Character Relationship Map: Endorphine

Characters

• Simone (13) (played by Sophie Nélisse) — protagonist

  A twelve-year-old girl who witnesses her mother's brutal death, serving as the traumatic foundation for the protagonist's lifelong psychological struggles and emotional detachment.

• Simone (25) (played by Mylène Mackay) — protagonist

  A twenty-something multimedia artist grappling with severe panic attacks and working in an underground parking lot, embodying the film's exploration of how trauma manifests in adulthood.

• Simone (60) (played by Lise Roy) — supporting

  A sixty-year-old physicist delivering a conference on the nature of time, representing the mature, intellectually driven facet of the protagonist's journey through a meta-narrative structure.

• Mr. Porter (played by Guy Thauvette) — supporting

  A supporting character in the film, likely connected to Simone (25)'s professional environment at the underground parking lot.

• Simone's Mother (played by Monia Chokri) — supporting

  A central narrative figure whose brutal death serves as the inciting incident and primary source of trauma for Simone across all timelines.

• Simone's Father (played by Stéphane Crête) — supporting

  A supporting parental figure present in Simone's life, presumably navigating the aftermath of his wife's death alongside his daughter.

• Grégoire (played by Théodore Pellerin) — supporting

  A supporting character in the film whose specific narrative role, profession, and connections are not detailed in the provided plot summary.

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Simone's Father → Simone (13) (father)
• Simone's Mother → Simone (13) (mother)
• Simone (13) → Simone (60) (Temporal Earlier Self) — The earliest and latest versions are linked by the film's nonlinear treatment of time.

  The film connects Simone's childhood trauma with the later sixty-year-old version of the protagonist through its shifting ages and unresolved timeline...

• Simone (25) → Simone (60) (Temporal Earlier Self) — The sixty-year-old figure represents a later stage of the same protagonist's journey.

  The narrative later presents Simone at sixty, while the film moves between different ages and states of consciousness.

• Simone (13) → Simone (25) (Temporal Earlier Self) — The adult protagonist is narratively connected to her traumatized adolescent self.

  The story moves between Simone at thirteen and Simone at twenty-five, presenting different ages and states of consciousness of the protagonist.

• Mr. Porter → Simone (25) (Professional Work Contact) — Mr. Porter is connected to Simone's adult employment and scheduling.

  Simone (25) takes extra shifts arranged by Mr. Porter while working and studying.

• Simone (13) → Grégoire (Family Cousin) — Their familial connection becomes entangled with Simone's experiments with unconsciousness.

  The plot explicitly identifies Grégoire as Simone (13)'s cousin while they discuss kissing, desire, and fainting.

• Simone's Mother → Simone's Father (Family Wife) — Their marital relationship is established through the aftermath of her death.

  The character description states that Simone's Father navigates the aftermath of his wife's death alongside his daughter.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Simone (25) → Simone's Mother (Narrative Traumatic Attachment) — The mother's image persists as a psychological presence in Simone's adulthood.

  Simone (25) continues to experience visions of Simone's Mother, linking her adult life to the unresolved maternal trauma.

Story Analysis

A nonlinear psychological drama in which trauma, consciousness, and time make memory indistinguishable from dream and reality.

Plot Progression

1. The Wound That Will Not Settle — Simone (13) witnesses the violent attack on her mother and becomes consumed by guilt. Her father tries to comfort her, but dreams keep the loss uncertain.
2. Experiments in Unconsciousness — At school, Simone explores fainting, desire, and the boundaries of consciousness with Grégoire. Her experiment in the basement turns curiosity into physical danger.
3. The Memory Fights Back — Hypnosis returns Simone to the attack, but the recovered scene is not stable. Her encounter with her mother suggests that guilt and perception may alter the past.
4. Adult Theories of Time — Simone (25) works and studies while suffering visions and repeated experiences. Her theories about sensory distortion and block time provide an intellectual frame for her instability.
5. The Dream Has No Boundary — The narrative reaches Simone (60), whose fainting and awakening further destabilize the distinction between dream and reality. The film ends without resolving her guilt or her mother's fate.