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This is a work of fantasy fiction. Brains cannot be transplanted. In fantasy fiction anything is possible but it is still just fiction. The reason Bella's brain accelerates to maturity in a matter of a months is to enable the story's characters to remain the same age throughout the movie and for the story of Bella's awakening and freedom to be told in an honest way without taking up too much time at the start of the film. Another fantastical aspect of the film is that, while it is said Bella had a complete transplant, she's also treated in the film as an adult woman with childlike manners, and she even speaks later of events in her past life (rather than her mother's life). In reality, as we know, not only are brain transplants impossible, but it would be foolish and medically senseless to put an infants brain into an adult body. The neonatal brain should be much smaller, needing to develop its synapses like the visual cortex over a long time. The mature spinal cord, reflexes, end organs and physiologic environment might somehow hasten the infant brain's maturity rate if the peripheral immaturities were the bottlenecks.

It is reported Bella was "progressing at an accelerated pace" and "her hair grows one inch every two days". The human hair grows 6 inches per year, and the human brain takes 25 years to develop. So if Bella's brain matures at the same rate her hair grows, she would have the equivalent of an adult's brain in about 10 months. Since babies do not see in colour until they are 4 months old, the hair clue combined with the film's symbolic switch to colour right before Bella's first sexual encounter with Duncan helps us understand that Bella was only 10 years old at the time. While it is unlikely that Duncan knew the truth about Bella, he was clearly attracted to her childish behavior and the power he could wield over her in their relationship. However, these are the actions of a deeply flawed character and the film does not condone them in any way.