Laura Weaver

**Laura Weaver** was a character that first appeared in the 2020 short film *Laura Hasn't Slept*, and re-appeared as the overarching protagonist in the 2022 American psychological horror film *Smile*. She is portrayed by Caitlin Stasey.

## History

### Laura Hasn't Slept

Laura breathes deeply a couple of times as she lays on a couch. She then asks if a dream feels real, it can then affect you in the real world. She then proceeds to ask someone if a nightmare has the potential to kill you in the real world.

A man’s voice is then heard asking Laura if she is having nightmares again. Eventually a man sitting on a separate couch, asks Laura if that is the reason she is there today.

Laura sits up, and proceeds to take a sip of water. She is fidgety, and nervous as she asks her therapist if she can get a cup of coffee.
She takes a moment, before answering that she is having nightmare, but it is more like one recurring one. Which she has has without stopping since the week before.

The therapist asks Laura to tell him about it. Thus, she explains that the dream is the same every time. It’s just that it starts differently. In her dream, she might be at work, in her apartment or on the train. Wherever she is, Laura explains how she gets this terrible nervous feeling in her stomach. She knows something is wrong, but she can’t remember what it is. Then, a man subsequently appears, and Laura explains how it is the same man in every dream. He is smiling at her, but it is not a friendly smile. Moreover, Laura mentions how there is also something wrong with the man’s eyes. She sighs as she rubs her own eyes, before proceeding to state how she has never been this scared of anything in her life, like she is with this man.

This recurring nightmare is taking a toll on her, as there are days where she lies wide awake at night, unable to sleep. Laura mentions to her therapist that she really doesn’t want to see him again. Eventually, the therapist pages his secretary Rene, and tells her to cancel the coffee order. Laura then admits that she feels like she is slowly losing her mind.
Her therapist then tells Laura that what she is doing is not healthy. That sleep is essential to one’s mental wellbeing. Unintentionally, Laura gets agitated and yells out that she knows what she is doing is unhealthy. But she just gets the feeling that the next time she falls asleep that it is going to be bad.

Laura then goes on to mention that the man in her dreams is not necessarily someone she recognizes. That it is really hard to put it in words. But every time she falls asleep, the man has a different face. She tries to explain how it feels like the aforementioned man is wearing a disguise. In other words, it is like a mask, but even that definition doesn't quite fit because it’s also very much a face. She frantically explains how it doesn’t ultimately matter, because she knows it is him every single time. Laura continues by saying that she can also tell by looking at the man’s eyes, along with noticing the way the man says her name. Every time, it gets lower and lower.

The therapist then asks Laura if she thinks there’s a reason why this man continues to appear to her. Laura tearfully says that this man’s motive for essentially haunting her is that he wants to show her his true face. She admits that it sounds crazy, but that ultimately, she is really scared that if she sees the man’s true face, she will die.

The therapist then asks her point blank why she is here then. To which Laura explains that she is here to put an end to these horrible nightmares that she keeps on having. However, the therapist reiterates that is not what he is really asking her, and asks her again why she is here with him.

Her therapist then asks Laura how she happened to get to this office to discuss her dreams with him. He then asks her if she thinks he is her therapist. He doesn’t stop and continues to go on by asking Laura if they had even met before. She is initially confused until it suddenly dawns on her after he asks her if she is certain that she is not dreaming right now.

Suddenly, things get darker in the room, some cracking sounds can be heard, as the shelves full of books begin to fall. Laura breathes deeply as she stares at who she thought was her therapist.

However, said therapist’s lips begin to quiver, as he begins to smile menacingly. He taunts her by telling her how she seemed awfully tired. Laura closes her eyes, but even sitting down, the man continues to smile, even after his eyes roll to the back of his eye. Till only the white husks remains. She yells out to him to stay away from her, and it is then she notices the door to his office. She makes a run for it, but when she opens the aforementioned doors, there is nothing but a wall blocking her exit.

The man keeps yelling out her name from behind and starts to stand up. But the sound of what seems to be bones cracking are heard loud and clear by Laura. Despite her fears, she turns around, and the man tells her how there’s something he wants to show her. He slowly begins to pull at his face, and she turns back around. She slaps her face a couple of times as she tells herself that none of this is real.

Undeterred, the man continues to yell out to Laura to look at him. Each time he yells out her name, his voice gets lower and raspier. She doesn’t listen to him, and instead covers her eyes with her hands. Laura yells out once more that he isn’t real, and the rooms get even darker and eerily quiet. She eventually takes her hands away from her face, and looks around the room. She hears some footsteps around her. She walks around till eventually, the man pops up, showing her his true face. She wails and much like the man before her, Laura pulls at her face, causing her eyes to bleed.

### Smile

Laura is taken to a psychiatric hospital, screaming and panicking, where she eventually is seen by psychiatrist Dr. Rose Cotter. While talking with Rose, Laura reveals that several days earlier, she witnessed an art history professor at her college commit suicide right in front of her brutally. Laura then claims that an entity taking the form of smiling people is stalking and telling her that she is going to die and no one can see it except for her. Rose blindly thinks shes just having a bad hallucination from past trauma, as Laura freaks out again that Rose isn't listening despite being nice. Upset and scared even more as nobody has ever belived her, Rose then tries to clam her down.

Soon after Laura begins screaming hysterically and has some kind of a seizure. After Rose calls for help, then everything goes quiet, as she sees Laura all clam standing up and grinning maniacally as the entity has taken over her. With a shard of a broken plant pot, the monster controlling Laura proceeds to cut open her neck open, killing herself in the process right in front of Rose, as her body falls still smiling. As the monster who haunted her is now haunting Rose.

## Quotes

* "It's smiling at me. But not a friendly smile. It's the worst smile I've ever seen in my life. And whenever I see it, I just get this god-awful feeling like something really terrible is going to happen. I've never felt scared like I do when I see it. " - Laura about The Monstrosity

## Trivia

* The character of Laura first appeared in the short film *Laura Hasn't Slept* which debuted at SXSW in 2020, virtually as result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
* Laura appears in a lot of the promotional materials for the film *Smile* including the posters and trailers.

## References

1. ↑ Smile director Parker Finn unpacks the movie’s many endings - Polygon
2. ↑ ‘Smile’ – Six Things We Learned from the Blu-ray’s Commentary Track - Bloody Disgusting