The mayor informs the council that the event has lasted for roughly two hours throughout France, returning an estimated 70 million people to life nationwide, with more than 13,000 in their town alone, all of whom had died within the previous 10 years.

Former professionals among the returned are moved to menial jobs when it becomes clear that although they can perform rote tasks, they no longer engage in spontaneous problem solving or planning.

The mayor attempts to stop his wife from leaving but begins to feel ill and after Martha urges him to "give in", apparently dies only to appear among the returned.

After guiding some of the returned to the tunnels, Mathieu makes his way back to Rachel and recounts to her the events leading to his fatal car accident.

[4] In one of the more negative reviews, The Village Voice remarked that "They Came Back suffers from long-winded earnestness and, despite some poetic conceits, its allegory ultimately doesn't parse.