"Leave The World Behind": Thriller with Julia Roberts

Streaming - "Leave The World Behind": Thriller with Julia Roberts

How would you react if there was a knock at the door of your vacation home at night and the supposed owner of the house asked to come in because of an emergency? He seems friendly, wears a smart tuxedo and has his daughter with him. But he can't identify himself.

The dark thriller "Leave The World Behind" contains several such "What would you do?" moments. In the film adaptation of Rumaan Alam's bestseller of the same name, a family outing is overshadowed by mysterious events that put the people involved to the test.

"I wouldn't even open the door," admits Julia Roberts in an interview with the German Press Agency in London and laughs. The Hollywood superstar plays Amanda Sandford, an advertising manager from New York City who books a weekend for herself and her family in a luxury villa in Long Island. The nearest neighbors are far away.

With her husband, university professor Clay (Ethan Hawke) and their children Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie), Amanda wants to "leave the world behind". This is how it is advertised in the brochure for the vacation home, hence the title of the film.

A feeling of tension and fear

There is no internet, telephone or television on site. Something strange happens during a trip to the beach. A huge tanker heads straight for the beach and runs aground. As a viewer, you quickly realize: something is wrong here. "The movie will make people nervous," says director and screenwriter Sam Esmail with a grin in an interview with dpa. "When I try to create a feeling of tension and fear, I don't want to create it artificially, I try to tap into the fears that the audience may already have." The creator of the series "Mr. Robot" succeeds perfectly.

The children are already asleep, Amanda and Clay are enjoying a drink when there's a knock at the door in the middle of the night. A man in a tuxedo (Mahershala Ali) introduces himself as George, the owner of the house. There has been a complete power cut in New York City, so he and his daughter Ruth (Myha'la) have driven to his vacation home for safety reasons. Now he asks to be allowed to spend the night there and offers the Sandfords a discount. Amanda is skeptical and almost hostile. However, Clay convinces his wife to help the strangers. Whether racism plays a role is for the audience to judge.

Roberts doesn't play any of the sweetheart roles she was once famous for. Amanda is exhausting and not always likeable, which is quite understandable in this extreme situation. Mother-of-three Roberts can therefore partially identify with the stressed mother. "I understand that she's a bit suspicious and overprotective," says the 56-year-old. "She has her two kids in the house and it's the middle of the night. She's just trying to process and make sense of things that don't make sense, and that doesn't exactly bring out her most charming side."

Creepy incidents all round

That same evening, a message appears on the TV: the USA has declared a national emergency. What exactly has happened remains unclear. But George obviously knows more than the others. The next day, the eerie incidents pile up: deafening noises, drones distributing leaflets, the sudden appearance of wild animals, a plane crash. A scene with self-driving Tesla cars is one of the highlights. The fear, tensions and mistrust between the people in the luxurious villa increase.

The film develops a very uneasy atmosphere early on, thanks in part to original camera angles and the menacing score by Mac Quayle ("Mr. Robot", "American Horror Story"). Sam Esmail was clearly inspired by grand master Alfred Hitchcock, the legendary director of shockers such as "Psycho" and "The Birds". "Of course", Esmail confirms in an interview with the German Press Agency. "Honestly, if any filmmaker out there says they weren't influenced by Hitchcock, they're probably lying."

What Esmail particularly loves about Hitchcock: "The fact that you get close to his characters and it's all about them. That's what I wanted to achieve with this movie," says the 46-year-old. "It's a disaster movie, but the focus is on the characters, the disaster is secondary and lies somewhere in the distance." The fact that the actual disaster is so far away and you are left guessing what has happened until the - open - end is an important aspect of the suspense.

Top-class cast

Oscar winner Julia Roberts ("Erin Brockovich"), two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali ("Moonlight", "Green Book") and Ethan Hawke, who has already been nominated four times for an Oscar, give top performances in "Leave The World Behind". The desperation and helplessness of the protagonists is palpable. All it takes is for one of the protagonists to look out of the window in fear. Kevin Bacon shines in a supporting role as Danny. Danny is a prepper and possible conspiracy theorist - or does he simply know more?

"Leave The World Behind" is an intelligent and highly suspenseful thriller that is frighteningly realistic and thought-provoking. The Netflix production (start 8.12.), whose executive producers include Barack and Michelle Obama, was unfortunately only shown in cinemas for a short time in order to qualify for the Oscars. Ironically, "Leave The World Behind" shows - intentionally or not - the pitfalls of streaming and the advantages of physical media. You can play a DVD or a vinyl record without the internet.