SPOILERS AHEAD (obviously)…
Tilman Singer described, in an interview, the birthing process of the cuckoo bird, in which the mother places its egg in the nest of another bird species for the offspring to be raised there. Although the cuckoo bird, once born, grows larger than the other chicks in the nest, and even the host parents, those birds do not abandon the nest. They instead continue to provide for the cuckoo bird as their family. Singer found hope in this “existential horror scenario,” as he put it, and the film, Cuckoo, was born. This feature follows Gretchen, a young woman in the brink of adolescence, who is forced to leave her home when her mother passes away, and live with her estranged father, Luis, along with his new wife, Beth, and daughter, Alma. The four move to a resort in Germany as Luis and Beth are working on building a new addition there, but when Gretchen is tasked with working at the resort by its mysterious owner, she uncovers dark and disturbing secrets within the resort as well as her own family.
Cuckoo, despite being one narrative, contains two separate storylines, one being the literal, and the other metaphorical. The literal storyline follows the absurd horror scenario in which a cuckoo species is being preserved through human hosts, Gretchen’s family playing a major role in this plan. The metaphorical storyline, however, is focused on Gretchen’s journey to adulthood and finding her true family. These storylines weave through each other, building this cohesive narrative that harnesses many details, including foreshadowing, symbolism, and hidden meanings embedded throughout the film that can all be deeply explored.
When Circumstance Reveals Kӧnig’s Plan
Herr Kӧnig owns the resort where Gretchen’s family is staying. The secret purpose of this resort is to keep the cuckoo species alive by using human hosts to house the offspring, resulting in bird-human hybrid women running rampant around the resort. While the resort acts as a mating ground for the cuckoo species, it is also a sanctuary where Kӧnig and his staff can carry out experiments on the cuckoo woman creation. Luis, Beth, and Alma are tied into this plan where Alma is part of the cuckoo species (more on that to come). There are many hints throughout the film that lead to this shocking and disturbing discovery, starting at the very beginning scene.
Cuckoo opens on the upstairs level of a house, most likely on the grounds of the resort. Audio of a man and woman arguing in German can be heard while the camera focuses on a girl twitching violently on a bed. She pulls aggressively at her long hair as the twitching continues. The scene cuts to her exiting the bedroom, still twitching slightly, although less than before. A loud thud is heard and the girl stops her movement. Her ears perk and she runs out of the house and into the woods. An audio can then be heard of a man, presumably Kӧnig, speaking through a phone. He says, “you lost your adolescent already? This will complicate matters…a young one is on the way, but the mother will be harder to control without a nestling around.” The camera pans to a man inside the house and on the other end of this phone call, peering into the woods and slowly closing the door.
Many aspects of this scene are telling. The girl’s twitching resembles Alma’s seizures that are shown multiple times, and her ears perking resemble Alma’s ears perking in the backseat of the car in the last scene of the film (more on that later too). These traits are an indicator that this girl and Alma are part of the cuckoo species, in addition to the girl pulling at her hair, as it is later revealed that this species goes bald, and Kӧnig puts the cuckoo women in wigs to hide their identity, in addition to putting goggles over their enlarged eyes. Kӧnig tells the husband through the phone that “a young one is on the way,” likely referring to Alma, another subtle hint that she is part of the cuckoo species. Later in the film, a doctor places a cap with many wires on it onto Alma’s head to conduct experiments on her, and this scene cuts to Kӧnig adjusting the wig atop the adolescent cuckoo’s head, another string that ties the two together, symbolic of them belonging to the same species.
As for the argument being had between the man and woman and the abrupt thud that ends it, it can be presumed that these characters are husband and wife, and the girl is their child. The woman likely found out about Kӧning’s plan, and that she is simply a “host mother” to her daughter, rather than the biological one. The husband likely bludgeoned her because he was in on the plan, and did not want his wife telling anyone about it. In addition to this beginning scene foreshadowing Kӧnig’s plan, the husband and the adolescent girl both appear later in the film. The girl reappears when Kӧnig locks Gretchen in a room with an empty swimming pool and opens the back door, letting the cuckoo girl inside to practice the mating process. The husband appears after Gretchen is chased by the cuckoo mother for the first time one night after she stays late working at the resort. Two police officers arrive and ask Gretchen what happened. One of these officers is Eric, who is Trixie’s partner, and the other is the husband from the opening scene. When Gretchen describes the incident to the police, they convince her to change her story despite her protests. Not only is the husband from the opening scene in on Kӧnig’s plan, but the entire police force seems to be as well.
After the opening scene, the film follows primarily follows protagonist Gretchen and her role in the story. Shortly after she, in addition to Luis, Beth, and Alma, arrive at the resort, Gretchen finds a nearby bathroom. While sitting in a stall, she hears footsteps before the stall door is rattled violently. When this mysterious presence moves to the stall next to Gretchen’s, scratching and screeching sounds can be heard, and a pair of shoes can be seen. These same shoes are seen later on worn by the cuckoo mother, and the sounds made in the bathroom match those made by the mother as well. This confirms that the cuckoo mother has stalked Gretchen since the beginning. It is later revealed that the mother views Gretchen as someone competing for resources with Alma. This stands to reason since Alma is the cuckoo mother’s offspring, so she would want to protect her.
Birds are heard often throughout the film. Squawking can be heard from the yard of where Gretchen, Luis, Beth, and Alma are staying. At one point the family dog angrily growls at the squawking, almost as if he senses a threat toward Alma, which may also be a foreshadowing detail. There is also a large bird statue that sits in the resort lobby where Gretchen works. In addition, the resort seems to have a bird theme. The most popular suite is “the lover’s nest,” where the cuckoo mother comes and impregnates the women staying inside. When Ed checks in to the resort, Gretchen mentions that the resort has amenities and special rates for couples and newlyweds, which is a nod toward the lover’s nest. Kӧnig wants to incite guests to stay there to initiate more “mating ceremonies” for the cuckoo mother. When Gretchen’s coworker, Trixie, surprises her partner, Eric, in the lover’s nest, he is panicked and insists that they leave, further solidifying both that the victims are impregnated in that suite and the police are behind the scheme.
Another early and recurring sign of Kӧnig’s plan are all the women entering the lobby where Gretchen works and vomiting uncontrollably. This is a sign that they have recently been impregnated by the cuckoo mother, as it is a symptom they all experience, but it is also important to note because Henry’s wife died from choking on her own vomit when she was a victim of the cuckoo woman. This is Henry’s motive for trying to destroy the entire species as well as taking an interest in Gretchen’s story when she is chased by the cuckoo woman for the first time.
When Alma Reveals Kӧnig’s Plan
Alma exhibits several behaviors and characteristics that foreshadow her belonging to the cuckoo species. When Luis, Beth, and Alma first pull up to the resort in their car, Alma sits in the backseat wearing sunglasses with bird feathers sticking out above the lenses. It is unclear whether these feathers are cuckoo feathers or from a different type of bird, but the feathers acts as enough of a symbol and foreshadow. Additionally, the sunglasses resemble the goggles that Kӧnig puts on the cuckoo mother to hide her enlarged eyes from the public in an attempt to make her appear more human-like, so the sunglasses and goggles act as a visual link between Alma and the cuckoo mother.
It is introduced early in the film that Alma is mute, but not deaf. She frequently uses either sign language or an auditorial translator to communicate. Gretchen notes that it is strange that Alma does not speak very early on. Her disdain for Alma’s lack of speech seems like hostility toward her new living situation in general, but it is also a hint for the audience to realize that it is indeed odd that Alma can hear but does not speak. This is a major indicator that she is part of the cuckoo species, as they do not speak but instead make screeching and squawking sounds to communicate.
At one point, Alma walks in on Gretchen playing guitar with her headphones on. As she watches Gretchen play, the cuckoo mother screeches from a distance but Alma hears it, causing her to have a seizure and Gretchen to get stuck in a time loop, which looks like the same scene playing over and over to the film’s audience. When Gretchen notices Alma, she tries to touch her, but the time loop pulls her back a few times before she eventually gets close enough and Alma aggressively scratches her face. The cuckoo mother’s screech allows her to communicate with Alma when a threat is nearby. Hearing this birdcall caused Alma to react instinctually to the nearby threat. This also further proves that the cuckoo mother finds Gretchen to be a threat to Alma as she is allegedly competing for resources.
Shortly after the face scratching incident, Gretchen tells Trixie that Alma was supposed to have a twin but she ate them. She goes on to describe the phenomenon as vanishing twin syndrome, where one fetus dies early in the pregnancy and the other absorbs it. Although this phenomenon is real (researched and confirmed), it plays a role in this story for a reason. When a cuckoo bird hatchling begins to grow in a foreign bird species’ nest, it will often destroy the other eggs and eat the other hatchlings. This mirrors vanishing twin syndrome in that the womb is similar to the nest, and one fetus is eaten by another. This could also suggest a theory that Beth was pregnant by Luis as well as the cuckoo mother, but the human fetus, since it was of a different species, was killed by Alma, the cuckoo fetus.
When Kӧnig Reveals his Own Plan
Kӧnig is about as obvious as a villain can be. He is not subtle at all about having nefarious intentions, and it is made clear very quickly that he is not to be trusted. It is his entire operation that is more mysterious and unpredictable. However, he drops several hints throughout the film regarding his schemes. Lucky for him, Luis and Beth are far too daft to notice, but Gretchen is quick to be skeptical. Kӧnig reveals his intentions through demanor, physicality, and language many times leading up to the climax of the film.
Although he is technically present in the beginning scene of the film, the first time the audience is actually introduced to Kӧnig is when Luis, Beth, Alma, and Gretchen enter the resort. Luis tells Gretchen to introduce herself to Kӧnig and he turns to her and simply says her name. He does not say anything else, nor does he introduce himself. In fact, the way that he says her name seems as though he is attempting to hide his discontentment regarding her presence at the resort. This makes sense because Gretchen is ultimately the reason that his plans are foiled. This contrasts heavily with Kӧnig’s introduction to Alma. He is very delighted to see her, which also makes sense as he plans to reunite her with the cuckoo mother.
After briefly talking to Alma, Kӧnig says to Luis and Beth, “you two lovebirds stumbled into my nest almost eight years ago to the day, and I believe there were more than just architectural plans that were conceived this day,” looking over at Alma and obviously alluding to her conception. Aside from this being just a weird and creepy thing to say, it also hints at the fact that Luis and Beth stayed in the lover’s nest, the suite where the cuckoo mother impregnates her victims.
As Gretchen carries her speaker into the house where she is meant to stay, one of Kӧnig’s doctor’s, Bonomo, that aids in his cuckoo experiments (double entendre there) greets her and introduces herself as a neighbor. She asks Gretchen if she is the housekeeper to which she replies, “no, I’m a daughter.” Bonomo then notes that she hasn’t heard about her. Bonomo most likely assumed Gretchen was a cuckoo offspring in which case she would have been notified of her birth. This is Kӧnig’s whoopsie for not telling his staff about their unexpected guest sooner rather than schmoozing Luis and Beth inside their new home. He approaches them just then, startling Gretchen ( a classic telltale sign of a villain, the fake jump scare). A close up shot then shows him running his hand over Gretchen’s neck (ew). As soon as Gretchen has partially settled into her new room, Kӧnig wastes no time offering her a job at the resort. This is definitely a plan to keep her distracted while Kӧnig interacts with Luis, Beth, and Alma to carry out his nefarious plan, but Gretchen jumps at the opportunity as a way to make money and move back to her old house.
Gretchen tries to run away with Ed, a guest that she meets working in the lobby, but they are thrown into the cuckoo mother’s time loop and fall victim to her attack, causing them to crash. While Gretchen stays in the hospital, Kӧnig visits her, only to deliver a menacing threat. He says, “if I were you, I would stay home until my body was done growing back those cells. I wouldn’t want to get hurt even more, as if I was stuck in a loop.” He is referring to the time loop that the cuckoo mother casts upon her victims with her screech. Kӧnig has been suspicious from the beginning, but this is the first time he is very obvious about being behind the cuckoo mother’s activities and wanting Gretchen to stay out of it.
Kӧnig’s recorder plays a large role in his connection to the experiments that he conducts. He is seen using it several times and tries to give one to Alma in one scene, telling her that they can talk to each other using them. The recorder puts the cuckoo women into a hypnotic state, as it is meant to replicate the cuckoo bird call. Kӧnig uses it to act as the cuckoo women’s mother as a means to control them. This is seen when the adolescent cuckoo woman enters the weird pool room with Gretchen locked inside in order to carry out her mating practice. During the attack, Gretchen and the adolescent cuckoo woman come face to face, and for a moment the adolescent cuckoo seems to get distracted by a feeling of empathy and remorse. Kӧnig yells at her to focus and plays the recorder into a microphone that is echoed over a speaker inside the room. The adolescent cuckoo then snaps back into her attack.
F is for F***ed Up…and Also for Family
Despite its horrifying and disturbing plotline, Cuckoo, on a figurative level, is a film about the meaning of family. Gretchen has lost her mother at the start of the film, and during the midst of her grief, she is forced to upend her life and live with a new family that includes her previously estranged father, his new wife, and their daughter, Alma. Gretchen moves through the film with the feeling that nobody is truly looking out for her, but as the story progresses, she learns who she can trust, and what family means to her.
When Gretchen is first introduced to the film’s audience, she is seen riding in the movers’ truck rather than in the car with Luis, Beth, and Alma, a clear representation of the divide between them. While riding in the truck, on of the movers asks her, “so she’s not your mother?” Gretchen then replies, “no, she’s Beth.” This is the very first hint at Gretchen not seeing her non-blood relatives as family. She also seems pained when this question is asked, hinting at her grief over the recent loss of her mother.
It is made clear very quickly that Alma has taken a liking to Gretchen. She seems eager to spend time with her and looks up to her as a little sister would. When Alma walks in on Gretchen playing guitar, she mimics her movements, a representation of Alma idolizing Gretchen as an older sister figure and attempting to follow in her footsteps. However, shortly after this moment Alma has a seizure and scratches Gretchen when she gets close to her out of defense, as the cuckoo mother’s screech signaled to Alma that a threat was nearby. When Gretchen works the next day, her coworker, Trixie, asks what happened as she sees the scratch on Gretchen’s face. Gretchen tells Trixie that her “father’s daughter” did it. Trixie attempts to correct her by saying “your sister,” but Gretchen is insistent as she says, “she’s not my sister.” Gretchen does not view Alma as family because of her origins lying between Luis and Beth (as far as she knows at this point in the film) rather than Luis and Gretchen’s mother, Olivia.
Despite this disconnect, Gretchen begins to slowly warm up to Alma, although she still does not refer to her as family. Gretchen wears headphones often to listen to music, especially while practicing her guitar. Listening to music through headphones allows for the cuckoo mother’s screech to remain unheard, therefore not having an effect. This is why when Alma begins seizing upon hearing the cuckoo mother’s screech, Gretchen is not thrown into a time loop until after she takes off her headphones. Alma begins listening to music through headphones later on, but Kӧnig is quick to tell her parents that she should not listen to music as it could cause her to have seizures. However, this is simply a lie as Kӧnig truly does not want her listening to music so that she can always hear the cuckoo mother’s call as well as his recorder so that he can control her. Luis and Beth quickly oblige, telling Alma not to listen to music anymore, which angers Gretchen.
On a literal level, this is dangerous for Alma because she is under complete control of the resort staff, who all seem to have nefarious intentions. On a figurative level, music plays an important role in Gretchen’s life and she has shared it with Alma. Now that Alma has taken in interest in it, Gretchen is happy and their bond has been strengthened. Her parents shutting this down is an attempt to weaken that bond. Considering both the literal and figurative meaning of this situation, Luis and Alma are clearly not looking out for Gretchen or Alma and are merely sheep following Kӧnig’s every command.
Although Gretchen slowly begins to bond with Alma, there is a major event in the story that massively changes her perspective on their relationship. Throughout the film, Gretchen leaves voicemails for her mother when she is upset. When she finds out that her father sold her mother’s house without talking to her about it and has a small box containing a few of her mother’s belongings shipped to the resort, Gretchen hits rock bottom mentally and emotionally. She leaves her mother another voicemail, in heavy distress, and when she goes to turn the answering machine off, another message plays. This one is from Alma, using her translator to tell Gretchen’s mother that she is worried about Gretchen as she is upset a lot and always calls without receiving any in return. Alma tells Gretchen’s mother to call and tell Gretchen that she loves her, adding that she is always welcome to stay with them at the resort.
This is a huge turning point for Gretchen. After fully coming to the realization that her father does not have her best interests in mind and that Beth is of the same mindset, Gretchen sees that Alma has had her back the entire time. She is the only person that is truly looking out for her. Gretchen then views Alma as her family. This is revealed in its entirety when Henry tells Gretchen that he is going to “end this experiment,” referring to Alma and the cuckoo mother. Gretchen replies, “what about my sister?” This is the first time Gretchen gives Alma that title. Henry then replies, “that is not your sister.” The roles have reversed entirely. Rather than defending the idea that Alma is not her sister because she was born of a different mother (and is part of a different species entirely), Gretchen now defends the idea that Alma is her sister because of the way they care about each other, the way they love each other. This idea comes full circle at the end of the film, as Gretchen refuses to ride in the backseat of the same car as Alma in the beginning scene, but sits with Alma’s head resting in her lap while they ride in the backseat together, away from the resort, in the last scene.
A Bloody and Beautiful Coming of Age Story
Gretchen is seventeen years old, on the verge of adulthood. Adolescence is a major theme in Cuckoo, as Gretchen grapples with taking on adult responsibilities and feelings that she did not plan for or expect. From the beginning of the story she is struggling with the loss of her mother and dealing with the grief attached to it. She is also adjusting to living in a new place and working full-time, other common aspects of adulthood. A major symbol that represents Gretchen’s immersion into adult life and maturity is the character of Ed.
Ed is a guest at the resort who checks in on Gretchen’s second day of work. Gretchen is asleep on the job, her face resting against the front desk. Ed harshly rings the bell that sits near her head, abruptly waking her and sending her flying into an upright position. This represents adulthood being a harsh wake-up call. Gretchen has gone through a lot of changes already with her mother’s passing, and this scene is an omen that she will have to make more quick changes to adapt to adulthood.
When Ed checks out of the resort, she tells Gretchen to come with her to Paris. When they leave in a car together, the cuckoo mother throws them into a time loop with her screech, attacking them and causing them to crash the car. On a literal level, Gretchen ends up in the car crash with Ed because the cuckoo mother attacked them. On a figurative level, Gretchen and Ed crash because Gretchen isn’t ready for adulthood yet. At this point in the film, she resents Alma for being different and a non-blood relative. She steals cash from the register at the resort and tries to run away from her problems rather than confronting them. At the end of the film, however, Gretchen considers Alma family and protects her as such. This allows for Gretchen, Alma, and Ed to leave the resort together, as Gretchen is now ready to provide for Alma and step into the adult world.
A Layered Ending with Symbolic Closure
The film leaves quite a bit of room for interpretation upon its conclusion. A final showdown between the central characters ends with more resolution than what lies on the surface of the narrative. Throughout the film, Gretchen struggles with uncertainty regarding who she can trust, as nobody seems to be looking out for her. The turning point in the film is when she realizes that Alma is the only one who truly is. During the climax of the film, Alma is put into a similar position, as it seems to her that nobody can be trusted. That is, until Gretchen tells her that her mother says “thank you Alma,” regarding the voicemail she left for her. The audience is well aware that Gretchen’s mother has passed on, so this heartfelt ‘thank you’ is really coming from Gretchen, who is appreciative of Alma looking out for her. This convinces Alma that Gretchen feels a lot of gratitude for her and is looking out for her in return. This leads to a heartfelt hug, a symbol that Gretchen and Alma are each other’s real family.
There is no scene at the end of the film that provides clearcut closure between Gretchen and her father, Luis. It is unnecessary due to the metaphorical level of the ending. Kӧnig and Henry represent the two sides of Gretchen’s father. Henry is a widower like Luis, and he promises to protect Gretchen earlier in the film. During this final scene, Gretchen asks him if he ever promised to protect his wife, implying that he will not actually protect Gretchen, just as Luis failed to do the same. Kӧnig represents Luis’s new life with Beth, which he consistently prioritizes over Gretchen’s well-being. In the end, Henry and Kӧnig kill each other in a shoot-out, resulting in the ultimate symbolic death of Luis. On a literal level, Luis is still alive, but figuratively, he has died, as he is no longer a part of Gretchen’s life. She no longer needs him.
During the standoff between Henry and Kӧnig, Gretchen carries Alma so that she is closer to Kӧnig and Henry is closer to herself, prohibiting either man from harming either of them. Alma then utilizes her first ever cuckoo screech to stun the men while covering Gretchen’s ears so that she can run to the door and get them both to safety. Alma then hold the door open for Gretchen to leave the facility. The two protect each other throughout this scene, furthering the film’s idea of true family.
While in the car driving away from the resort, Alma’s ear twitches faintly while her head rests in Gretchen’s lap, a reminder that she is still part of a different species, but with her no longer being within close proximity of the cuckoo mother, she may have a chance at becoming more human. There is a newfound hope that has been derived from this existential horror scenario, such is the inspiration that Tilman Singer found within the mating and birthing process of cuckoo birds. On a literal level, Gretchen and Alma are family and love each other as such despite their belonging to separate species, and on a metaphorical level, Cuckoo is a film about family taking many different shapes and forms, but loyalty and love being its most critical aspects.
