Warning: This article contains spoilers!
Initially seen as a quiet indie film, Everything Everywhere All At Once, the latest effort from directing team Daniels and producers A24, has become a classic since its premiere at South by Southwest. Grossing nearly $60 million USD at global box offices, the film has been praised for its complex plot carried by legendary actors Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and newcomer Stephanie Hsu.
The film opens on Evelyn, a Chinese-American woman played by Michelle Yeoh who is struggling with both her financial and romantic situations. As her father arrives from China to prepare for a Lunar New Year celebration, Evelyn must attend a tax audit [1] regarding her family’s laundromat situation. At the same time, her husband is contemplating divorce due to her anger and unhappiness at home. To add even more stress to the situation, Evelyn is constantly fighting with her daughter, Joy, who feels distanced from and unhappy with her mother.
As Evelyn sits in her audit, surrounded by those she is fighting with, her husband Waymond’s body is taken over by his consciousness from another universe. Waymond explains to Evelyn that each choice made leads to the creation of a new possible universe, and all possible decisions create a vast multiverse of alternate versions of the same person. He states that he is from the “Alphaverse'' wherein Evelyn is a famous scientist that discovered how to move across different worlds.
In the Alphaverse, Joy has become a powerful figure who is able to freely and easily move across dimensions. She has begun destroying worlds and collecting them into what she calls an “everything bagel”—a ring of matter which includes all memories, objects, stories, and people from across the entire multiverse.
Upon learning about the grave danger the universe is in, Evelyn sets out to explore the multiverse, looking at all the possible experiences she could have had. Across some of the iterations shown, Evelyn is a sign-spinner, kung-fu master, teppanyaki chef, and even a woman with hot dogs instead of fingers. By reviewing many of her major life choices, Evelyn sees the massive chaos of the multiverse, and begins to understand Joy’s nihilism [2].
As she and her daughter stare at the everything bagel, Evelyn considers how things could be if she simply gave up on trying to save the world. She briefly considers entering the bagel with her daughter, but comes to realize from her experiences with Waymond that love and care is enough to give meaning to life. In one of the film’s most poignant moments, the entire family reconciles and embraces one another inside of the laundromat, a scene so emotional that the IRS auditor allows the Wangs to redo their taxes.
In the emotional conclusion to the film, Evelyn and her daughter’s relationship has greatly improved. The family is seen having dinner, laughing and enjoying time with one another. After sharing a romantic moment with her husband in the lobby of the IRS building, Evelyn feels more confident than ever to confront her audit. As the film closes, hints of the previous multiverse chaos are shown, but Evelyn decides to stay with her family—happy and safe.
The film’s complex metaverse plot, with its rich morality and complicated character dramas, received widespread critical acclaim. Despite the small budget, Everything Everywhere All At Once managed to deliver a powerful message about the importance of love and compassion for family and friends.
Due to the complicated multiversal plot, each actor portrayed a diverse range of personalities and attitudes, making the roles particularly challenging. Therefore, it is remarkable that all of them rose to the challenge [3] of carrying such a complex plot.