Upgraded (2024)

Ana (Camila Mendes) is an ambitious intern, dreaming of a career in the art world while trying to impress her demanding boss, Claire (Marisa Tomei) the head of Erwins New York. Ana hopes to earn Claire's recommendation to work at a top art gallery in New York. Claire is a sociopath perfectionist.

Because of the expensive cost of living in New York, Ana currently lives with her sister Vivian (Aimee Carrero) and Vivian's boyfriend Ronnie (Andrew Schulz), who has been urging her to move out. Amy (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) is Ana's only friend at the office. During an auction at work, Ana realizes there has been a typo in the auction's catalog mislabeling the type of paint used on a piece that is about to be sold. Ana informs Claire of the error just in time to make the correction, gaining her a little respect. Claire fires Billy, the person who was in charge of the catalog. The next morning Claire invites Ana to serve as the assistant to her assistants on an upcoming work trip to London. Claire asks Ana to pack her bags and to come straight to the airport. Upset by Ana's ambition, Claire's two assistants Suzette (Rachel Matthews) and Renee (Fola Evans-Akingbola) wait until the group is boarding their flight to reveal that they have booked Ana an economy ticket for a flight that leaves 4 hours later. The ticket agent at the check-in desk witnesses this mistreatment and decides to upgrade Ana's ticket to first class. While waiting for her flight in the first-class lounge Ana distractedly answers a phone call and proceeds to spill her Bloody Mary on a wealthy man named William (Archie Renaux). Ana and William end up sitting next to each other on the flight to London and hit it off. During the flight, Ana accidentally leads William to believe she is the art director of her company's New York office. He is very impressed and when they land, introduces Ana to his mother, Catherine (Lena Olin), who is a British celebrity. Catherine is introduced to Ana, and she offers to drop Ana at her hotel. Catherine and Ana hit it off and she even takes Ana's number to stay in touch. Suzette and Renee continue to sabotage Ana, assigning her an office in the basement and a room at a separate cheaper hotel, while they stay at the Carlson, a swanky hotel 4 streets from William's home. Arnold (Thomas Kretschmann) is the head of the company and is leading the sale of the prestigious Brovil collection, whose owner is known only to Arnold. Arnold has brought in Gerard (head of Paris office) and Claire to overlook the sale and ensure its success. Arnold is due to retire, which means both Gerard and Claire are up for the top job. Ana receives a voicemail informing her that she left her laptop in Williams's car. That night she goes to Catherine's house to retrieve her laptop and finds herself in the middle of a party. There she sees Catherine's extensive art collection (which belonged to her husband, who passed away), meets a famous painter, and continues to lie about being the director of a New York auction house named Erwins. Ana tells Catherine that her husband was a romantic, since his art collection tells a story of love. Catherine reveals that she recently asked Erwins to auction her collection. Her last name is Brovil. Catherine says that she is working with Claire and says that she will ask Arnold to work with Ana instead. Ana says that the sale is a secret, and she would get in trouble if Arnold found out that she was talking to Catherine. Suzette and Renee are tasked with getting last-minute tickets to a performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, while continuing to assign Ana to all of the work they don't want to do. Desperate to get tickets to impress Claire, Ana asks Catherine who leaves tickets with William. Ana visits William who is coaching an at-risk youth soccer league. William invites her to have lunch with him which she has to decline due to her workload. William also tells her that there is a party being thrown that evening and his mother, Catherine, wants Ana to attend. Before Ana leaves, Will clarifies that he would also like her to attend, as his date. Ana runs back to the London office and arrives just as Claire asks Suzette if she got the tickets. Suzette is forced to admit that she was not able to and is further embarrassed when Ana shows her up and turns in the tickets to Claire. Background tensions rise as Gerard (Gregory Montel), the art director for the Paris office, and Claire are both vying for the company's head director position. Ana attends the party, with William and Catherine, in a designer dress that she "borrowed" from Claire (Claire had given the dress to Ana for dry-cleaning). Catherine admits to Ana that she is having second thoughts about selling her collection, due to the love of her husband that it represents. When she suddenly sees Claire arrive with Suzette and Renee, she is scared her lie will be revealed and attempts to run off. Will catches her before she leaves and instead takes her to go dancing at a local bar. At the end of the night, William wants to take Ana back to her hotel. Embarrassed by where she is actually staying, Ana has William drop her off at Claire's much nicer hotel and makes an excuse to prevent him from coming inside. Before leaving, William confesses that he is falling in love with her. Over the next week, Ana and William continue to spend time together, growing closer and developing their relationship. William tells Ana that he has spent his whole life being used by other people but that she is different, and he admires her for being down-to-earth and humble despite her wealth and success. He tells her he knows her job is important and that he has arranged to transfer his work to New York so that they can continue their relationship. At the office, Claire praises Ana's hard work and promises that there will be a promotion in her future. Renee interrupts their meeting to reveal that a major client has just pulled out of their upcoming auction. That client is Catherine, William's mother. At that same moment, William arrives to surprise Ana at work, and she rushes him out of the building. William tells Ana that he had nothing to do with his mother's decision and doesn't understand why she is acting so strange. He questions whether Ana was just using him to secure his mother's sale and breaks up with her. When Ana goes back into the building, she is confronted by Claire who has discovered her lie and her relationship with William's family. She is fired and escorted out of the building. Ana visits Catherine and confesses that she is not the successful art director she was pretending to be. Instead of being upset, Catherine is proud of Ana for her honesty. She says that she was also using Ana by pretending to walk away from the auction to get a better deal from Erwins who had offered her 85 million pounds for her collection. Catherine agrees to rejoin the auction on the condition that Ana is the one who handles the sale. Ana kicks Gerard off the auction and puts Claire in total control. Ana is re-hired and manages to sell Catherine's art for much more than expected (250 million pounds). She goes back to the soccer field and apologizes to William who tells her that he didn't like her because she was rich, he liked her because he thought she was an honest person. Ana returns to New York and six months later she has not heard from William but is thriving in her career. Ana throws a party to celebrate the opening of her own art gallery. At the end of the night, after everyone else has left, William arrives with a suitcase.