“Jane” by Sabrina Jalgom is a decent thriller that revolves around the death of a student named Jane, who jumps from a cliff at the beginning of the film. Her best friend, Olivia, was so distraught by her suicide that she became weirdly delusional and started to feel disconnected from the world. The other best friend, named Izzy, also stops talking to her, which adds to her trauma. Our lead, Olivia, dreams of getting admission to the prestigious Stanford University, but her application is on hold. She starts to feel envious of other students who get what Olivia feels she deserves, and thus, in her jealousy, she takes drastic measures to achieve what she desires the most. Let’s follow further.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did Olivia Start To Envy Everyone? Was She Losing Her Mind?
As the film began, we saw a young girl, Olivia, who kept herself busy through daily activities, trying to waver her mind from the tragedy that had recently happened in town. Outside her house, she met her classmate and neighbor, Isabelle, known as Izzy (played by Chloe Bailey), and offered her a lift, which Izzy quickly rejected, leaving Olivia all alone. Olivia drove to her school, Greenwood, by herself and remained silent the rest of the day as something was eating her up from the inside. She was all alone in the crowd of people and had no friend in school to whom she could talk or speak her heart.
However, Olivia was not always alone. She had a friend too. Her closest friend, Jane, committed suicide due to depression, which is the main reason for Olivia’s silence. She seemed to be a quiet and smart student at the school, and all the teachers complimented her, but deep inside, there was loneliness eating her up bit by bit. The loneliness and darkness reflected on her face, which eventually took a toll on her mind, and she started imagining Jane’s ghost staring at her wherever she went. However, she didn’t allow these thoughts to take over her sane mind and concentrated her entire energy on preparing to get an admission to Stanford University.
Olivia’s locker had a photo of Jane, Olivia, and Izzy, along with a Stanford sticker. Not only Olivia, but all three of them wanted to attend Stanford together. Olivia’s first application letter was delayed, but she was told by her teachers that she had a chance to be preferred by the spring. However, she had to write a personal letter to the authorities for the same. Olivia still could not find peace in her mind. And to add to her troubled mind, a new student named Camille, (played by Nina Bloomgarden), who was transferred to Greenwood from New York, started to make Olivia feel more envious.
Camille had already been in the national debate competitions, and thus, through her experience, she easily outperformed Olivia in terms of confidence and knowledge. Not only that, but Camille outwitted her by claiming that she’d won on this topic many times before, so she’d better know about this. Camille even teased her that she had never seen Olivia competing at Nationals before. Olivia was too humiliated by everything that Camille spoke. Usually, toppers and smart kids at school often have such issues of jealousy with each other that it makes them competitive, but for Olivia, that went too far. People sympathized with her because she recently lost her friend, but the jealousy she harbored inside was invisible to everyone. She wanted to get rid of Camille at all costs.
Olivia and Izzy discovered that Camille, in her former school, was accused of spreading rumors about a teacher molesting her. That’s why she got expelled from there and transferred to Greenwood, hiding the whole incident. Olivia got the most perfect chance to discredit Camille, and the entire plan also brought her close to Izzy once again. In their sinister scheme of things, they decided to access their dead friend Jane’s account to blackmail Camille about her past. They got things going as planned and scared Camille. Soon enough, the information spread like a wildfire around the college once Izzy and Olivia posted it online from Jane’s profile. Camille was utterly embarrassed and had to leave the school.
Olivia started to like exposing everyone’s secrets, most probably because of the single most important reason that the entire thing brought her close to Izzy once again. However, Izzy was still skeptical about Olivia and thus maintained her distance. She might have known Olivia for so long that she knew her nature of jealousy and selfishness. Olivia, too, started feeling jealous of Izzy as soon as she found out that Izzy had applied to Stanford as well. Olivia somehow got to know that each year only two students get selected from her school to Stanford University. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but it has been that way for years, so it’s become a hurdle between Olivia and her ambitions. She had already stated that she would not study anywhere other than Stanford. So, even though Olivia was Izzy’s close friend, she began to despise her. Her encounter with Josa after arriving at school may have informed her that she would also be applying to Stanford. Later, at a party, when Izzy showed Olivia that she had brought drugs, she proposed to Izzy that she drug Josa (played by Kerri Medders). Olivia understood that if Josa were drugged, she would be unable to apply to Stanford due to her damaged health and reputation. Olivia was motivated by her envious, wicked self, who had no qualms about causing damage to others for her own benefit, and she was willing to go to any lengths to get what she obsessively desired.
Who Was Actually Posting from Jane’s Profile?
Olivia’s level of aggression and greed had escalated. She didn’t want Camille to improve in her life. Olivia began to feel helpless once Camille joined their debate team. She was all set out to destroy Camille after learning about her background. Camille was accused of spreading rumors about a teacher molesting her at her former school. She was expelled from there because no one trusted her accusation, so she enrolled at Greenwood. Olivia and Izzy learned about the event and began blackmailing Camille through Jane’s account. Camille was humiliated and forced to leave the school once her truth was spilled around the campus. Not only Camille, but Olivia and Izzy began to expose every student and teacher in the school.
Despite the school principal’s warning, Olivia and Izzy did not stop. They were forced to stop when some third party began posting from that account. Olivia and Izzy agreed that they hadn’t told anybody about Jane and thought it was the work of a hacker. They tried to deactivate the account, but it kept getting reopened. When Olivia and Izzy drugged Josa at a party, Josa’s overdosing video was also uploaded the next morning. Olivia and Izzy were completely clueless about that. However, I believe Olivia was the third person who was posting from Jane’s account. On the night of the party, she might have recorded the video, too, and posted it on Jane’s account. Izzy questioned her in the morning about why she posted this. Her question kind of implies that she might have seen Olivia recording Josa when she was throwing up at the party. Izzy probably didn’t think Olivia would post that, but Olivia had to post it; otherwise, how would her mission get accomplished? She was the one who gave the idea of drugging Josa as she wanted to defame her that way.
Olivia pretended to be innocent, implying that these posts were the work of a third party, but in the end, to save herself, she deleted all of the videos that she claimed she didn’t upload. She eventually tried to frame Izzy as well, but Izzy caught her. Izzy had also applied to Stanford, so she became Olivia’s adversary. Olivia noticed the Stanford certificate in Izzy’s father’s office and concluded that her father may have also been a Stanford student. She recognized that Izzy’s father’s connections may have gotten Izzy into Stanford, but not hers. So, she thought to defame Izzy as well. She wanted to get away with this as her internet connection had a VPN, but she lied to Izzy that she had a VPN too. She purposefully meant to expose Izzy for the last time in order to ruin her career, but Izzy caught her before she could. Finally, for the sake of her dream to get into Stanford, Olivia drowned Izzy in the pool and killed her.
‘Jane’ Ending Explained: Why Did Olivia Never Get Caught?
Olivia began to panic after taking such an extremely violent step to kill her friend Izzy. Nonetheless, as we’ve seen before, she was cautious. She looked at her watch and reminded herself that she had to be at a debating tournament. As a result, she meticulously sketched her plan. She shared a confession from Izzy’s profile. She posted that Izzy confessed to being guilty of exposing Camille, Josa, and others from Jane’s account. Olivia attempted to conceal all available evidence after she uploaded this. She changed her clothes and ran to the debating competition to be in front of everyone to create a viable alibi. Izzy’s post had gone viral by this point. Nobody ever doubted Olivia, since everyone saw her being present in the competition at that moment. The police came to Olivia’s house to investigate, but Olivia fooled them with a false alibi. She informed them that Izzy had contacted her one last time to wish her luck with her debate. Olivia was quickly ruled out, despite the ongoing investigation. I believe that the inquiry was hasty and inadequate. Izzy’s death was quickly interpreted as another suicide attempt, prompting the administration to hold a student counseling session. Olivia, on the other hand, took inspiration from the entire incident and wrote a moving essay around it to get admission to Stanford University. In her personal letter, she stated that Izzy’s suicide had inspired her to pursue a career in psychology.
Everyone in authority sympathized with her, and she ultimately received the opportunity to study at Stanford, her ideal institution. Olivia was not apprehended, but her fantasy of Jane persisted. She’s probably going to do something even more evil for her benefit in the future.
Why Did Olivia See Jane’s Ghost?
Olivia was the only one who could see Jane all the time after Jane committed suicide. But was Jane’s ghost real? Or was it her delusion? In reality, Jane was a representation of Olivia’s wicked personality. Perhaps she murdered Jane in the same manner she murdered Izzy. Or, Olivia might also have created circumstances that led Jane to commit suicide. Olivia’s guilty mind might have created Jane’s ghost to fill the void. Olivia could see Jane whenever she made an evil decision. This entity is not actually Jane’s soul but a composite form of the greed, violence, and anger towards others that Olivia harbored inside her mind. This form has repeatedly led Olivia to harm others and derail her own path to success. Over time, when Olivia finally accomplished her goal of studying at Stanford, she accepted her delusion of Jane and smiled at it victoriously, as if she wanted to celebrate it. By the end of the film, her evil personality had completely taken over her psyche, and she had become a cold-blooded killer, roaming among ordinary people.
What Might Have Happened To Jane?
Olivia, Izzy, and Jane were best friends who probably believed that they would study at Stanford University together, but then a tragedy took place. Jane took her own life. Although the exact reason for Jane’s death is never revealed in the film, Olivia is undoubtedly responsible. Izzy and Olivia repeatedly blamed one another for ignoring Jane’s depression. Olivia claimed that Izzy had abandoned them for a reason that was never explained. However, it might be possible that Jane was a lot like Olivia, who may have loved harming others or exposing them. For example, Olivia once stated that Jane would be overjoyed to learn that they were ready to expose people from her profile. Perhaps Jane, Olivia, and Izzy were involved in such vile activities that Izzy left them to save her own life, while Jane committed suicide out of remorse. Another theory could be that Olivia murdered Jane in the same way she murdered Izzy and got away with it. As Jane might have been applying at Stanford also, she became a competitor in Olivia’s eyes. Therefore, we could conclude that Izzy might not be the first victim of Olivia’s envious ego.
Final Words
“Jane” was a powerful portrayal of a criminal in the making. It does not illustrate how to punish the killer but rather focuses on how a regular human converts herself into a criminal who is driven by avarice. Jane, with its cryptic narrative, illustrates Olivia’s transformation from a bright schoolgirl to a cold-blooded murderer. She became entangled in her problem due to her jealousy. She was plagued by the illusion of Jane appearing in front of her whenever she attempted to do wrong. Olivia never intended to recover from the trauma; instead, she saw Jane’s presence as a sign that she needed to commit more crimes for her own good. In the end, when she got away with murder and got a chance to study at Stanford, she accepted and normalized her evil personality. Since she had achieved her purpose by committing such a heinous act, it is reasonable to assume that she would do it again in her life.
“Jane” is a 2022 Drama Thriller film directed by Sabrina Jalgom.
