THE END
THE END
THE END
Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden
SYNOPSIS
Twenty-five years after environmental collapse left the Earth uninhabitable, Mother, Father and Son are confined to their palatial bunker, where they struggle to maintain hope and a sense of normalcy by clinging to the rituals of daily life – until the arrival of a stranger, Girl, upends their happy routine. Son, a naïve twenty-something who has never seen the outside world, is fascinated by the newcomer, and suddenly the delicate bonds of blind optimism that have held this wealthy clan together begin to fray. As tensions rise, their seemingly idyllic existence starts to crumble, with long-repressed feelings of remorse and resentment threatening to destroy the family’s delicate balance. But their reckoning with difficult truths also points to a different way forward, one based on acceptance, love, and a capacity for change.
CREDITS
Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer
Written by: Rasmus Heistenberg, Joshua Oppenheimer
Produced by: Signe Byrge Sørensen, Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton
Cinematography: Mikhail Krichman
Editing: Niels Pagh Andresen
Production Design: Jette Lehmann
Costume Design: Frauke Firl
Make-Up & Hair: Barbara Kreuzer
Original Score: Josh Schmidt
Sound: Jörg Kidrowski, Henrik Garnov, Per Boström
Visual Effects: Peter Hjorth, Mikael Windelin
Casting: Laura Rosenthal
Cast: Tilda Swinton (Mother), George MacKay (Son), Moses Ingram (Girl), Michael Shannon (Father), Bronagh Gallagher (Friend), Tim McInnerny (Butler), Lennie James (Doctor), Danielle Ryan (Mary)
STATEMENT OF THE DIRECTOR
Other species may have brought about their own extinction, but I can’t imagine they saw it coming. They never discussed it, fretted over it, planned in detail how it might be avoided – and then did nothing.
Imagine how foolish we would appear to them. We see the abyss ahead of us, we know we are racing toward it, yet we do not change course. We tell ourselves the cataclysm will never arrive; the day of reckoning will be postponed. Like in an action film, every time we cut back to the approaching disaster, it’s a little farther away than it should be, giving our hero just enough time to save himself.
- Feature Film Selection 2024