The Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All At Once is coming to Netflix, but what happens at the end of the film?
The action-comedy-drama film was NME’s film of the year for 2022, and centres around a Chinese-American woman who discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse.
The film’s star Michelle Yeoh, who won an Oscar for the role, confirmed in an interview last summer that there would be no sequel to the film. “We would just be doing the same thing,” she explained.
Yeoh went on to say that the film proved that audiences are hungry for fresh concepts in Hollywood, and aren’t interested in rehashing old ideas: “It’s just a matter of pushing the envelope and refusing to say that this is the ‘normal way.’ In the ‘normal way,’ would ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ would have been nominated? Chances are no, five to ten years ago.”
Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is now the world’s most-awarded movie ever, clinched several other top prizes at last year’s Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
In a rave review, NME wrote: “By weaving together so much action, drama, comedy, sci-fi and general invention, Daniels repeatedly set high bars for their movie to clear. Most of the time they do so easily – a wild joke will turn into a wilder running gag, or the actors will deliver a touching scene while voicing a pair of inanimate objects.”
Co-director Daniel Kwan responded to winning NME‘s Film Of The Year by saying: “It’s been a really good year for film, especially after the past few years where the pandemic made people funny about releases. We’ve been watching so many movies that we’ve fallen in love with, for so many different reasons. The fact people are putting us near the top of that list is so flattering. We might disagree with you, but it’s okay. We’re very grateful. Thank you. I can’t believe we got number one!”
Everything Everywhere All At Once’s ending explained: Does Evelyn return to her own universe?
As the film nears its climax, we see Evelyn being drawn by Jobu, the nihilistic alter-ego of her daughter Joy, towards the Everything Bagel. Jobu wants to convince Evelyn that nothing matters in the universe, and to join her by jumping into the Bagel and therefore into oblivion.
Joy is at first persuaded by Jobu’s argument, but at the last second, she hears her husband Waymond, back in her original universe, and his pleas for kindness and compassion.
Evelyn’s mind is changed, and she follows her husband’s advice and uses her multiverse powers to bring happiness to the other universes.
Eventually, Evelyn returns to her own universe, and reconciles with Joy, accepting her same-sex relationship. They embrace, save Jobu from the Bagel and return to Jamie Lee Curtis’ IRS inspector Deirdre in an effort to refile their tax returns.