“What spirit!” These are probably the last remarkable words uttered by Thelma, an undefeated ‘young lady’ who is 93 years old, as shown by director Josh Margolin. The dramedy film “Thelma” (2024) features June Squibb, Fred Hechinger, and Richard Roundtree. The character is based on filmmaker Josh’s own grandmother, Thelma Post, who, to him, is a force of nature. Chafing under the constraints of her family’s control, Thelma, a firecracker of an old woman, refused to let age extinguish her zest for life. Subsequently, Thelma faces a situation where she is robbed. Moreover, everyone sees this as an incident that could have been avoided if she had not been this old. What does Thelma do? Does she just digest the talks or go after the robbers? Let’s find out what happens at the end of this wonderful film.
Spoilers Ahead
Thelma (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“Thelma” opens with the titular character trying to figure out how the computer works. Her grandson, Daniel, helps her find one of the emails she is looking for. We see glimpses of Thelma trying to encourage herself so that she can get used to these modern gadgets. But at the end of the day, when this 93-year-old woman removes her hearing aid, she feels relieved, if not more alive. One of these days, she receives a call from an unknown caller. The caller, on the other side, claims to be Daniel, and he seeks help as he is in some serious trouble.
The caller says that he is in some kind of accident where he has hit a pregnant woman in a car. Now, he needs a lawyer who can save him from the situation. The description itself is very shady, and Thelma does not have any clue about what needs to be done. The lawyer calls soon after, saying that to save Daniel from the situation, she needs to post 10,000 dollars to a certain address immediately. Thelma tries to reach out to Daniel’s parents. However, they are both busy with their work. Therefore, to rescue her grandson from the situation, she starts collecting the money from around the house.
Is Daniel Really in Trouble?
Thelma has the required amount and calls Daniel’s parents. They fail to answer her call. However, when Daniel’s mother, Gail, finally calls her back, Thelma has already dropped the money in the mailbox. Thelma tells Gail everything she has heard from the unknown call, and Gail calls Daniel’s number. Thelma has already tried that. But Daniel does not pick up Gail’s call as well. Gail calls her husband, Alan, and he, too, tries calling Daniel. Everyone thinks that Daniel is in some serious trouble.
After a while, Daniel finally picks up his phone and soon realizes that Thelma has been scammed. The family goes to the police station. The detective says that there is a very slight margin to get the money back because it’s hard to trace the scammers. Later that night, Gail and Alan talk to Daniel, saying Thelma perhaps now needs someone to stay with her because she has reached a certain age when she needs the guidance of others. Thelma removes her hearing aid so that she doesn’t need to listen to all of this chatter around her.
How does Thelma Convince Ben to Join her in the Quest?
Thelma inspires herself from a Tom Cruise picture where she realizes that age should never be a limit. She decides to find the address which she has lost and was unable to find in front of the detective earlier. She goes straight to the post office, where she mailed the money, and finds the address inside a trash can. Later, she calls Daniel and tells them how she has recovered the address. Daniel comes, and she tells him that she needs to see an old friend named Ben. She asks Daniel to wait outside for 30 minutes and says that she will definitely come back by that time.
Seeing Ben after so many years fills Thelma with great pleasure. She tells Ben about her desire to go after the scammers to get her money back. Ben asks her to come to his room so that they can talk since he thinks this is a very bad idea, considering how old they are. Thelma finds an electric scooter inside Ben’s room. She asks if she can borrow it for a while. Later, Ben finds out that Thelma is trying to escape from the old-age home. Soon after, Ben confronts her. For the sake of their friendship, he can not let Thelma go after the scammers all by herself. Meanwhile, 30 minutes are up, and when Daniel enters the premises. He finds out that Thelma has escaped with Ben from the place.
How do Thelma and Ben find the Scammers?
Ben finds out that Thelma is lost in the street as she has probably forgotten about the address or where they are headed. Ben reminds her that this was a bad idea all along. Now, he wants to turn back, but Thelma refuses. This leads to a spat between the old friends as they take different paths. Thelma forgets to put the brakes on the scooter as it moves to the middle of the road and gets destroyed by a reckless driver. Thelma continues alone but eventually falls and realizes she can’t get up. Just as she is submitting to her fear, Ben comes back for her. They walk to the right address this time.
Meanwhile, Daniel starts blaming himself for not taking good care of Thelma. He blames himself for not being good at anything, which is why he has lost her girlfriend, Allie, as well. Gail and Alan try to make him understand that this is not his fault, as Thelma has gone for days, even before. She is just an indomitable spirit who never wants to rest. Thelma and Ben, on the other hand, see a young man collect money from the mentioned post office box. They follow him to an antique store. Thelma sneaks into the store, giving Ben access to her hearing aid so that they can communicate. She finally meets the owner of the store, Harvey, and his grandson, Michael, who is running the scam operation.
Thelma (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
How Does Thelma Outsmart the Scammer and Reclaim What’s Hers?
Thelma tells Harvey that she is the person they have scammed and that she wants her money back. Harvey replies that he is not going to give her money because he needs it to reconstruct the store as the business is failing him. When Thelma tries to call the police, Harvey throws her phone away. Later, Thelma pretends to have lost her mind and accidentally ends up inside the store. Harvey makes her sit, and soon, Thelma brings out the revolver she has borrowed from Mona, a friend of hers.
Michael tries to escape, and Ben knocks him out. Later, Ben enters the room and holds the gun at Harvey while Thelma uses his computer to transfer the money back to her account. However, she faces trouble with how to use the computer. Harvey also doesn’t know it well because Michael used to do this stuff. So, Thelma calls Daniel and asks him to come to the address alone while he explains to her on the phone how to transfer money to her account.
Meanwhile, Michael regains his consciousness. When he enters the room, Thelma tells him that Harvey does not respect him, which encourages Michael to abandon his grandfather. Thelma leaves Harvey 500 dollars from her 10,000, seeing his condition, and transfers the rest of the amount to her account. Thelma and Ben exit the store with victory smiles all over their faces as they see Daniel arrive outside the store just then. They enter the vehicle. Daniel seems to be very proud of what Thelma and Ben have achieved at this age.
At the end of the film, we see Thelma finally reunite with her family. The following morning, along with Daniel, she visits her husband’s grave. Daniel expresses his feelings toward Thelma and how much he will miss her once she is gone. But Thelma, just like the free soul she is, tells Daniel that after she dies, she will not think about Daniel much because she will know that wherever Daniel is, whatever he is doing, he is going to be okay.
While visiting Mona, Thelma saw cockroaches around her house, and she was just waiting to die. It was just an allegory to death because Mona was not even trying to remove the cockroach from her table or the floor. We see, at the end of the film, a cockroach roaming around the floor. Thelma looks at it as if her time has come. But, unlike Mona, Thelma kills the cockroach and goes back to doing her things. Thelma has so much life left inside. She just wants to live without worrying about her age.
