Image from IMDB, Paramount Pictures
Obvious spoilers!
Warnings: Talking about death, suicide, mental health, depression, cancer, and loss.
I would like to preface that this is a very surface level analysis and I have not read the book. I would love to read it at some point, but this analysis will be about the movie only.
Words can't really describe how I feel about this movie. I absolutely love the visuals, especially the bear and the humanoid flowers. The five main characters are great and I love how they interact. What I want to write about though is my interpretation of the movie, and what I thought about the sequence of events that unfolded.
The main interpretation of the movie’s themes and storytelling elements that I see online is that it's a story about depression. I, however, viewed it as a film about cancer. This made sense to me after the ending, and aligns with my thought process while I was watching the movie. I will also be completely honest, this is a very literal interpretation.
The first thing I kept note of when starting the movie was how Lena was giving a lecture to a class about cells undergoing mitosis. Specifically, the sample she was looking at was a tumor forming under a microscope. I had a suspicion that this was foreshadowing when I first saw it, and in a way I was right. Throughout the movie, a common theme is about the splitting of cells and how biology changes things.
I think the main five protagonists can be viewed as a kind of support group. They’re all people going through the same predicament and all of them have their own background and struggles. Throughout the movie, we know that all of them except Lena die in some way, some ways more horrific than others. I think that the character’s deaths can show how some people approach having a possibly terminal disease such as cancer.
Cassie Sheppard, a geomorphologist, is the first one in the group to die. She is killed by the mutated bear in the middle of the night while talking to Lena and Dr. Ventress. She could very well represent a person who was unaware of their illness until it was far too late to the point her life was pretty much over. When Cass was killed by the bear, Josie believes that her mind was refracted into the bear, and all that was left of her by the time she died was fear and pain.
Anya Thorenson, a paramedic, is the second in the group to die. She is also killed by the bear after Cass’s mind is refracted into the bear’s mind. The bear used Cass’s voice to mimic cries for help and lure Anya in, killing her after. Anya’s death could represent resistance to the illness, fighting and denying it until it is too late and she ultimately dies.
Josie Radek, a physicist, has a sad but peaceful death. After telling Lena about her theory on what happened to Cass, she accepts what lies ahead. To avoid all the pain and fear of death, she accepts having her being refracted into the human plants. Josie’s death could represent someone who comes to terms with their illness and is ready to die. It is a peaceful death. No protest, no pain, no fear, just quiet acceptance. And just like that, she was gone.
Dr. Ventress’s death confused me a bit, but I think I understand. I think it will make a bit more sense once I explain my thoughts on the end sequence at the lighthouse. When Lena finds Dr. Ventress in the hole in the lighthouse, she turns into mandelbulb, which is what Lena’s doppelganger is formed out of. Reaching the lighthouse was the ultimate goal of Dr. Ventress and Lena, and I see it as the root of the cancer/tumor. I will explain more later. I think Dr. Ventress represents someone who got treatment for their disease, but succumbed and passed away regardless. I think it's interesting. There is a point in the movie where the man in the hazmat suit interviewing Lena after the events of the movie even states that Dr. Ventress had cancer anyways. This is also a case that supports the fact that the movie is about depression, which I will touch on later as well.
Lena is the only protagonist who doesn’t die. The way I viewed the ending sequence, is that the phosphor grenade is representative of treatment/chemotherapy. This is why once the doppelganger is lit on fire and the literal root of the cancer is destroyed, the rest of it goes as well.
Throughout the movie, a common element is the shimmer slowly enveloping and devouring everything it comes across. Lena’s blood cells split into shimmered cells, the same way a cancer replicates in the body. Dr. Ventress and Lena talking about how it is human nature to self destruct, could literally be about how the body is built to self district with cancerous growths. Kane and Lena’s eyes showing shimmer while they hug in the last scene of the movie can show how hard it is to kill off all cancer cells in the body. The shimmer itself is a cancer to earth that is slowly spreading and killing/mutating everything it touches. And in a way, the five protagonists are a cancer to the shimmer, slowly being fought off by its immune system.
These are the main reasons why I believe that the movie’s story is about cancer. It's a story about a woman whose husband is back after 12 months of being presumed dead in a battle, being completely different from when he first left. If you have ever had to go through chemo/immunotherapy, it is incredibly mentally and emotionally taxing on a person. The person going through the therapy loses a part of themselves, as they continue to go through so much pain and illness just to keep living. The shimmer in the movie causes so much pain and illness to these five protagonists and many of them succumb to it. All except one.
This is the main reason why I believe the movie is about cancer. However, I will acknowledge that the themes presented also heavily coincide with mental health, suicide, and depression.
Cancer itself could be a metaphor for depression, as they both slowly consume a person’s life until it eventually leads to death. Kane could represent a person who has attempted suicide but failed and has been living with depression for a long time. This could explain why he is a husk of his former self when we see him at the start of the movie.
A depression theme could also be hinted at by the fact that the first person to talk to Lena when she wakes up in intensive care is a psychiatrist, however, that is a bit on the nose. The scene where Josie gets attacked by the alligator could represent a depressive episode, where the only thing that saved her is support from other people. The bear itself could also represent a successful suicide attempt, as it kills both Cass and Anya. The bear mimicking Cass’s voice could very well show how much Anya misses Cass and can’t handle the grief of her loss. This could be why she pushes the other three away, tying them up and threatening them.
When Lena and Dr. Ventress are talking about humanity’s instinct of self distruction, they could be talking about how easy it is for someone to develop depression and start having suicidal ideals. Kane being replaced by his doppelganger shows how depression has caused him to repress and in a way kill who he truly was and his true feelings. He doesn’t want to think about how he truly feels and his depression, hence why he has become a shell of a person. The phosphor grenade I think still represents help in this theme. By receiving help and Lena killing this part of her that causes her harm, she literally burns down the delusions set up by the shimmer. The shimmer in Kane and Lena’s eyes could show how while they still have these emotions, they aren’t being controlled and having their lives be dictated by them.
I think there are parts of the movie that support and disprove both the theme of cancer and depression. Maybe Alex Garland intended for the theme of the movie to be ambiguous, and if so then that's pretty cool. For example, I’d be unsure of what the alligator attack would represent if we went with the cancer theme. Maybe it would represent a misdiagnosis or something like that. I'm also unsure about what the man with the slithering organs would represent. Maybe it could show how Lena is still a closed off individual, how she would pretend that everything is okay when in reality, she and the person she is closest to is suffering. Another one is the deer. I think they could possibly represent a distraction. Something nice amidst all the pain and chaos.
Ultimately, I really loved this movie. I would love to read the book at some point, as it might change how I view certain elements of the overall story. I think it would also be fun to compare and contrast parts of the book and movie to see how they differ. Thank you for reading this if you did. I understand that this analysis is all over the place, but I needed a place to write down my thoughts on this film before I forgot all of it. I definitely want to rewatch it again at some point.