Line #8 Film/JaggedMind


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jagged_mind_5.jpg]]
2	Billie is drawn to Alex, a mysterious woman she meets, and enters a relationship with her which grows quite intense. However, she's also now suffering from recurring blackouts, nosebleeds and confusion at the same time. Billie is afraid that they're a symptom of early-onset Alzheimer's which she has inherited from her mother. However, it soon turns out that something more sinister and paranormal is going on related to Alex that's causing this...
3
4	!Tropes:
5	* AbusiveParents: Alex tells Billie her parents punished her for any failure to meet their high standards by being {{denied food as punishment}} or locked in her room. This might explain somewhat why she's messed up.
6	* AgonizingStomachWound: [[spoiler:After dropping her guard near a seemingly subdued Billie, Alex is stabbed in the stomach by the broken end of the wine bottle she hit Billie with. It's unknown whether the wound would have been fatal, as Billie successfully resets time with the crystal before Alex can bleed out.]]
7	* BloodMagic: [[spoiler:The reason why Alex takes blood from Billie is revealed to be for creating the time loops she's manipulated her with. Billie ultimately uses Alex's to cast her own spell which undoes these later.]]
8	* CastFullOfGay: There are only seven major characters in the film, with four being lesbians.
9	* ChildHater: Alex expresses a dislike for children, due to their dirtiness, and she doesn't just recoil from Kim's son after he puts his chocolate-covered hands on her (understandable) but violently shoves him away in anger.
10	* ClusterFBomb: While there are many instances of Alex swearing like a sailor (both in real time and [[spoiler:in flashbacks of previous loops]]) when she gets angry, she lets out an especially loud string of F-bombs driving away in her car after [[spoiler:she [[INeverSaidItWasPoison inadvertently revealed]] to Billie her involvement in Rose's death]].
11	* ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing: After Billie gets knocked down by [[spoiler:Alex hitting her with a wine bottle, her hand lands right next to the broken end of the bottle, which she uses to stab Alex in the stomach.]]
12	* CrazyJealousGuy: Violently possessive jealousy toward Billie is one aspect of Alex's behavior. She drives Billie away first from her friend Kim so she won't have anyone else, and even [[spoiler:murders Billie's ex Christine (whom she'd had lingering feelings for when the film began, with them still [[SexWithTheEx sleepting together sometimes]], to [[MurderTheHypotenuse get rid of a romantic rival]]]].
13	* CreatorCameo: The director, Kelley Kali, has a cameo as a hostess who brings Billie to the private veranda with Alex.
14	* DomesticAbuse: It quickly becomes very clear that Alex isn't a good partner to Billie, even before we learn what exactly is going on. She lies to her, drives her apart from her friend Kim, and manipulates her frequently by use of her magic. [[spoiler:Also, she cuts Billie to draw blood from her involuntarily as well. She murdered Rose, her ex, to get rid of another person in her life who could come between them, by telling Billie what she's really like. On later being confronted by Billie on what she discovers of Alex's past, Alex hurls an object her way and she denounces her suspicions. Billie recovers many more memories about Alex cruelly insulting her after using the same magic for creating a time loop herself as well.]]
15	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:{{Zigzagged}}. Billie manages to undo all the harm Alex did with Rose's help. She cuts off both her and Christine after this, opening herself to finding someone better in the future. However, she kept the crystal instead of giving it to Papa Juste as Rose instructed, which could lead her to become corrupted by its power just as Alex was.]]
16	* FallingInLoveMontage: Billie is shown with Alex doing many different things happily together while they begin dating and fall for each other.
17	* {{Gaslighting}}: Alex uses Billie's mental confusion ([[spoiler:that she's the cause of]]) and makes her doubt her suspicion that something nefarious is going on as a result (which Billie was right to suspect).
18	* GrievousBottleyHarm: [[spoiler:Billie stabs Alex (not fatally) during the fight near the end with a broken wine bottle.]]
19	* GroundhogDayLoop: [[spoiler:Alex can do this using magic, resetting the day briefly to change things so she can manipulate Bille to be/stay with her. This causes increasing harm to Billie.]]
20	* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler:As a result of hearing Alex say Rose slit her wrists, which Billie didn't tell her, Billie's made aware that she'd somehow been involved with Rose's death. It turns out that Alex murdered her, making it [[NeverSuicide look like a suicide]].]]
21	* ISurrenderSuckers: Billie manages this twice in the space of a few minutes. [[spoiler:First, she gives in to Alex's demand to return the crystal, but not before retrieving the small knife inside and stabbing Alex in the back. After Billie's knocked to the ground by Alex with her wine bottle, she again appears to play the role of docile girlfriend before [[AgonizingStomachWound stabbing Alex in the stomach]] with the broken end of the wine bottle.]]
22	* InternalReveal: The audience knows Alex can somehow briefly reverse time and is manipulating Billie with her ability before she realizes what's up.
23	* LipstickLesbian: Most of the lesbians who appear in the film have longish to long hair, with fairly feminine clothing styles, such as favoring blouses with skirts or tights. Billie, the protagonist, is a bit more of a tomboy, but certainly not butch.
24	* MineralMacGuffin: [[spoiler:The magic crystal which Alex got ahold of and lets her create a time loop with magic. She uses this on Billie multiples times, which sparks the plot. Billie managing to find and use it herself undoes all Alex's time loops, saving herself along with other people.]]
25	* ModestyBedsheet: Billie and her partners are always covered by the bedcovers around their chests after having had sex.
26	* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Alex murdered Christine, due to her being a rival for Billie's love and attraction.]]
27	* NeverSuicide: [[spoiler:Alex murders Rose and makes it look like she'd killed herself.]]
28	* PreserveYourGays: While [[spoiler:Alex]] killed [[spoiler:Rose]] in the main timeline of the film and killed [[spoiler:Billie several times in other timelines]], these killings were undone by using the crystal to reset the timeline to a point before the deaths occurred. Ultimately all four lesbian characters (in addition to the other characters) survive to the end.
29	* PsychoLesbian: {{Downplayed}} by Alex, who is a manipulative, abusive, jealous lesbian who gets Billie to have a relationship with her through [[PowerPerversionPotential abusing her magic]], and [[spoiler:multiple times murders people in the way.]] However, none of the other lesbians are shown to be like this, only her.
30	* RippleEffectProofMemory: {{Zigzagged}}. While Billie doesn't clearly remember what happens [[spoiler:in previous loops, she has flashbacks and nightmares of some events that happened in those loops, including times when Alex kills her for trying to leave.]] In addition, Rose and Papa Juste provided Billie with a special box that [[spoiler:protects its contents from being reset by the crystal, such as Billie's journal and the USB key containing Rose's video.]]
31	* RRatedOpening: Billie is shown making out with Christine in the very first scene, then going down on her once they fall into bed (though nothing explicit).
32	* ScaryBlackMan: Papa Juste appears to be a tall, menacing black man with eyes which turn blank when looking at Billie. She's understandably scared when first seeing him (being black herself, this isn't due to race). However, it turns out he's a benevolent CreepyGood vodoun priest who helps Billie to stop dark magic being used on her. It doesn't help that he only speaks Haitian Creole, which Billie doesn't understand, so his trying to help her at first isn't obvious (along with his air of unintentional menace).
33	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: [[spoiler:Billie ultimately goes back under Rose's instruction and prevents Rose from getting ahold of the magic crystal which caused everything, which undoes all the harm she did.]]
34	* SexWithTheEx: Billie isn't dating Christine any longer, but they still hook up periodically. Apparently she wasn't well-treated by Chris, but their sex life was great so it keeps on happening.
35	* StalkerWithACrush: Alex was subjecting Billie to time loops even before they officially met, due to her obsession with her. She won't let ''anyone'' get in her way of having Billie as hers alone, even ''murdering'' people for it.
36	* TimeLoopFatigue: [[spoiler:Being put in the time loops by Alex makes Billie suffer from blackouts, memory loss (so she doesn't clearly remember this happening), and progressive brain damage. Rose warns Billie that she will die if she doesn't break the loop.]]
37	* ToBeContinuedRightNow: The camera pans away from Billie as she struggles to get the journal with [[spoiler:the truth about Alex and the spell to activate the crystal]] into the protective box before Alex completes the reset spell. The scene resets to Alex leaving Billie's house on more amicable terms than before, before Billie sits down and opens the box. [[spoiler:The journal is inside, but this time many of the previously blank pages seen before are filled with even more frantic scrawling by Billie warning herself not to trust Alex, implying that many more loops have gone by. Given the writing when Billie found the journal, it also implies that the first time we saw the journal wasn't even Billie's first time watching the video.]]
38	* TomboyishName:
39	** Protagonist Billie has one. She's a lesbian with a mildly tomboyish style. It's not said if it's short for something else (e.g. Wilhelmina).
40	** Alex also has a gender-neutral name. Although Alex has a more feminine style, she is also aggressive and violent.

Context Film / JaggedMind