"I fucking hate people," declares Amanda Sandford, played by Julia Roberts, on camera at the start of Leave the World Behind. No more than her husband Clay, Ethan Hawke, a writer in need of inspiration, can Amanda lay claim to being humanity's hope. It's these characters' nihilism that makes Sam Esmail's, (Mr. Robot, Homecoming) film so interesting.
Esmail's screenplay, loosely adapted from the novel by Rumaan Alam, allows the film to mutate twice. The social satire shows a middle-class Brooklyn couple and their two children (Farrah Mackenzie and Charlie Evans), a little girl obsessed with making it to the last episode of Friends and a teenager obsessed with what teenagers are obsessed with, arriving at the large Long Island house they have rented for the weekend – the family is finally able to access the luxury they think they deserve. And then the movie becomes a thriller. As their phone, TV and Internet fail, a father (Mahershala Ali) and daughter (Myha'la Herrold) ring the doorbell in the middle of the night, claiming to be the owners of the house. Amanda's racist impulses and Clay's cowardice blow away the first layer of civility.
When the reality of the situation hits home – a massive cyberattack has hit the telecommunications, transport and energy systems – it's no longer civility that's at risk but civilization as a whole. What sets Leave the World Behind apart from other apocalyptic films is its chronological insertion: Esmail prefers to focus on the moment of change rather than on the efforts of survivors in an already devastated world. There's no transcendence in the ordeal either. The heroes' flaws, abundantly exposed in the first part of the film, remain. The only question is whether our anti-heroes can cope with their flaws.
It's up to the actors to answer the question. Roberts is magnificently monstrous, Hawke pathetic and repulsive, and Ali hieratic and fragile. In between the bravura set-pieces (which are successful enough not to list, the pleasure lies in the novelty and excellence of the digital special effects), the actors sketch out what the world might be like afterward. If we are to believe the magnificent trio of Ali, Hawke and Kevin Bacon, who plays a survivalist who has finally been vindicated by history, there will be no world to leave behind.
Film by Sam Esmail, with Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Myha'la Herrold, on Netflix from Friday, December 8.