Leave the World Behind Parent Guide

The fate of Amanda Sandford’s (Julia Roberts) family turns on her insomnia. Unable to sleep, Amanda impulsively goes online and books a weekend rental on Long Island. An escape from other people, she believes, is just what her family needs.

Amanda, her husband, Clay (Ethan Hawke), and children, Archie and Rose (Charlie Evans and Farrah Mackenzie) are delighted with the large, airy house. Time spent by the pool is followed by a trip to the beach – where the vacation takes a turn for the worse. Amanda’s strained nerves have barely recovered when she hears a knock at the door.

Outside the house stand a man and young woman in evening dress. The man introduces himself as G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali), owner of the house they are renting. A power outage in NYC spurred his trip to his home and he hopes to stay the night along with his daughter, Ruth (Myha’la).

Amanda and Clay are rattled by the Scotts’ appearance; Amanda is overwhelmed by suspicion that bleeds into paranoia. This is where the movie hits its stride - frightened strangers, unsure of what’s happening in the outside world, trapped in a house together. With cell phones and the internet down, there’s no way to know for sure who people really are or what’s going on…

Leave the World Behind is a wonderfully unsettling movie. It masterfully builds tension, adding layer upon layer of uncertainty. Through the first acts, it’s not even clear what kind of movie this is going to be – a thriller? A psychological horror flick? A natural disaster or war movie? We are as much in the dark as the characters, anxiously awaiting more information.

The uncertainty in the plot magnifies the weaknesses in the characters. Amanda is forced to address her constant anger and misanthropy. G.H. must confront information he has received but didn’t want to believe. And Clay discovers his own capacity for self-preservation in a crisis. All of the cast members deliver solid performances that never distract from the movie’s story.

More than just excavating its characters’ flaws, this script exposes the fractures in American society. It illustrates the corrosive effects of suspicion, division, mistrust, and conspiracism, and demonstrates how they exacerbate the crisis at the heart of the narrative.

This is a taut, edge-of-your-seat film, with a suitably eerie soundtrack, but it comes with enough negative content for a Restricted rating. There are some violent scenes, including planes crashing and dead, dismembered bodies found on a beach. A character also gets ill, vomits blood, and spits out teeth. Stressed adults are seen getting drunk and vaping marijuana. Characters of all ages use a significant amount of profanity, including over 30 sexual expletives.

Leave the World Behind is one of the most interesting movies I’ve watched all year. I never knew what was coming, never got bored (a minor miracle in this job), and spent the entire runtime glued to the screen and speculating about the plot. I was worried that the story’s resolution wouldn’t equal the wind-up – and I was right. The ending feels like a bit of an anti-climax, but getting there is such a tense ride that I’m not going to complain.