Starring: Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Myha’la Herrold, Kevin Bacon, Farrah MacKenzie, Charlie Evans
OUR RATING: ★★★½
Story:
Netflix apocalyptic thriller written and directed by Sam Esmai. Leave the World Behind (2023) follows Amanda (Julie Roberts) and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke), who are renting a luxurious home for the weekend with their kids, Archie and Rose (Charlie Evans and Farrah Mackenzie). Their vacation is soon upended when two strangers, G.H. (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la Herrold), arrive in the night, bearing news of a mysterious cyberattack and seeking refuge in the house they claim is theirs. The two families reckon with a looming disaster that grows more terrifying by the minute, forcing everyone to come to terms with their places in a collapsing world.
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Best Quotes
Amanda Sandford: [to Clay] It has been such a hellish year for us as, you know, and I just seem to be working every day without even realizing it. And you are just constantly anxious about your job because of all the budget cuts. So, I went online this morning, and I rented us a beautiful house out by the beach.
Clay Sandford: But help me out here, babe. I mean, why today?
Amanda Sandford: Well, when I couldn’t fall back asleep this morning, I came over here. To watch the sunrise. And I saw all these people starting their day with such tenacity. Such verve. All in an effort to make something of themselves. Make something of our world. I felt so lucky to be a part of that. But then, I remembered what the world is actually like. And I came to a more accurate realization. I f***ing hate people.
Amanda Sandford: “Leave the world behind.” That’s what it said on the rental listing, at least.
Rose Sandford: Dad, when we get back to the city, can you take me to see the coffee shop in Friends?
Clay Sandford: I don’t think that’s real, honey. It’s just a set.
Part I – The House
Amanda Sandford: You okay, Rose?
Rose Sandford: I think that ship is heading towards us.
Amanda Sandford: What was that, sweetie?
Amanda Sandford: [referring to the oil tanker ending up on the beach] Meanwhile, the kids seem to have completely gotten over it like it was something they saw on a show. They’re on to the next episode.
Clay Sandford: That’s a good omen. Seeing deer. At least according to Mesoamerican mythology.
Amanda Sandford: Someone’s here. Get a bat.
Clay Sandford: A bat?
Amanda Sandford: Yeah.
Clay Sandford: Why would I have a bat?
G.H. Scott: I’m so sorry to bother you.
Ruth Scott: In case you didn’t know.
Clay Sandford: Well, can I help you?
G.H. Scott: I know it’s late. A knock at the door, way out here.
G.H. Scott: You must be Amanda. Amanda Sandford, right?
Clay Sandford: You two know each other?
G.H. Scott: No. We have not had the pleasure of meeting face-to-face.
'If you're not paranoid by now, it's probably too late.' - Ruth Scott (Leave the World Behind) Share on X
G.H. Scott: See, this is why I much preferred life before the internet, because we would have spoken on the phone. You would have recognized my voice and known that this is our house.
Amanda Sandford: I’m sorry?
G.H. Scott: This is our house. I’m the George you emailed back and forth with.
Amanda Sandford: No. I remember the name. This is your house?
G.H. Scott: I understand how strange this must be for you. Us, turning up like this unannounced. We would have called, you see, but the phones are out.
Amanda Sandford: Yeah, my phone doesn’t seem to have service.
Ruth Scott: It’s almost as if we’re telling the truth.
G.H. Scott: [to Amanda and Clay] I know it’s a surprise, but we thought maybe if you let us stay.
Ruth Scott: Because, again, you know, it is like our house.
Amanda Sandford: Okay, look. I’m sorry. I just, I don’t feel comfortable staying in a house with people I don’t know. It’s a blackout. It could be over in a couple of hours.
Clay Sandford: I mean, it’s a young woman and her father, they look innocent enough.
Amanda Sandford: They’re strangers.
Clay Sandford: They introduced themselves.
Amanda Sandford: They knocked on the door in the middle of the night.
Clay Sandford: Would you rather them burst in?
Amanda Sandford: They scared the s**t out of me.
Clay Sandford: Well, I think, you know, that they were scared too. Right? I mean, they didn’t know what else to do.
Amanda Sandford: Well, here’s an idea. Go to a hotel.
Clay Sandford: This is their home as, you know, the girl kept reminding us.
'You have to understand the patterns that govern the world. You have to learn how to read the curve. It can help you see the future. It holds steady, it promises harmony. It inches up or down, you know that means something.' Share on X
Amanda Sandford: This really doesn’t seem like their house. The board of the Philharmonic? I don’t know. It just all feels like a con to me. They want to stay here? With us? Forget it. I wouldn’t be able to sleep with strangers in the house.
Amanda Sandford: I’m just saying I don’t like the way any of this sounds. Okay? He came here because he doesn’t want to climb a flight of f***ing stairs? Give me a break. All feels a little improvised.
Amanda Sandford: God, what if it’s a scam? What if the blackout, and whatever, that’s just all part of the story?
Clay Sandford: I don’t think they made that up.
Amanda Sandford: Why are you trying so hard to believe everyone except your own wife? Something is happening and I don’t trust them.
Clay Sandford: I think they are scared, nice people who need a place to spend the night.
Amanda Sandford: [to Clay] I wish I had your faith in people.
Amanda Sandford: Well, we’re only talking about a blackout here.
Ruth Scott: A blackout is not nothing. It could be something. The symptom of something bigger, like terrorism, or a bomb, like the one that you said your son would sleep through.
'Nothing frightens me more than a person unwilling to learn, even at their own expense. That's a darkness I will never understand.' - G.H. Scott (Leave the World Behind) Share on X
Clay Sandford: Things always look different by the light of day. I guess self-help clichés are rooted in some truth.
Ruth Scott: I can’t believe we’re staying in the basement. What do we get to do tomorrow? Their laundry?
Ruth Scott: We need to get them out of here.
G.H. Scott: We’re not going to do that by scaring them. They need to think everything’s going to be okay.
Ruth Scott: Everything is going to be okay, isn’t it?
Amanda Sandford: [referring to G.H. and Ruth] There’s just something off about them.
Amanda Sandford: Why didn’t you say anything about what we saw at the beach today? That boat.
Clay Sandford: It was an oil tanker.
Amanda Sandford: Well, why didn’t you? Tell them, I mean.
Clay Sandford: I don’t know. Just seemed like it was piling on. Why didn’t you?
Amanda Sandford: I was afraid.
Clay Sandford: Afraid of what?
Amanda Sandford: That it would confirm something.
Part II – The Curve
Rose Sandford: What’s it called when they used to play old things over and over again?
Amanda Sandford: Reruns.
Rose Sandford: Why do they do that again?
Amanda Sandford: I don’t know, Rosie. We were really bored back then.
'We got to start seeing this for what it is. There is no going back to normal.' - G.H. Scott (Leave the World Behind) Share on X
Rose Sandford: [referring to Friends] I have incredible anxiety about how they’re going to wrap up the show.
Amanda Sandford: Don’t you think you’re taking this a little too seriously?
Amanda Sandford: [to Clay] Why are you being so nonplussed about all of this? Did you forget those people are still in our house? I trusted you to handle this.
Amanda Sandford: [referring to Archie and Rose] I don’t want them to panic over nothing.
Ruth Scott: I don’t want to scare anyone, but I disagree with you.
Amanda Sandford: Disagree with me about what?
Ruth Scott: I don’t think this is nothing.
Amanda Sandford: I had news alerts on my phone this morning. Two of them were about the blackout. But then there was one that said something about maybe hackers were behind it. What? Do you think there’s going to be a meltdown too?
G.H. Scott: Is that what Ruth told you?
Amanda Sandford: Among other horrifying things, yes.
'We f*** each other over all the time, without even realizing it. We f*** every living thing on this planet over and think it'll be fine. And the sick thing is, I think deep down we know we're not fooling anyone.' - Amanda Sandford Share on X
G.H. Scott: Well, obviously Ruth is being a little paranoid.
Ruth Scott: Aren’t you the one who always said, “If you’re not paranoid by now, it’s probably too late?”
G.H. Scott: I’m sure this’ll turn out to be a big nothing.
Rose Sandford: Archie, I saw something this morning. Deer.
Archie Sandford: They’re everywhere, dumba**. They’re like squirrels or pigeons. Who cares?
Rose Sandford: No, this was different. Like they were trying to tell us something.
Rose Sandford: No one cares what I say.
Archie Sandford: That’s probably true.
Ruth Scott: I don’t trust that one of your kids didn’t pee in the pool.
Amanda Sandford: They wouldn’t do that.
Ruth Scott: And yet, we really can’t know, can we?
G.H. Scott: I saw it, you know? A while ago, before all this happened. I looked at the market. And I knew something was coming.
Amanda Sandford: What do you mean?
G.H. Scott: In my line of work, you have to understand the patterns that govern the world. You have to learn how to read the curve. You spend as long as I have doing it, it can help you see the future. It holds steady, it promises harmony. It inches up or down, you know that means something.
'I think we know we're living a lie. An agreed upon mass delusion to help us ignore and keep ignoring how awful we really are.' - Amanda Sandford (Leave the World Behind) Share on X
G.H. Scott: I saw a plane nosedive out of the sky into the ocean. And it wasn’t the first. I no longer think that this is just a couple of teenagers in the Philippines.
Part III – The Noise
Archie Sandford: We’re going to be okay. Right?
Amanda Sandford: Yeah.
Amanda Sandford: Since you’re the one with the crystal ball, what was that? Was that a bomb? A missile?
Ruth Scott: Could have been a power plant explosion.
G.H. Scott: We don’t know anything for certain yet.
Amanda Sandford: You seemed pretty certain a minute ago with your f***ing haunting soliloquy.
G.H. Scott: Nothing’s changed.
Amanda Sandford: Nothing’s changed? Everything has changed. And we’re sitting here, like I don’t know what. Is this what sitting ducks are? Ducks sitting and waiting to be shot?
G.H. Scott: I meant nothing has changed in terms of what we do.
Ruth Scott: We’re safe here. We should just sit tight.
Amanda Sandford: How do you know that we’re safe when you don’t know what the f*** is happening to us?
G.H. Scott: Everything I know I have told you.
Amanda Sandford: I don’t believe you. I haven’t believed you since you walked through that front door.
Ruth Scott: Golly. I wonder what it is about us that makes you so mistrustful.
Amanda Sandford: You always think you know what you’re talking about, don’t you?
Ruth Scott: Well, ain’t that the pot calling the kettle black?
G.H. Scott: Nothing about this makes sense. If they were attacking us, why would they advertise it like this?
G.H. Scott: [as Amanda and Clay are leaving] This is dangerous what you’re doing, for you and your family.
Ruth Scott: Dad. Let them go.
'Haven't you been picking up on what's going on out there? We've all been deserted.' - Danny (Leave the World Behind) Share on X
Amanda Sandford: [to G.H.] I really appreciate you taking care of us, I do. We have to do what’s right for our family. This is in everyone’s best interest.
Ruth Scott: [as Amanda and Clay leave] This is for the better.
G.H. Scott: For who?
Ruth Scott: For us. I don’t want to have to agree with that woman, but she was right.
Amanda Sandford: We’ll look back on this one day and laugh. I guarantee you.
Clay Sandford: The vacation from Hell.
Amanda Sandford: Things get funnier with time. Isn’t that what they say?
Clay Sandford: I think they say it a little differently. But, you know, I know what you mean.
Part IV – The Flood
G.H. Scott: We stay here till we know more.
Amanda Sandford: How much more do we need to know? We’re probably in the middle of a war zone. People we know are likely dead.
Amanda Sandford: We just need to make a plan. We can’t sit here and do nothing. We need to go somewhere.
G.H. Scott: I always thought of myself as a sophisticated man. Someone who had seen the world for what it was. But I have never seen anything like this. So now, I wonder if that thing I always thought about myself was a delusion.
Amanda Sandford: I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. You dig deep enough, it’s probably all a delusion.
G.H. Scott: At its most basic, my work is and always has been about people.
Amanda Sandford: I’m real sorry for you then.
G.H. Scott: And why is that?
Amanda Sandford: Because people are terrible. I mean, f***. Look at the way I treated you.
G.H. Scott: And now we are enjoying a drink together.
Amanda Sandford: I am sorry, by the way. For what I said, did, thought, it doesn’t matter. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.
G.H. Scott: Some of my smartest clients have lost a lot of money because they based their choices on preconceived beliefs instead of truth. Seeing the difference is one of the hardest things a person can do.
Amanda Sandford: When they don’t, and you do, got to be maddening.
G.H. Scott: Depending on the person, I might take a little satisfaction in watching the market punish them.
G.H. Scott: The quiet is so noisy. It’s one of the first things I noticed when we started spending nights here. Found it hard to sleep. Not like at home, where you hear everything. Sirens, traffic, people.
Amanda Sandford: I miss that.
G.H. Scott: Which, the sirens or the people?
Amanda Sandford: I am starting to like you. And that is a bold statement coming from me, because I can’t remember the last time I liked anybody.
G.H. Scott: I have to say, I found you very p**ckly at the outset, but you’ve grown on me.
G.H. Scott: A conspiracy theory about a shadowy group of people running the world is far too lazy of an explanation. Especially when the truth is much scarier.
Amanda Sandford: What is the truth?
G.H. Scott: No one is in control. No one is pulling the strings.
Rose Sandford: [referring to Friends] I’m never going to find out what happens to Ross and Rachel, am I?
Archie Sandford: You’re still on this s**t? Who gives a f***?
Rose Sandford: Well, I do. Obviously.
Archie Sandford: Why do you care so much about that show anyway?
Rose Sandford: They make me happy. I really need that right now. Don’t you? If there’s any hope left in this f***ed up world, I want to at least find out how things turn out for them. I care about them.
Clay Sandford: I really think we’re going to be alright. You know, I mean, in the end, I really do. I mean, even if it is like, an invasion.
Ruth Scott: An invasion?
Clay Sandford: Well, or an occupation?
Ruth Scott: Okay, dude. You know what? I know that you mean well, but your word choices are like freaking me the f*** out.
Amanda Sandford: [as they’re dancing] We’re drunk.
G.H. Scott: We are.
Amanda Sandford: Ah, we’re married. I’m married. You have a wife.
G.H. Scott: I do. Yes. I love her dearly.
Amanda Sandford: We’re in this together with you till things get back to normal.
G.H. Scott: Amanda, we got to start seeing this for what it is. There is no going back to normal.
Rose Sandford: After that, the man drowns in the flood. And so he goes up to heaven and he’s really angry at God, and he tells him, “I prayed to you every day. I thought you loved me. Why didn’t you save me?” And God says, “I sent you a radio report, a rowboat, and a helicopter. What more do you want?”
Rose Sandford: I think I’m done waiting.
Ruth Scott: I’m scared. It’s just us now, isn’t it?
G.H. Scott: What do you mean by that?
Ruth Scott: What I mean is, if the s**t goes down, do you trust these people that are in our house?
Ruth Scott: I don’t trust them.
G.H. Scott: I’m not going to let anything happen to you, if that’s what you’re asking.
Ruth Scott: I’m asking for you to remember that if the world falls apart, trust should not be doled out easily to anyone, especially white people.
G.H. Scott: I got it.
Ruth Scott: Do you? Because we’re sleeping in the basement of our own house for the second night in a row. Just what exactly was the point of letting them back into the house?
G.H. Scott: It was the right thing to do.
Ruth Scott: And that right there. That’s what’s going to f*** us in the end.
Part V – The Last One
Ruth Scott: How are you feeling? Besides your teeth falling out, I mean.
Amanda Sandford: What kind of question is that? He’s obviously sick.
Archie Sandford: I’m not sick, Mom. My teeth just fell out.
Ruth Scott: You cannot leave me here by myself.
G.H. Scott: He’s sick, Ruth. Don’t you see that?
Ruth Scott: Dad, you will never come back. Don’t you see that something is happening? It is happening right now. Whatever it is, it’s happening to Archie, it’s happening to all of us. You can’t leave. The world could be ending out there.
G.H. Scott: That’s why I want you here.
G.H. Scott: I’ll be back.
Ruth Scott: It won’t work. It won’t work out.
G.H. Scott: It will, there’s no choice.
Amanda Sandford: I just want to know what the f*** is happening. I want to know what the f*** is the plan. I want to know that we can find my kid, and then get in your f***ing expensive car, and drive to an actual hospital, find a doctor who will tell me that my baby is okay, that we’re all going to be okay, and then we can just all go back to our house.
Ruth Scott: Yeah. Well, what if that’s not possible?
Amanda Sandford: I want to get the f*** away from here, and you, and whatever is happening.
Ruth Scott: It’s happening to all of us.
Ruth Scott: You don’t care. You don’t care that I’m here. And my mom is probably at the bottom of some ocean. I don’t have anyone else in my life. I have nothing to go home to but them. Do you understand that? And I need my mom more than ever. And I will probably never see her again.
Amanda Sandford: I care. I do. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about that, but I do care.
Amanda Sandford: [to Ruth] Every day, all day, my job, my whole job is to understand people well enough so that I know how to lie to them, so I can sell them things they don’t really want. And when you study people like that, when you really see the way they treat each other, well… You’re no dummy. You see what they do, and they do it without even thinking about it. F***. I did it to you and your dad, and I don’t even really know why.
Amanda Sandford: We f*** each other over all the time, without even realizing it. We f*** every living thing on this planet over and think it’ll be fine, because we use paper straws, and order the free range chicken. And the sick thing is, I think deep down we know we’re not fooling anyone. I think we know we’re living a lie. An agreed upon mass delusion to help us ignore and keep ignoring how awful we really are.
Ruth Scott: I’m not down with most of the things that you do and say, but this is the part of the Venn diagram where we overlap. I agree with everything you just said. But as awful as people might be, nothing’s going to change the fact that we are all we’ve got.
Amanda Sandford: I don’t want to be this way. I hate being terrible like this. And I know I say I hate people, but I’d do anything to have them back.
Danny: Something is afoot. Now, what that is exactly, I don’t know. Maybe this is as much as we’re ever going to know. Maybe we just need to sit tight, be safe. Pray. Whatever works for you.
Danny: Nothing makes a whole lot of sense right now. When the world doesn’t make any sense, I can still do what’s rational, which is protect my own. What you do is your business.
Danny: You’re in a difficult position. I get it. I would do anything I had to for my family. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m locking the doors. I’m waiting, I’m watching. I’m getting out my gun. Other than that, I don’t have any answers for you.
G.H. Scott: Come on, Danny. You can’t desert us like this.
Danny: Haven’t you been picking up on what’s going on out there, George? We’ve all been deserted.
G.H. Scott: I promised this boy’s mother I’d get him some help.
Danny: The only thing you’re helping him to is a quick death unless you lower your weapons.
Clay Sandford: G.H., put the gun down. We’ll find another way to the hospital.
G.H. Scott: There is no other way!
Clay Sandford: I have no idea what I am supposed to do right now. I can barely do anything without my cell phone and my GPS. I am a useless man. But my son is sick. And my daughter is missing. And I don’t know what to do.
Clay Sandford: [to Danny] What would you do if it was your family? That’s what I’m doing. It’s the only thing I can do. I am begging you. Please. Please help my son.
Danny: Well, I guess an old fashioned barter system was to be expected at some point.
Clay Sandford: It’s still cash, so it’s not really a barter system.
Danny: We made a lot of enemies around the world. Maybe all this means is a few of them teamed up.
Ruth Scott: I saw flamingos in our pool last night. The animals, they’re trying to warn us. They know something. They know something that we don’t. It’s like when dogs know storms are coming.
Clay Sandford: You know something.
G.H. Scott: I had a sneaking suspicion, but I wanted more information first. All signs were there, sure, but I didn’t want to scare anyone. You’d have called me crazy because it is crazy. It would have made more sense if we were on the brink of an all-out invasion, but this, I didn’t think we’d actually let something like this happen. I thought we were smarter than that.
G.H. Scott: [after confirming a political coup d’état is happening] This program was considered the most cost-effective way to destabilize a country. Because if the target nation was dysfunctional enough, it would, in essence, do the work for you. Whoever started this wants us to finish it.
[we then see Amanda and Ruth see the city being bombed, and Rose finds a DVD of the last episode of Friends at the neighbor’s bunker and watches it]