory of traveling there, while Clayton helps her navigate the sudden darkness and the disorienting silence.

From one of her windows Ellen can feel a breeze and hear traffic below, but she cannot hear any sounds from the other window. When she asks Clayton about it, he explains that the window simply has thicker glass. The mystery deepens as she hears a voice in distress at night, not from her own room, but from the vent connecting to the adjoining apartment. The next day, Ellen puts a sticky note on her neighbor’s door inviting her to tea, hoping to bridge the distance she now feels from the world outside her sight.

The neighbor appears and introduces herself as Lana Lana, though she seems scared to talk. Lana tries to leave Ellen’s apartment, but Ellen notices a stitched wound on Lana’s face and reach for her, prompting Lana to whisper a chilling warning: “trust no one.” She flees when Russo Russo, her abusive husband, arrives in the hall. Ellen reaches out to Detective Bryce Detective Bryce, who is handling her assault case, and he sends Officer Neiman Officer Neiman to check on Lana. Ellen voices her concerns to Clayton, but he dismisses them, saying he has met Lana and that she seems unhinged.

That afternoon, a tense moment erupts at Ellen’s door when she hears footsteps. At first she fears Lana is returning to apologize, but it is Russo who warns her to stay away from his wife and threatens to involve building management. Clayton arrives, protective and angry, and promises to talk to Russo, though Ellen stops him. Clayton hints at his feelings for her, only to have Ellen gently reject him and watch him leave in disappointment.

A sudden intruder shatters the fragile sense of safety. Ellen recognizes the attacker by their breathing pattern—the same one from the parking lot assault—and manages to dial 911 before losing consciousness. She is awakened by a paramedic Paramedic Rafferty and a worried Clayton, who informs her that Detective Bryce is there to see her. Bryce reassures Ellen that after Clayton left the apartment, nobody else entered. He also reveals that Sasha, a friend who was involved with Ellen’s ex-husband, is the prime suspect in the assault. Feeling overwhelmed and increasingly isolated, Ellen contemplates ending it all. She writes letters to her brother, Sasha, and Clayton, and then jumps from her balcony.

She awakens in a soundproof room, realizing that the apartment she was staying in was fake and all external noises came from a speaker system. The corridor she traverses offers no escape, until she encounters Lana in the hallway. Lana intimates that this is their home, refusing to answer Ellen’s questions and fleeing again. Clayton returns, cooking dinner and knocking twice on the door—a habit that will soon reveal a sinister pattern. Ellen realizes that all the people she has trusted—doctors, the detective, the paramedic, Russo—have been played by Clayton, each role blending into the next.

Lana finally reveals a shocking truth: she is Clayton’s sister, and she helped him kidnap Ellen. The only apparent path to freedom lies in the hidden vent behind Clayton’s room. When Clayton tracks Ellen down, he confesses a dark secret: after his mother’s death, his father kept him captive in the basement for three years, and Lana’s recordings of Ellen playing the violin fed a dangerous obsession. Ellen’s attempt to escape by the vent is thwarted, but she manages to spray a vial—containing the same substance used in the original attack—into Clayton’s face, disabling him. Lana then guides Ellen toward an exit that leads back to the outside world.

In a final turn of fate, six months pass. Ellen steps onto a stage to the roar of an elated crowd, confidently moving forward with a new sense of purpose as an assistant offers help—she declines—and the performance returns to her, the violinist who overcame darkness to reclaim her life.