Review: Leave the World Behind (2023)

Leave the World Behind, the hit Netflix thriller written and directed by Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, tells an intriguing and mostly satisfying apocalyptic story. Based on the 2020 novel by Rumaan Alam, the story taps into the discontent and concern about where the world is headed that seem to pervade Western societies. As such, Leave the World Behind is successful as a movie for this moment.

On a whim, to ease her melancholy and misanthropy, Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) decides to take a last minute vacation with her husband, Clay (Ethan Hawke), and their two kids, Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) and Archie (Charlie Evans), from Brooklyn to a swanky rental home on Long Island. A few strange occurrences—whether mundane (the Wi-Fi and cable aren’t working), more unusual (deer keep showing up and standing around in the backyard), or downright shocking (an oil tanker malfunctions and hits the beach the Sandfords are on)—signal to the audience that all is not well. Then, during the middle of their first night in the home, G. H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter, Ruth (Myha’la), show up at the door saying they are the home owners and asking to stay the night. Amanda had only communicated via email with the renter. Furthermore, the odd explanation that G. H. provides for why they are showing up all of sudden doesn’t satisfy the skeptical Amanda. 

I haven’t read the novel, but Esmail’s film, with its narrative that combines a possible home invasion scenario with a slow-burning apocalyptic disaster, plays like a mash-up of the indirect yet careful framing of M. Night Shyamalan, the attention to social dynamics of Jordan Peele, and the apocalyptic ambiguities of Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter. Depending on how you read that last sentence will likely determine a lot about your openness to this movie and its ending. Leave the World Behind also boasts a strong cast, inventive camerawork, and careful editing. This is a smart, enjoyable thriller.

The film’s strongest characteristic, however, is how the story taps into a dozen or more different threads about what is wrong with the world, so that people from across political and social spectrums can see aspects of their own concerns reflected by the narrative forebodings. Do you fear ecological transformation? Systemic racism? Extreme wealth inequality? Hackers and cyber attacks? The insufficiencies and vulnerabilities of “smart” technology? Social degradation through reliance on said technology? The vapidity of the younger generation? The emasculation of men? The privilege of men? Cabals of world elites? War with North Korea, China, or Russia? If you do, there’s some anxiety here for you. While the approach could have been unfocused, Esmail manages to touch on these many different concerns in a way that is coherent, for Leave the World Behind, as the title suggests, is about the bigger picture and not any one issue.

While I think this many-tendriled quality is largely effective in regard to the themes, a similar quality in regard to character development is less effective. There are several dramatic interactions and turns in character that do not seem fully formed or convincing, and that do not quite fit smoothly into the progress of the larger narrative. Although these scenes allow Esmail to tease out different possibilities and reveal new facets of the characters, they also get in the way of the inevitability of the bigger picture. 

There are a few other awkward parts. Too much of Amanda’s supposedly intense misanthropy is revealed through unconvincing semi-monologues (other characters stand passively by, listening). There are also a few narrative elements, such as the deer, that are never quite clarified.

That said, it’s hard to judge all these unclipped threads as Esmail is clearly intent on creating an ambiguous film that withholds conventional closure. So how much is necessary to that end and how much is just a flaw in the storytelling? 

I don’t want to say too much else about the plot, since the pleasure is in seeing things unfold. But be forewarned. This is a slow-build. As a narrative, this is more Twilight Zone than Roland Emmerich, arriving at a smart punch rather than wrapping everything up.

7 out of 10

Leave the World Behind (2023, USA)

Directed by Sam Esmail; screenplay by Sam Esmail, based on the book by Rumaan Alam; starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans, and Kevin Bacon.

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