BORDERLINE 2025 | RECAP | MOVIE REVIEW | ENDING EXPLAINED
This is a horror comedy movie set in the 1990's. I must say after a long time I laughed really hard at one particular scene. So the movie starts at the end, we see a guy named Paul kissing Sofia, a pop star in his marriage. Then his voiceover takes us back to the beginning where we see him roaming in a quintessential San Francisco of the 90s. Sofia's hoardings are everywhere suggesting the rise of a queen in music. Inside a grand mansion of Sofia in Hollywood we see a dedicated bodyguard named William who goes by the name of Bell. He is busy solving puzzles when he hears the doorbell. Upon checking, Paul is standing with a red rose in his hand as he wishes to propose Sofia tonight. Apparently, he is well-known as a stocker to Bell and others on Sofia's crew who always took him lightly. In Paul's imagination Sofia and he were together for some time with a prospect of marriage and kids. In this backdrop, Bell now stops Paul and asks him to leave. Paul says I know all about your puzzle board games with Sofia. She plays with you so that you can move on from the death of your wife from cancer.
Intrigued with surprise as to how he could have known this, he asks him again to leave and threatens him with the police. Paul, slightly disappointed gives him a high five and leaves. Moments later, the doorbell rings again but this time Paul is holding a knife to his throat. This scares Bell who understands that something is wrong with Paul and starts to placate him. Paul asks Bell to act as Sofia and insists he says, I love you. Bell plays along, he even accepts an imaginary ring. Paul reveals his great plan for a wedding in a church with his buddy JH and pastor Lutzner. He had even imported an Indian Rajput wedding dagger. I will tell you more about the history of this dagger later. Bell quietly agrees to all this and Paul in happiness hugs him. All of a sudden from nowhere Paul stabs Bell in his gut a couple of times and escapes into the mansion. Once inside he pretends as if the house is his. He bathes, dances butt-naked to loud music and eats food. Bell gains consciousness and survives the attack when water starts flowing from the thing of a Roman-era kid sculpture.
Six months down the line Sofia is now casually checking out a basketball player for Rhodes. Just then, her assistant Kaylor informs her that Bell has arrived. Yep, Bell’s still alive and raring to go, back to guarding Sofia. For Sofia, he is like a family, to cope with his absence she has continued playing his favourite puzzle games.
But Bell's daughter Abby isn’t happy about this. She thinks the job of a bodyguard is not right. as it makes Bell to value Sofia’s life more than his own. She also mentions that Paul had called her again. It's been frequent.
Why is Paul’s calling her? That’s something we’ll find out later. Meanwhile, now we see a new character, JH, Paul’s childhood friend. JH picks up a package sent by Paul, grabs some stuff from a storage room, and takes off. That night, Sofia and Rhodes hit a club to party, but a newsflash on TV reveals that Paul and a French girl named Penny have escaped from a mental institution. Paul had hatched a plan to abduct Sofia from her house for his marriage where Penny is helping him for the thrill of it. Paul introduces her as his assistant.
When Bell hears this news, he asks his sister Eleanor to be vigilant and heads out. Bell and the police arrive at the mansion and inform her and Rodes about Paul. On the other side, we see Penny knocking on the door of an old man for a telephone call pretending her car has broken down. This is 1990, there were no mobile phones. Strangers asking for help was quite common in emergencies. The old man helps her out to check her car.
Later on the same night, we see JH outside Bell's house staring at it which terrorises Eleanor. She calls Bell. Bell rushes off immediately with his gun and asks Rohdes to lock the doors behind him. Rohdes had planned to leave since Bell rushed out in a hurry and asked him to stay, so he stayed.
Later he notices a letter on Bell’s desk with his name scrawled on it. But here’s the kicker—every name before his, was scratched out. All those names? Small-time stars, just like him, are invited to meet Sofia because she’s on the hunt for a partner. If things don’t click with Rhodes, his name’s getting crossed out too. This hit him hard. To top it off, Sofia snapped and said, “You can leave now. Bell’s there, and there’s a guard at the main door anyway.” Rhodes, stung by her cold attitude, slumped in disappointment tells her that Bell rushed out.
At Bell's house, a rookie police officer shows up and he doesn't take Eleanor's concerns seriously. Now Sofia, trying to lighten the mood, asked if they could play the new puzzle game. Rhodes shot back, “I’m just another puzzle to you, aren’t I? One minute you’re laughing and sweet-talking me, the next you act like I don’t exist. Just put me back in my box.” Meanwhile, outside, the guard Waylon was chowing down on dinner when he noticed a big box on the CCTV. He stepped out to check it, and—bam—the mansion’s lights went out.
Inside, Sofia and Rhodes started bickering. Rohdes was really hurt seeing Sofia think of him like a toy boy on a list to check out. Things get heated in the dark and Sofia yells, “Get out! I don’t need your protection. I’ve got better things to do than deal with you.” Outside, Penny ambushed Waylon. He fought back, but she shoved a flashlight into his mouth, knocking him out cold. Rhodes fed up, stormed off to turn back the lights while Sofia began locking every window and door. Rhodes looked around for Waylon when he got no response, he moved on to find the circuit breaker and switched it on. All this time Paul was already in the house stocking Sofia in the dark and when the power came back he was exactly behind her. He in his all happiness grabbed her from behind. Sofia for the first time in her life felt as if her heart was getting ripped out of her. In a panic, she threw whatever she could grab at him and tried to run like Usain Bolt. Paul in his delusion thinks of this as lovers quarrel. Since the main door was locked from inside she couldn't open it in time. Paul slams her head to the door to knock her over. Rhodes saw all this from the outside as the back door locked out too.
Back at Bell’s place, Abby tells Eleanor that she heard news on MTV about Paul. In one of Sofia's shows, Paul lost his girlfriend to a stroke. She died on the spot and apparently, the shock and trauma turned him into this manic. As Bell rushes in Elenor tells him that everything is fine, with a cop posted outside. Bell wasn’t convinced, muttering, “There’s no cop.” It turns out, the officer was there but didn’t take Eleanor’s concerns seriously, thinking she was paranoid. He was casually practising his dance moves and soon got distracted by his bike’s missing chain. It was JH's plan all along, he was hiding in the bushes, he stole his bike chain and now choked him out with it. Bell placed Abby and Eleanor in the car to check on the officer. When he returned JH was already waiting in his car, holding them at gunpoint. He forces Bell to drive to Sofia’s house.
At the mansion, Paul patched up Sofia’s wound as a loving caretaker and locked her in her home studio’s soundproof recording booth. Then he opens the main door where Penny openly confesses that she had killed the security guy. Paul in all his happiness welcomes her inside. When Sofia gained consciousness, she freaked out again but this time controlled herself. She knew Paul was under a psychotic breakdown, provoking him in any manner is counterproductive. So she plays along. Here Paul told her, “I got busy for a while, but now I want to be yours forever.” He had grand plans for the wedding tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, Bell tries to talk with JH to save his family, but it is no use. JH orders Eleanor to stop the car on a deserted road; drags Bell into the bushes, and then we hear a gunshot. Later he drives them to Sofia's house. Back at the mansion, Paul introduced Penny to Sofia, as a fan and friend. Penny says she too is a singer and a pianist. Paul left these two to get ready for the big day. He took a bath in the jacuzzi, groomed himself and wore a designer tuxedo for the big day. He then opens his imported Rajput dagger and sort off bows to it. The dagger is a symbol of masculinity in the Indian martial clan of Rajputs, who believe a man must protect his women. That's why in the olden days they were given a dagger on their wedding day to declare the boy had turned into a man.
Blood on Penny's face and her behaviour quickly revealed to Sofia that she too is just another psycho under breakdown. Penny showed Sofia a wedding dress, gushing about her and Paul. But when she stepped inside to deliver it, she sneered, “You’re not as pretty as I thought.” Sofia quipped, “Then do my makeup.”
Sofia saw a chance to escape, she taped the lock to keep the door from closing fully. When Penny left, Sofia slipped out, grabbed a guitar, and waited. When the door reopened, Sofia smashed the guitar thinking it was Penny but instead, it was Rhodes who now got knocked out. Sofia was dumbstruck seeing this.
Downstairs, JH brings Bell's family and Paul welcomes them as marriage guests. Abby in fear asked Paul why he kept calling her. He grinned, and said, “I needed a flower girl for my wedding, and I also need a priest.” He pointed to a box, revealing Tim, the old man. He was the priest, who Penny had knocked out and stuffed inside. He was here to officiate the wedding.
Upstairs, Sofia revived Rhodes who says sorry to her for lashing at her. Just then Penny returns and tries to swing a baseball at her. Rhodes impulsively pushes Sofia away which triggers Penny. She in rage hits him on the forehead to knock him out again. As Sofia and Penny catfight, Penny lands on a piano. Hearing the sound of music, she snaps and starts to play and sing. She even asks Sofia to join in for a duet. Sofia just to placate her, joins her and both sing a beautiful song. Rhodes lying on the floor under concussed thinks about what the F is going on. Alas, Penny snaps again, she hits Sofia and jumps with her through the window to crash on the front lawn.
Penny then quickly overpowered Sofia, doused her in barbecue oil, ready to burn. Sofia promptly fought back and stabbed her with a barbecue thermometer, stopping short of setting her ablaze. Penny to provoke her, taunts her to set her ablaze. Sofia controlled herself and said, “Sofia doesn’t burn people”. She quickly rushed inside to check on Rhodes, who was semi-conscious. As she started helping him, Penny attacked her again from behind. This time, Sofia locked her in the sound booth, in the heat of the moment, tortured a paper and threw it at Penny, which ignited her. Penny burned alive, and Sofia, horrified, watched it unfold. She understood her mistake and tried to dodge the fire with the extinguisher, but it was late. Penny got cooked.
Downstairs, pastor Kim tries to talk to Paul to break his illusion which agitates him. He rushes upstairs to check on Sofia while Sofia rushes downstairs to bring help for Rhodes. Paul mistakes Rhodes for Sofia in his delusion and rambles about keeping her safe.” Sofia finds Abby and Elenor under JH's guns and asks about Bell. In the flashback we see Bell getting shot, but the bullet only grazed his head. JH couldn't see properly with his one eye in the dark. By morning, Keller finds Bell in the bushes, he borrows her Porsche and speeds to the mansion. In the destroyed empty house he finds a wedding invitation pointing to a church.
At the church, Paul was set to marry Sofia, but here comes the twist. As Sofia took the alter Paul asked her to sit down. He didn't recognise her, JH tried to correct him, but Paul brushed him off. Abby played the flower girl part, scattering petals down the aisle. Just then Rhodes, in a wedding dress appears, escorted by Bell, posing as the bride’s dad. This is the funniest twist in the movie. Bell whispered to Rhodes to stay calm as Paul gets violent when confused. Bell slipped Sofia a knife while pretending to greet the guest. As pastor Tim begins, JH interrupts and tells Paul that he is marrying a man. Paul ignores this and asks the pastor to continue.
Since Paul’s mind was warped—he saw Sofia in Rhodes. Back at the start, we saw his perspective, where he was marrying “Sofia.” Now he kisses Rhodes and then his illusion shatters. He sees Rhodes on the alter and by this time it is late. He had already stabbed Rhodes with the dagger like he hid with Bell six months ago, thinking it was Sofia. Bell now quickly tackled Paul, and Sofia freed herself to pass Bell the knife. JH grabbed Abby at gunpoint, forcing Bell to toss the knife. Rhodes, in a desperate move, grabbed it and slit JH’s throat—an act he didn’t want but had to do. In all this Abby got showered in blood. By this time, police arrived on the scene and arrested Paul and took him away. In Paul’s mind, he was riding off with Sofia in a limo to his honeymoon, but in reality, he was in the police van. A complete nutjob was on the loose. Sofia mends with Rhodes and is grateful for his loyalty. Because of this, she chose him as her partner.
Must say the guy wore the dress, took the hits, and got stabbed. All because he was serious about saving a life. Any other rich player in his place would have bailed out. Finally, Bell too realises the seriousness of his job description and decides to quit the job. As for Paul, he is still in his delusion. In his imaginary world, his entire plan was a success, and he was happily married to Sofia. Here is what I think what's going on here. Paul's girlfriend died suddenly while attending Sofia's show. From then his mind snapped. He started confusing Sofia with his girlfriend and at the same time, somewhere in his mind, he resented her. He stabbed Bell and Rhodes the moment after the marriage.
The ending of the marriage triggered the resentment side of the personality which always blamed Sofia for the death. But his mind was so fractured that it could not hold on to one personality for longer. Highly unstable lunatic staking a famous artist in the 90's is one hell of a premise.
