Leave the World Behind
Summary
get away from it all , in theory , can be a freeing thing . Shutting off your phone , unplugging the Wi - Fi , and truly being in the minute — it ’s what we all want out of a holiday . That ’s the ideaLeave the World Behindbegins with . Julia Roberts ' high - strung marketing White House Amanda waken up her husband Clay ( Ethan Hawke ) and announces that she ’s booked them a vacation , and they are impart that morning . She figures if she packs the family ’s thing and has everything in order , it gets every obstacle out of the way that would run them to reject the restful weekend . But when they get to the rural Long Island household deck with slating gray wood floor , marble counter , and a locked pot likker cabinet with a top - ledge selection , things begin to go terribly wrong . It ’s certainly not what Amanda had in mind when she envisioned a relaxing weekend with her family .
allow for the World Behindis direct by Sam Esmail , who also adjust the screenplay from Rumaan Alam ’s novel of the same name . That novel is a lyrical eco - thriller that decry wash relations and family tension in post-2016 America , using its literary bonafides as a Trojan Equus caballus for an Book of Revelation drama . It ’s not so much concerned with the apocalypse as it is with how its characters react to it . Esmail ’s adjustment may not be as elegant as Alam ’s novel ( despite what its sweeping camera bowel movement would wish you to think ) , but it ’s a thrilling body of work of apocalyptic tenseness , apply its stellar cast and Netflix budget to broaden the comprehensiveness of the novel ’s visual sensation .
The 2023 Netflix psychological thriller movie Leave the World Behind features a virtuoso - stud cast , including Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali .
Before the Revelation of Saint John the Divine disturb Amanda ’s vacation , though , there are two unexpected guests — Mahershala Ali ’s George and Myha’la ’s Ruth , a father - daughter brace who have scarper a blackout in the city and return to their vacation home to take protection from whatever is befall . Amanda is less than pleased , lobbing microaggressions left and right , going so far as to imply that she does n’t trust a Black family could own such a nice house . the Great Compromiser is more than well-chosen to welcome George and Ruth , allowing them to stay . This struggle collapse the first part of the flick a tense undertide that propels the cinema toward its more cataclysmal story . The tensions — marital , generational , class , and racial — are all component of Alam ’s novel that the pic adapts with less bite , but it sets up kinetics that are thoughtfully explored throughout the film .
go forth the World Behindmay pull some of its punches in favour of an prosperous out , but it ’s still a thought - provoking , dread - inducing tale about the death of a world that has become all too conversant .
Ali and Roberts are unsurprisingly great , peculiarly as Amanda and George bond over their quandary . Hawke give nuanced life to Clay who , on paper , is not much more than an slowly - live on wannabe Bohemian . Myha’la steals every scene she ’s in as Ruth , though , rent her fiber ’s clear disdain for Amanda house of cards up to the control surface as she grieves the man crumbling around her . While there is passion rippling through Ruth , there is also a yearning — for safety gadget , comfort , and stability — feed through her and Myha’la walks this tightrope with brilliant skill . Esmail makes a smart choice in changing Ruth and George ’s family relationship ( in the novel , Ruth and George are an senior matrimonial couple ) , creating a dynamic that stands in stark contrast to Amanda and Clay ’s kinship with their child .
Whereas Ruth is plugged into what ’s going on around her , Archie ( Charlie Evans ) and Rose ( Farrah Mackenzie ) are a spot more detached . Archie is obsess with young lady , particularly Taylor , who is staying an hr away in Sag Harbor , while Rose just wants to follow the last episode ofFriendswhen the internet goes down . Rose is perhaps more attuned to what is happening around her , but the couplet of siblings finally sense like stereotype of how someone thinks Gen Z would oppose to the Book of Revelation , rather than a nuanced portrayal .
That deficiency of nuance ultimately bleeds into the apocalypse itself . The book opt to keep the end of the globe a vague menace — is it climate tragedy , politically motivated armageddon , or even something otherworldly ? That ambiguity drives much of the revulsion of the first half of the film , but it finally becomes exculpated thatLeave the World Behindis steer more straight off at answer . This does n’t rob the motion-picture show of any impact ; the Revelation is terrifying thanks to Esmail ’s withholding , and as the title ’s multiple meanings come into free rein in both suspect and pathological way , the idea of incur forth from it all becomes a terrifying possibleness . leave alone the World Behindmay pull some of its punches in favor of an well-fixed out , but it ’s still a view - agitative , apprehensiveness - inducing story about the end of a reality that has become all too familiar .
Leave the World Behindis now streaming on Netflix . The film is 138 minutes long and rat R for language , some sexual substance , drug use and brief bloody images .
Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and Myha’la in Leave the World Behind.
A family ’s getaway to a luxurious rental rest home takes an sinister number when a cyberattack knocks out their gimmick , and two stranger appear at their threshold .
Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and Myha’la in Leave the World Behind.
