An unfriendly ending

Over the Christmas break I found myself in that void of scrolling through the channels whilst proclaiming 'there's nothing to watch!' I eventually landed upon a new Netflix release, Leave the World Behind, and settled in for what I thought would be a fairly typical apocalyptic thriller.

The film starts with a family leaving their home to go on a last-minute holiday where a series of increasingly bizarre events occur. An oil tanker runs aground on a busy beach, mobile and internet connections drop (causing a disruption to a Friends binge watch), deer start behaving oddly, and the owner of the family's rented holiday house suddenly appears in the middle of the night. Over a slow build we get closer to understanding what the cause of these strange events might be.

In a typical disaster movie, we would recognise this as a core part of the film – our courageous characters would figure out what's happening, face one last big dangerous challenge, they'd beat the odds, and they'd finish the film as tired but euphoric survivors.

But Leave the World Behind is not a typical apocalyptic thriller or disaster movie. It doesn't end with a happily ever after, or even a sadly ever after. Instead, it just ends. You think you're reaching a pivotal point in the movie where the pieces will fall together and then it just ends. No nice and tidy wrap up. No closure. Just the end credits.

At first I found myself incredibly frustrated – I felt like I had just wasted two and a half hours of my life. Frantic googling to see whether a sequel was planned revealed that the film is based on a book of the same name which ends in a similar way. Sam Esmail, the film's director (pictured above), has repeatedly stated that he knew this ending would be controversial but that he felt it would be important to leave it open to interpretation.

In the following days I found myself reflecting on why I, and so many other viewers, found Leave the World Behind so unsatisfying and uncomfortable. Is there a difficulty in sitting with uncertainty, particularly given all the unrest and challenging situations in the world? Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we've been living in a world full of enduring challenges with no clear idea of what an 'end point' would even look like. Many of us turn to TV and film to escape the real world and feel better – we like neatly wrapped packages of entertainment. This film will not give you that.

But once I got my head around this, my perceptions began to change. For those who decide to give it a go, there's an opportunity for interesting insights into human responses to a lack of closure, both for the characters and the viewers. Psychologists may also be particularly interested in following online audience reactions after watching.

Regardless of the ending, this is a decent take on a disaster movie which does keep you guessing about what will happen next. It's something to experience, even if the lack of an ending makes it feel like it's not your day, your week, your month, or even your year...

• Reviewed by Dr Ashleigh Johnstone, Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Arden University