Featured Image Credit: Netflix / YouTube
Netflix dropped its Leave the World Behind on Netflix UK last Friday 8th December, and the ending has left viewers divided.
The eery, apocalyptic-themed Netflix thriller stars Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke mounted up views, dropping in heavy foreshadowing, symbolism and a tonne of references.
But there's a particular scene in the movie that Netflix viewers believe to contain a hidden message.
Spoiler alert!
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There's an ongoing theme of the daughter Rose watching the TV show Friends. As the apocalypse happens - and zero internet - Rose is unable to finish the show.
However, at the end of the movie, Rose finds a neighbour's bunker and finally comes across her saving grace. Just before the film credits roll, she notices a DVD copy of the final season of Friends and proceeds to watch it.
Although quite a simplistic ending for a chaotic and confusing movie, some viewers think the meaning is much deeper than that. Beyond the Easter egg that Julia Roberts guest-starred in the Friends series in Season 2.
Some viewers thought the movie rounded out nicely, whilst others felt there were too many 'unclosed loops' and the ending 'tried to wrap up the movie way too fast', leaving a lot of unanswered questions.
However, one fan thought that the 'movie is scary with how it matches real time. People say the ending is us, seeking comfort in TV and entertainment while the world crumbles.'
Fans are depicting the Friends series as an escape from reality, a distraction from what's really going on.
They added that it 'keeps us distracted by entertainment etc, then when you take away what distracts us from really understanding situations and ppl around us the world would more than likely crumble. And we wouldn’t know how to survive without the distractions they’ve given us.'
But, it looks like fans were in the right ballpark.
The writer and director of the movie - Sam Esmail - commented on the movie's ending saying: 'To me, it represented pure escapism.'
Esmail who also directed Mr. Robot continued: 'In moments of crisis when we’ve lost sight of our common humanity, when we feel isolated, we do want to escape to comfort. And for Rose, I thought her journey wouldn’t be complete until she watched the final episode of her favourite show.'
Overall, fans believe the Netflix film contained many hidden easter eggs throughout, from Jenga's fall to The West Wing references. All the way to the point that Elon Musk believes Netflix used a scene to poke fun at his Tesla car company.
