The End

Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
Denmark
2024
148 mins

Synopsis

Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon star in Joshua Oppenheimer’s (The Act of Killing, SFF 2013) daring narrative debut – a post-apocalyptic musical about the last family on earth.

Deep underground, in a compound inside a salt mine, a nameless wealthy family and their close friends and servants live a seemingly cheery life. Mum (Swinton) fusses over her fine art collection. Dad (Shannon), a former oil baron, reminisces fondly, but maybe a little defensively, about his life and work before the environmental collapse – while Son (George MacKay), too young to remember, writes up his father’s romanticised stories as a memoir. When a young woman (Moses Ingram) shows up unexpectedly, an infatuated Son starts to question the family narrative. This Toronto-selected genre concoction blends dystopian love story with unsettling musical numbers and a cutting satire of privilege and denial.

Like all apocalyptic art, this movie is less a thought experiment than a statement about our present, and in this case a rather pointed one.
Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times
  • Year
    2024
  • Classification
    Unclassified 15+
  • Country
    Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, UK, Sweden, USA
  • Language
    In English
  • Director
    Joshua Oppenheimer
  • Producer
    Signe Byrge Sørensen, Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton
  • Cast
    Tilda Swinton, George Mackay, Moses Ingram
  • Screenwriter
    Rasmus Heisterberg, Joshua Oppenheimer
  • Cinematographer
    Mikhail Krichman
  • Editor
    Niels Pagh Andersen
  • Genre
    Music, Fantasy & Sci-Fi
  • Premiere
    Australian Premiere
  • Company Credits
    Australian Distributor: Madman Entertainment
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Sydney Film festival acknowledges Australia’s First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land, and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country SFF is based.

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