Airam is the main antagonist of the 2018 supernatural horror film Look Away (alternately titled Behind the Glass). She is the reflection of the film's main protagonist Maria Brennan.
She was portrayed by India Eisley, who also played Heather Lambert in the 2014 film Nanny Cam, and Lee-Grace Dougherty in the 2023 film American Outlaws.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Maria Brennan's backstory revealed a shocking truth, that she was originally born as a twin. Maria and her sister (whose original name was never revealed) were born eighteen years ago to Amy and Dan Brennan, but the unnamed sister came out deformed. Dan, a plastic surgeon, callously refused to accept having a child with a deformity, and after Maria's sister was born, he made the decision to euthanize her and leave her in a shallow grave out in the cold, while Maria lived on and was raised by Amy and Dan.
Events[]
Throughout her entire life, Maria was unaware that she was actually a twin, and the film's events introduced Maria as being awkward and lonely, with fellow student Lily being her only friend since childhood. Maria suffered verbal abuse from Dan, while Amy was more kind to her, but put up with being cheated on and ignored by Dan, and it was later one night that Maria had her first encounter with her supernatural reflection in the bathroom after taking a bath. The reflection introduced herself as Airam ("Maria" spelled backwards), and originally served as a means of support and a self-esteem boost for Maria.
As the film progressed, Airam began to remind Maria of the many flaws of the people around her, stating that Dan didn't care about her and her feelings, and that Lily was a false friend and had been for many years, with the latter claim being shown beforehand when Lily didn't help Maria up during an ice skating lesson. Airam offered to help Maria with her problems, telling her to close her eyes and kiss her, but were interrupted by Amy. After Maria goes to the winter prom and is bullied by a group of boys led by Mark, she takes up Airam's offer.
Airam switches places with Maria, leaving an impression on her parents, as they were surprised by Maria's new positive demeanor. She stands up to Mark and confronted Lily, but offered to allow Lily to teach her to skate. Late one night, while dining with Amy, Airam blasted her for covering for Dan, stating that Dan wasn't "working late" but actually engaging in an affair, resulting in Amy slapping "Maria" but later apologizing. After the confrontation, Airam was confronted by the real Maria, who was in the mirror and shocked over Airam being mean to her mother, only for Airam to state that she was being honest, while also saying that she was doing what Maria always wanted to do.
Heel Turn/Reveal[]
The following day at school, Airam watched Mark and the other hockey players practice, in which Mark gives her a death threat. Afterwards, she waited for Mark to walk into the women's locker room, having the shower on to falsely believe she was showering. When Mark realized nobody was there, Airam attacked him with a hockey stick, shattering his knee and crushing his dreams of being a hockey player. Airam later appeared with Lily and showed off her skating abilities, with Lily being impressed, but also jealous of "Maria" improving, to the point where she took pleasure over "Maria" falling. Airam later moved towards Lily while staring at her ominously, prompting Lily to get a sense of unease, with Airam chasing after her as she skated away. Airam sped up during her pursuit, which ended with Lily tripping on her own skates and falling on the ice, causing her to slide headfirst onto a block of pavement, breaking her neck. After looking down at her indirect victim, Airam called 911 and pretended to panic over what happened, only to return to her villainous persona after hanging up.
Airam further established herself as a callous villainess during her confrontation with Maria, as she stated that Maria "wanted" her to do what she was doing, while also asking Maria if she really wanted Lily back and ignoring Maria's pleas to let her back out into the real world. She later went to Lily's boyfriend, Sean, and acted as a grieving friend, but later began seducing Sean and revealing her feelings for him. Though Sean was resistant at first, he gave into the seduction, leading to a relationship between the pair. Later on, while Sean and Airam were at a motel together, the former stated that the police were planning to talk to both of them. Airam attempted to talk Sean into not going, but Sean was insistent, stating that it had to be done for Lily, while turning down her seductive advances. He puts the pieces together, realizing Lily's death wasn't an accident, and just as Sean was about to run, Airam, in a frantic impulse, struck Sean in the back of his head with a bottle, rupturing his skull and unintentionally killing him. She looked on in horror, and even cried with the real Maria through the mirror in regret, and remained effected by this for the remainder of the film.
A flashback revealed Airam's true identity as Maria's deceased twin sister, and it also revealed her motive: revenge for being killed and buried by Dan. She later appeared at Dan's office claiming that she drank too much, but it was after she was let in that she removed her clothes and demanded that Dan look at her and tell her that she was beautiful. Without giving away her identity, Airam asked Dan if he would love her if she was deformed, with Dan stating that he would. Knowing that Dan was lying, Airam grabbed a scalpel and slashed her father's throat. She called out for Maria, only to receive no answer and slammed the mirror in anger. In the end of the film, Airam returned home and laid next to a dazed Amy, who had been traumatized due to Dan's actions, and the final scene ends with flickering reflections and a scene of Amy holding Maria and Airam in her arms. It implies that she and Maria had been fused into one entity.
Personality[]
Airam is vengeful, careless and follows an odd code of honor, feeling as if she can justify the wrongs in Maria's life by taking a violent and aggressive route. She exposed Dan's extramarital affairs to Maria's mother, never persued genuine harm towards her and seemingly did share the same love and respect for her that Maria did, and sought out to punish Mark for his longtime abuse of Maria, the incident at Prom where he humiliated her and dragged her across the ice being the final straw. She then seeks vengeance on Lily, who had been playing the long con on Maria for a lifelong faux, one-sided friendship, never hesitating to abandon and gossip about her behind her back, and not even trying to protect or defend her during the Prom incident, and lures her out alone into the ice skating park and intimidates her by chasing her until she eventually loses balance and fatally injures herself. Even the real Maria seemed more shocked than horrified/hurt about this, and couldn't say that she would miss having her in her life, showing that Airam knew all along Maria genuinely hated her and was just too pent up to cut her loose.
However, Airam ends up in a loving relationship with Sean, as both her and Maria loved him and were satisfied with him up until she accidentally killed Sean in a violent impulse, hitting him with a wine bottle, either hoping to knock him unconscious or just a frantic reflex. She showed geniune remorse and horror at what she'd done, and even mourned the loss with Maria in the mirror, showing both of them never intended to hurt him and that they regret what happened, it's possible Airam was considering switching back with Maria after they placed their hands on the mirror together but didn't. This outcome affected Airam poorly throughout the remainder of the film, and she was noticeably depressed and more agitated, such as when she finally confronted her father for his lifelong hypocrisy and abuse, putting perfection and his own image before the wellbeing of his wife and children and killed him, trying to call for Maria through a mirror, most likely ready to switch back for good, only to become frustrated when she didn't appear, and peacefully laid down next to their mother when she got home, possibly ending her spree of carnage.
Trivia[]
- Airam is India Eisley's second villain role.
- India Eisley was about 24 years old when she portrayed Airam.
- It's possible that Airam never actually existed, and was the real Maria the entire time, hallucinating the encounters with the mirror and grew a split personality that changed her. The ending where Maria doesn't appear in the mirror implies this.