Guy Maddinโs “Rumours” (2024), co-directed by Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, is a satire so absurd and farcical that it almost deliberately tries to pivot away from making too deep a point, choosing instead to delve into the silliness of the entire endeavor and highlight the stupidity of the administrators responsible for running the world. And thatโs before Maddin brings in his signature nonsensical elements into the film, the big brain on a patch of field becoming a curious signature for a director comfortable in unconventional narratives.
Rumours (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
What does the opening text box signify?
The movie employs its satirical tonality right from the opening beat itself. After the descriptions of the G7 flash across the screen, the consequent line of text reads as a note of thanks to the G7 leaders for the support and consultation for the making of this film. Considering how the leaders of the countries would be represented in the film, it could be safely inferred that this text is a farce. It might have facets of truth in that the team might have studied videos of G7 speeches delivered by different leaders as research, but that โconsultationโ is strictly one-way. After having watched the film, one can safely presume that the anodyne nature of the speeches feels very much inspired by most of the bombastic and ultimately hollow speeches proclaimed in the G7 summits.
What is the item Hilda wants to surprise her colleagues with?
For the G7, who are now meeting at the summit established at the Dankerode village in Germany, the leaders of the summit would finally convene at a peaceful gazebo, led by the Chancellor of Germany, Hilda Ortmann (Cate Blanchett). But before they enter for discussions, they are led to a gravesite, where they are introduced to a recent archaeological discoveryโthe bog people. Exoskeletons or husks with their surface details are kept intact inside those bogs while the bones inside have melted due to the acids inside the bog.
According to the very excited French President Sylvain Brouslet (Denis Menochet), most of these bodies seem to be the long-dead remains of failed leaders of these Germanic groups, disfigured or tortured by their subjects as part of a ritual due to their failure in delivering a good harvest. But for the world leaders, this present specimen of bog body serves as a photo-op, marking the historic beginning of this summit at the Dankerode Castle.
What is the agenda of the G7 summit?
It would be hard enough to get into the minutiae of โRumoursโ as a film because the film itself isnโt remotely interested in conventional narrative elements like plot details. A similar energy could be experienced among world leaders, who hint at a crisis facing the world but never really specify the nature of the crisis either. Instead, they are more involved in talking about past regrets, or rather involved in contemplating their luck about catching up with old friends and basically having a ball.
How does Maxime Laplace contribute to the wackiness of the entire endeavor?
Canadian Prime Minister, Maxime Laplace, who out of the ensemble could be called one of the defining protagonists, also seems to be the only world leader having had discreet relationships with all the women in this film. The first hint of his promiscuity is implied by the somewhat awkward conversation Laplace has with Cardosa Dewint, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, where further conversations would hint at a love affair not ending very amicably.
Laplaceโs personal life, especially a hilariously complicated financial scandal, is of renewed interest amongst the members of the G7. Contrary to what Sylvain suggests that โeverything is importantโ among the G7, nothing actually is. The world leaders are less movers and shakers and more gossip mongers who are acting like a pair of schoolgirls having come together for a sleepover.
Later on, when the group realizes that they have been left alone at the gazebo, and as night falls, he wants to go find help. Cardosaโs tacit refusal to accompany him results in him reacting like an angsty teenager after a bad breakup. After which he walks out of the gazebo and ambles onto a grove in the forest. He is accompanied by Hilda, who tries to persuade him to come back and ensure they stick together. Instead, Hilda is impressed by Maximeโs apparent emotional depth and vulnerability, and the two of them consummate their mutual passions in the grove.
Laplaceโs virility, as explained in the previous two paragraphs, isnโt simply restricted to the females in the group either. When Sylvainโs leg begins to malfunction as a result of having fallen down the grave of the bog body while searching for the papers of the speech that had flown off from the gazebo, Laplace has no choice but to carry the heavyset man in his arms through the forest, which Sylvain appreciates quite a bit.
Laplace also apparently had a relationship with Celestine Sproul (Alicia Viking), the Secretary General of the European Commission, as evidenced by the group in their baffling trek through the woods and finding Celestineโs briefcase and her papers in the woods. Maxime decides to burn those papers, citing her privacy, while Edison Walcott (the President of the United States) acknowledges that on this cold night, it would be better to enjoy the fire unleashed due to Maximeโs passion.
Considering the film’s last act also has Laplace being the sole point of connection between an apparent AI disguised as a little girl, so as to counter allegations of pedophilia, it could be assumed that Laplace is an overall representation of Canada in its overbearing nature of friendship with other nations, irrespective of its sharing of politics.
How incompetent are the leaders of the G7?
The entire film itself is a lightly scathing look at the incompetence of world leaders to execute anything substantial and instead intent on delivering platitudes on the world stage. It is quite evident in the groupโs attempts at writing down an important speech. Even before the commencement of the writing, the group was emphatically stating that this speech โshould matter,” with Walcott further acknowledging that in times of crisis, the people look at them for surety.
Instead though, for an overachiever and yet utter nincompoop President of France, Sylvain Broulez, who teams up with Prime Minister of Japan, Tazuo Iwasaki, his ideas of the self-importance of the speechโs content are in sharp contrast to what would actually be written on the page, which is utterly and completely inconsequential. The delusion of Broulez leads him to search for his speech and fall into the muddy grave, which is also heavily implied to have fast-tracked the rise of the bog-bodies. Broulezโs leg also failed him, leading him to be disabled for the rest of the journey, further emphasizing Franceโs failure to actually execute anything meaningful without the support of other superpowers. He would instead, in the interim, try to work on the speech, leading to an extended section of the speech where the G7 would inaugurate a sundial in honor of the summit.
Meanwhile, Japanโs regret, as well as its frustration, seems to stem from its inability to move past its lost decade of the ’90s, which it had suffered as a result of economic mismanagement. Hilda, representing Germany, is far too involved as the host of the G7 summit, knowledgeable about all the nuances of the rest of the members of the group, and yet awkward around handling politically sensitive matters. She wonders about including racist diatribes from a play but is dissuaded by the overly politically correct Prime Minister of Britain, so involved she is in protocol and maintaining the status quo. She is far more content that their interactions havenโt gone off the rails even as the situations around them have, and a world war hasnโt broken out.
Italy is still awkward around the rest of the group, just happy to be part of this group. This is why Prime Minister Antonio Lamorte is more than happy to write down the sleepy and tired delusions of President Walcott as parts of the speech, or having pieces of meat that he could take out of his coat pocket to ensure that the group stays fed.
As for President Edison Walcott (Charles Dance), he is the closest representation of a real-life political counterpart. At over 80 years old, he is way past the age required to run a country, not having the requisite energy to even brave a jungle trek, but still has the arrogance and pride of the worldโs superpower on his shoulders. He is also happy to trade war stories, content to conflate the bog bodies with the protesters, and considers protesters as the most significant danger to these leaders far more than any other instance. There are also instances where Walcott decides to stop participating in the trek and instead decides to just lay there and die, preferring to have been assassinated rather than being sloughed off by old age.
The irony is this association of each of the leaders as symbolic representations of their country is the easiest reading any critical thinker would make, and the movie lampoons that sentiment as well, with Broulez literally wondering whether they are representing their countries’ current state in the geopolitical climate, before being suddenly distracted. It is emblematic of Maddinโs filmmaking ethos throughout this movie – his disinterest in actually providing a deep political commentary, and instead just crafting a darkly comic absurdist romp.
What is the significance of the bog bodies?
The inciting incident of the film is the rise of the bog bodies as zombie creatures, which leads the group to escape into the forest. Though, unlike zombies, these bog bodies donโt actually cause harm to the group. They instead prefer to jerk off in front of a campfire, with their โseedโ extinguishing the flames. It is implied that these bog bodies and their ineffectualness represent not just the outlook these leaders have towards their countrymen but also their own ineffectualness on the world stage and in their inability to solve the crisis.
What is the significance of the brain?
In the trip around the jungle, Maximeโs discovery of Celestine Sproulโs belongings leads him to a desperate search for his ex-lover. According to Hilda, this being Maximeโs birthday is making him further vulnerable. But it is in this search that he comes upon a large human brain lying on the ground. He touches the brain and its striations before suddenly finding Celestine Sproul beside the brain, looking frantically through her notes. She takes some time to recognize Maxime before trying to communicate with him about the significance of the brain.
The problem is that it’s not a language that any of the leaders could immediately recognize and decode. The French and Japanese leaders wonder whether she is speaking an olden or dead language before Hilda finally decodes it to be Swedish. Funnily though the movie, through subtitles, ensures that viewers understand what Celestine is actually trying to state, except the viewers are kept in the dark as well, because of the portentous abstraction.
What we could finally understand somewhat is that the presence of a diverse consortium from the world of tech and finance is sending a message through Celestine. The presence of the brain could signify the presence of an alien being that had resulted in an invasion. According to Celestine, the night Queen Astrid is the only one that could bring peace to the landโshe who could mimic the voices of people and communicate with each and every one.
The brain, we can presume, had dumped so much information on Celestine, simply by her remaining in its vicinity for so long, that she tries to communicate, but the barrier of communication between Celestine and the rest of the world leaders also shows how the leaders of the world stage are ill-equipped to understand any elaborate explanations of the dangers at the world stage. They are instead content to move around in circles while trying to spin their wheels, wondering about the structure of the brain.
Meanwhile, Celestine believes she is suffering from an energy crisis as she lies down on the ground, exhausted perhaps due to the increased distance from the brain. As the rest of the leaders plan to bring the raft and ferry along to the other side, Celestine rushes back to the brain and, in a mode of worship to the new powers of the land, burns herself as an edifice to the fall of the old world order.
Who is Astrid?
The bizarre trip within the forest seemingly comes to an end with the group finally arriving at the docks. Realizing that the raft is on the other side, Maxime and Tastsuro swim through the 200 feet of water. While Laplace brings the raft to the other side, Tatsuro tries to call for help from the police (he will fail). As Laplace comes to the shore and has to recover from the death of Celestine, he would also have to account for a text message from Astridโapparently, a little girl who both Hilda and Cardosa believe is an AI chatbot that had been introduced as a preventive measure to trap pedophiles. They plan to utilize Laplaceโs natural charm to keep on flirting with that little girl/chatbot such that the authorities would be alerted to their presence.
It is an absolutely foolish plan, par for the course of the protagonists we have been watching throughout. But this is the plan that Laplace, Cardosa, and Hilda choose to execute. As they make their way to the chateau, Laplace tries to protect himself from the bog bodies by pacifying them with a monologue, apologizing for disturbing their sleep. They finally enter the chateau, only to meet Jonas Glob (Zlatko Buric), the president of the European Commission. He reveals that he has been utilizing Astrid, the AI of the new Entrapment Chatbot system, to communicate with the G7 leaders. Astrid had been responsible for sending everyone else away, leaving the leaders stranded. The AI had apparently kept Jonas around so that he could presumably bring the G7 leaders to the chateau.
Meanwhile, Jonas has his own reasons for bringing the leaders to the chateauโto provide them with a provisional statement drafted by Astrid, addressing the present-day crisis. As the leaders ponder their sudden turn of affairs, the rest of the group returns in an ice cream truck that Tatsuro had managed to hail for assistance. What is revealed is harrowingโhelp isnโt coming. Everything is on fire, and no one is dead.
Rumours (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Do the G7 leaders manage to save the world?
The point of the film is the fact that the entire trip taken by the G7 leaders through the forest had been an entire wheel-spinning affair, unable to decide how to actually draft a set plan to combat the crisis. When the situation came for them to act on somewhat pertinent informationโCelestine’s proclamationsโthey couldnโt decipher it. As the film reaches its endpoint, both the French and US leaders are on their last legs. No one is coming. It is heavily implied that the Night Queen, Astrid, or the AI had brought them together as part of its final protective measure. Once that occurs, Jonas Glob shoots himself.
With the world ending, Hilda takes over her hosting duties again and brings in a bag of goodies and hampers that contain snacks as well as a potassium cyanide pillโa tradition that has been followed in every G7 summit as a form of last resort. We can imagine that Hilda might have taken that decision, but Laplace decides to act heroic and try to do something great. He takes all the elements of their speeches and stitches them together.
As the world around them burns, he reads out a final proclamation speech, believing against hope that empty platitudes would be enough to save them. It doesnโt, because the nuclear explosion finally occurs, leading to everyoneโs death. But it does lead to one of the bog bodies masturbating to their monologue, pointing out the irony that only leaders can appreciate the hollow promises written and honed by other leaders. Itโs too bad the rest of the world will crumble and fall before these leaders ever actually get their act together.
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