Wake Up

It was only a small shove. Yet after Clara’s fall on the ski slope, her sister Emilia’s world is never the same again. Clara is in a coma, and Emilia blames herself. Two years later, Emilia participates in a study conducted by Dr. Hevi Abdel, a researcher specializing in nanobots and anxiety therapy. But instead of reprogramming Emilia’s fear center, something unforeseen happens: Hevi’s consciousness briefly migrates into Emilia’s body. During the experiment, however, Emilia’s own consciousness finds itself back on the ski slope—the nightmarish scene of Clara’s accident. Upon returning, she wants nothing more than to leave the laboratory. She refuses to cooperate with Hevi, who wants to recruit her for further trials. Triggered by the experience of reliving her nightmare, Emilia visits her sister at the care home for the first time in ages. As she sits by the bedside, Clara collapses, and the medical monitors begin to blare.

Clara’s condition has deteriorated dramatically. Emilia sees Hevi’s experiments as the only chance to save Clara. Yet, at this critical moment, Hevi’s research is being shut down. For Emilia, Hevi’s discovery represents her last hope; she is willing to offer her own body to house Clara’s consciousness. Hevi shakes her head in frustration: attempting the procedure on a comatose patient would be life-threatening, and the study has been cancelled anyway. Hevi feels betrayed by her mother-in-law and company CEO, Josephine Nansen. However, Josephine’s husband—department head Lars Nansen—manages to secure a one-week reprieve for Hevi. One week to present something to Josephine. Hevi turns to Emilia once more. She cannot make any guarantees, but she needs Emilia for further trials. Consequently, she agrees to Emilia’s terms and initiates the attempt to transfer Clara’s consciousness from her comatose state into Emilia’s body.

Hevi wants to present her discovery to her boss, Josephine. But first, she must meet Emilia's conditions: Clara is to travel into Emilia's body once again, no matter how risky it may be. At the same time, Jakob—Clara and Emilia's father—is wrestling with the decision of whether to have Clara's life-support machines turned off. Her vital signs suggest that her body cannot hold out much longer. It is all the more painful for him, then, that Emilia is clinging to a fantasy. He has no idea that Emilia's dream has come true and that Clara is actually waking up inside Emilia's body once more. Josephine, too, can hardly believe her eyes when she herself travels into Emilia's body during the presentation. Amidst the euphoria of success, the fact that Hevi's colleague Robin discovers unexplained side effects in Emilia—who repeatedly makes her body available for further experiments—goes unnoticed.

Against Jakob’s wishes, Emilia and Hevi press on: they grant Clara more time in Emilia’s body. However, Clara painfully realizes the limitations of this borrowed existence. Hevi confesses to Josephine about her unauthorized experiments involving a coma patient. Yet, instead of halting the research immediately, Josephine urges Hevi to proceed at full speed; lawyers will handle the ethics committee and other such matters. So far, only Emilia has succeeded in making her body available to another consciousness. Hevi’s team wonders what makes Emilia so special. To gather more data, Clara is to remain in Emilia’s body for an extended period. She uses this time to visit her former boyfriend, Louis, and her father. However, neither Louis nor Jakob is willing to believe that the person standing before them—in Emilia’s form—is actually Clara. Clara also learns that her own body does not have long left to live. She faces a difficult decision.

Emilia is dropped from the study because Hevi has finally found a way for anyone to travel. However, her colleague Robin makes it possible for Emilia to let Clara travel secretly one last time. He allows Clara to use his body, enabling the sisters to meet face-to-face for the first time. Emilia is relieved that Clara bears her no ill will regarding the accident. Yet, she refuses to accept that Clara does not want to live a borrowed life. Clara visits her father—in Robin’s body—to say goodbye. This time, Jakob recognizes her and, despite the pain, accepts her wish to leave. Meanwhile, Hevi works day and night preparing for a major presentation of the travel technology to an American investor. She learns from Lars that Josephine has already made further plans for the technology—without her. Hevi attempts to secure the critical data from the lab, but she arrives too late.

Clara’s life-support machines are set to be turned off. Emilia says goodbye to her sister, but the farewell unfolds quite differently than expected—a fact she keeps to herself. While the doctor prepares Clara, Emilia rushes to Josephine’s travel presentation. The pitch to the investor begins at the very moment Clara is dying. Emilia takes matters into her own hands, injecting herself with nanobots, and collapses. She ends up in the emergency room in critical condition and has to be placed in a medically induced coma. Jakob arrives and is devastated by the prospect of losing his other daughter, Emilia, just as he is losing Clara. Suspecting what has happened, Hevi gathers her old team to save Emilia.