One By One
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Director: John Krasinski
Writer: Eden Townsend
Based on the novel by Ruth Ware
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, John Krasinski, Donald Glover, Sarah Snook, Matthias Schweighofer, Paul Walter Hauser, Teyonah Parris, Jeremy Strong, Awkwafina, Matilda De Angelis, Austin Crute, Sasha Lane
Plot: A news report about the disaster at a ski resort. It depicts a “house of horror” situation, leaving four dead and two injured. Freshly, there has also been heavy snow and an avalanche in the area, which killed six people.
Five Days Earlier.
Erin (Elizabeth Olsen) and Danny (John Krasinski) are workers at a nine-room ski resort in France in St Antoine. Danny is the chef, and Erin housekeeps.
Soon, the renters from Snoop show up for a week-long company retreat. Snoop is an app that enables you to hear to what music other people are listening to in real-time. It’s used essentially to follow celebrities, but if you’re on Snoop, then anyone else can monitor it on your feed as well. Snoop has scheduled all nine rooms, but they’re ashamed to realize they actually have ten people. They overlooked Liz, the quiet outcast. It’s concluded that two of the Snoop workers, Carl (Jeremy Strong) and Indigo (Austin Crute), will have to share a room.
Liz (Sasha Lane) is a former staffer who worked there for a year but left three years ago. She is timid and dislikes everyone else there. She only really acknowledges the four original founders of the company: Rik (Matthias Schweighofer), Elliot (Paul Walter Hauser), Eva (Sarah Snook), and Topher (Donald Glover).
Everyone gathers for a company presentation that night. Eva begins talking, and it soon shifts clear that she is attempting to convert them to acquire a buyout offer and sell the company.
Liz is here because she maintains a small amount of voting stock in the company. When the company ran out of capital, Liz put in 10,000 pounds to replace voting shares. In the case of a buyout, Liz’s shares will be meriting around $12 million now. The division of shares is Topher 30%, Eva 30%, Elliot 19%, Rik 19%, and Liz with 2%.
Topher is solidly against the plan, and Elliot is expected to be on Topher’s side. Meantime, Eva and Rik are on board with selling. That means Liz’s vote is the decisive vote. Now, the founders are anxious to please her, so she’ll vote their way.
Back in her room, Liz ponders what to do. On the one hand, she is thankful to Topher, who gave her a job and even hinted that she insist on equity for her investment in the company. On the other is the chance of a $12 million payout.
After breakfast, the company has a prompt meeting. Then, the five stockholders take a vote to see where each person is at. They all vote predictably and then wait to see what Liz says. Liz admits that she doesn’t know, but afterward, she privately assures Eva that she’ll vote to sell like they’ve agreed.
The group, apart from Elliot, goes skiing. Topher, an experienced skier, coaxes the rest of the group to do one last, challenging run when they’re ready to leave. When they get to the bottom, they notice that Eva, who decided to ski a challenging black run that had purposely been closed due to low visibility, is not there. Liz, a very inexperienced skier, freaks out and decides to take the lift back down when they get to the top.
Getting a busy signal, Danny and Erin choose to ski down there instead. They call the skip pass office to verify if Eva has used her lift pass to go down. Also, they may need to report her missing to the police. However, after they leave, the noise of an avalanche is heard, and soon Danny trudges in with an injured Erin. They proclaim that the avalanche took out the funicular, and the mountain is cloaked in boulders, so it’s not a good idea to ski.
The pool house of the resort is also damaged, and there’s abysmal reception. Inigo succeeds in getting a little reception on his phone and calls the police to report what has happened, though the police are swamped with reports of avalanche-related emergencies. Later, there’s a power outage, but there’s nothing to be done because the backup generator was in the pool house, which is unavailable.
Erin, a medical school dropout, tends to her leg. She notes that it’s not broken, just badly sprained. Then, Topher updates Erin, saying that they know where Eva’s phone is.
Their app was updated to geolocate their users, and Elliot, their tech guy, could fetch the data. Topher shows Erin the location of Eva’s phone. Unfortunately, it’s located just off a steep drop, so if that’s accurate, then Eva is most likely dead. Liz is disheartened by the idea of them having to break the news to Eva’s husband, Arnaud, or her son, Raddison.
Afterward, they discuss what Eva’s death would mean for the company. Topher says that there was an agreement that the shares cannot be transferred out of the company early on in terms of the shares. Instead, they have to be sold to either Topher or Eva. With Eva gone, her shares would pass to her husband, but he would be forced to sell based on an independent valuation.
In effect, Eva’s death means that Topher would now control 60% of the voting stock in the company.
That night, as Erin drops off some extra blankets for the guests, she finds Topher drunk and sleeping with Ani (Matilda De Angelis), one of the Snoop employees. He also insists that he recognizes Erin from somewhere, but she says she doesn’t think so.
Erin calls everyone together to update them on the situation. When Elliot doesn’t show up, Ani fetches him but finds him slumped over, dead. In his cup, they find a white powder. His computer is also smashed to pieces, indicating that this was intentional.
Topher is distraught to find out Elliot is dead, saying that there was something Elliot had wanted to talk to him about. Elliot’s death also prompts people to quietly raise the possibility that Eva’s death may not have been an accident. Privately, Erin tells Danny that she thinks Elliot was likely killed for something on his computer since that would explain the murderer taking the time to destroy it so thoroughly. They also wonder if Elliot killed Eva since he has no alibi for the day she died. Perhaps he was killed to cover up that death.
When they start to ask Inigo about when the police might show up, he is vague, and the group questions whether he really called the police or not. Inigo gets upset, saying that he did call them and loved Eva, revealing they had an affair and would not harm her.
Acknowledging that they are stuck here and there may be a killer on the loose, Erin gives the group instructions about being careful what they eat, staying in groups, and other precautions. Erin and Danny also talk about what alibis each person has. They recall that Ani is the only one who says they saw Eva skiing on La Sorcière. Ani also told Inigo about it, so as far as they know, those were the only two people who knew Eva was there.
Later, Inigo goes off by himself, leaving a note to say that he’s made a mistake but will fix it. No one knows what he’s referring to. That night, they all pair off to go to sleep. Erin + Danny, Rik + Miranda (Teyonah Parris), Tiger + Ani; Carl + Topher. Liz chooses to stay alone, even though Ani invites her to join their duo. They’re all instructed to lock their doors.
That night, Ani goes over to Liz’s room to convince her to stay with them, but Liz declines again. She says that Tiger is fast asleep after taking a pill. Ani also implies that something she saw that’s important but can’t quite put her finger on what it was. A little later, they hear a scream coming from Tiger’s room. Ani is dead, and it appears she’d been smothered to death in her sleep.
As they try to sort out what happened, Danny realizes that someone has stolen his key. Topher also finally realizes how he knows Erin. Her deceased brother had gone to boarding school with Topher, Rik and Elliot. He tells the rest of them that Erin’s real name is Lady Dorothea de Plessis FitzClarence and that she is the youngest daughter of the Marquess of Cardale. Erin’s brother, Alex FitzClarence, died in an avalanche and his best friend, Will Hamilton. Erin was with them at the time, and she was the only survivor.
Liz mentions that Ani had wanted to say something. Tiger suddenly remembers. She says that Ani had tried to wake her and said, “I didn’t see her,” implying that Ani didn’t actually see Eva on the slopes. But then Liz says that she saw Eva skiing when she was riding the lift.
However, Miranda reiterates that Topher had the most incentive to kill Eva. Tired of being accused, Topher is determined to ski away from the chalet even though it’s treacherous. But others want to leave as well. Finally, they come up with a plan. The stronger skiers, Topher, Rik and Tiger, will ski down to get help. The others will trek three hours through the snow to a larger chalet nearby. Whoever makes it first will send help for the rest.
As the group prepares for their journeys, Liz realizes that Topher was using her all along. He advocated for her to get voting shares because he figured he could control her. He saw it as a way to tip the balance in his favor and have an insurance policy.
As Liz heads downstairs, she trips and hurts her knee. She’s unable to walk, so they decide that Danny will join Miranda and Carl in walking to the nearby chalet. Still, Danny worries that Inigo is still on the loose somewhere and doesn’t like the idea of Erin staying there with just Liz. He reminds her not to open the door to anyone, no matter what, until either he or the police show up.
Alone in the house, Liz and Erin chat. Erin talks about having to dig her boyfriend out of the snow, knowing he was dead, to get to his GPS beacon to call for help. Erin says that she was the one who wanted to ski off-piste, back-country skiing, not on the path, but she was the one to survive.
The water stops working, presumably because the pipes have frozen. Because of how cold it is in the chalet without heat, they decide to sleep downstairs. Liz goes up to grab her bedding while Erin turns the sofas into beds. However, as she does, she finds Danny’s missing key in the cushions where Liz had been sitting. She realizes with horror that Liz may be the killer.
Desperate to get out of there, Erin remembers that Elliot had a charging block he’d been using to power his computer after the electricity had gone out. In hopes of calling or text for help, she goes into his room, finds his phone there, and uses his thumb to get past the lock screen. His Snoop app has been updated to the test version that shows who is nearby. Erin sees that Elliot had started following a user “Anon101” just before he died and that the person is nearby, so it must be Liz.
Erin starts getting extremely jumpy when she sees Liz. Liz thinks about how people have a tendency to pull away from her. She was bullied as a kid. She also remembers how a boy she’d liked, Kevin, had called her a weirdo and screamed at her.
Erin theorizes that Liz could have been the one to kill Eva. When Ani said, “I didn’t see her,” she talked about not seeing Liz on the lift. Instead, Liz was just pretending to be a lousy skier so she could attack Eva. Elliot must have realized that someone nearby had been on the slopes with Eva but wasn’t sure who yet. Liz must’ve realized his data could reveal the truth, so she killed him and destroyed his computer.
They go to sleep, but Erin lies awake in fear. Liz has figured out by now that Erin is on to her. Then, Liz hears a soft beep that comes from Elliot’s phone in his room. When they go check out the noise, Liz sees that Erin has sent a text to Danny which reads: “SOS, Please send help. IT’S LIZ.” and that he has responded.
Meanwhile, Liz tries to sneak sleeping pills into Erin’s tea. Erin realizes she needs to stall until Danny gets there, asking Liz about what really happened. Liz explains that after she gave them the money, she had been treated more like a natural person. As a minority investor, Liz had gone with Eva to meet a potential investor. However, the guy had assaulted Liz. Liz ended up pushing him away forcefully, but he fell off the balcony they were on and died. Eva dealt with the situation, and it was chalked up to the drugs and alcohol in his system.
Erin understands that Eva must’ve held it over her when it came to the vote. Liz felt indebted to Topher, but Eva had dirt on her. It put Liz in an impossible position. Liz then describes how she wore another jacket like Eva’s underneath and skied down to push her off the precipice. She talks, too, about smothering Tiger. When she’s done talking, she sees that Erin’s teacup, with enough pills to kill her, is empty, and Erin is getting drowsy.
Meanwhile, Liz had texted Danny to say that when the text said, “It’s Liz,” she was saying that Liz and that Erin is the one who has confessed everything. However, Erin is just pretending, and she’s been dumping the tea out secretly. Erin knows she needs to get away, and her ankle still hurts too much to walk. She knows that skiing down to the city is the only option.
Liz realizes that Erin has tricked her and finds her before she can leave. There’s a struggle, but Erin manages to stumble and fall through the window, but she loses her helmet and scarf in the process. It’s a mess outside, covered in trees and boulders. Instead, she opts for a secret passage that few know about, but it’s dangerous, and there’s no way for someone else to rescue you once you’re on that path. After Erin sets off, Liz sees that Erin’s tracks lead into the forest.
Erin sets off; she gets off to an okay start, though she wipes out and needs to dig her ski out of the snow. Meanwhile, Liz can follow her tracks but injures herself badly. Erin continues skiing the difficult path, but she has skied it before. However, Liz will be following her tracks, which will make it easier and faster for Liz. Liz is close to catching up, but he runs head-on into a rock wall just before she does.
At close to the end of the path, Erin hears the sound as Liz hits the wall. Erin wants to just leave, but she knows she can’t, thinking of her brother and boyfriend dying in the snow. Erin turns back to find Liz. When she gets there, Liz is dead, and there is blood everywhere. Suddenly, she hears a buzzing. It’s Danny calling.
It’s now two days later. The police are trying to investigate everything that happened. None of them are allowed to leave the area. They are all put into a B&B in the area. Danny, Erin, Topher, Rik, Miranda, Carl and even Inigo are there.
When Erin sees Inigo, he cries out in apology for leaving them. He finally explains that he told the police the wrong name of the chalet. Erin went skiing down to the town to try to tell the police the correct location. He didn’t tell the others because he knew it was his mistake to fix. Instead, he got lost and woke up in a hospital. Inigo thinks that if only he’d gotten the name right, that they’d all still be alive. As Erin tells Inigo it’s not his fault, she thinks about how she has been told so many times that deciding to ski off-piste, Which resulted in her brother and boyfriend, wasn’t her fault.
Erin tearfully reunites with Danny and sees the rest of the group. Topher has an announcement. The buyout offer has been withdrawn, and Eva’s husband has sent him an information file from Eva. It contains dirt on a lot of people. There’s also a video of Liz and the man, the potential investor, on the balcony. It shows her not just pushing him away, but when he’s on edge, she pushes him again to make sure he falls off.
Afterward, they discuss the video, but Erin doesn’t understand why someone was filming. Then, Erin realizes that Eva is clearly someone who is not above blackmail, and she remembers that Liz had overheard Eva saying the guy liked young women who were like Liz. Eva must’ve sent Liz to him, knowing Liz would be sexually assaulted and then filmed it so she would have dirt on the investor. However, Eva hadn’t realized what Liz’s true nature was.
Meanwhile, Snoop has filed for bankruptcy and shut down the servers. Three weeks later, they’re also closing down the chalet since they’ve lost all their bookings. Topher writes Erin a note apologizing for revealing that information about her at the chalet. He also says that he turned the whole file and video in to the police.
Danny is going off to work for the B&B that the police had put them in. Before he leaves, he tells Erin about a new app he just created called Choon, which is basically like Snoop.
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