Written and directed by Nadia Conners, The Uninvited (2024) is an aching, existential ode to aging and ambitions, set in our golden age of utter hopelessness. It conveys that nagging feeling that no matter how hard you scream for things to get better, whether for yourself or the world, they might never be enough. However, it conveys that feeling through the trivial affairs of its privileged L.A. people, who work only in the hours they get paid. It presents this saddening transactionality of present relationships that you often cannot argue against since nearly everyone has been worried about an impending cataclysmic shift in the world. How will you survive through it if you don’t get paid?
‘The Uninvited’ conveys this dread through the conversations of its mainly 40-something characters, who led superfluous lives, whether by choice or for the lack of it. The film is jam-packed with insights into an oppressive sense of emptiness they feel. That stuffiness is so overwhelming that it alone makes the underlying ennui prominent. It’s the kind of film that might bring out your inner Charles Bukowski, whether that was the film’s intention or not.
Spoilers Ahead
The Uninvited (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
‘The Uninvited’ is a satirical drama that uses comedy of errors to follow Rose, who must confront her past and present,after a stranger crashes into her party. Elizabeth Reaser plays Rose and Walton Goggins plays the other central role. Lois Smith, Rufus Sewell, Pedro Pascal, and Eva De Dominici round out the key cast.
What happens in The Uninvited?
‘The Uninvited’ follows the trainwreck that ensues after Helen (Lois Smith) crashes into a party in L.A. shortly before it is supposed to start. That puts Rose (Elizabeth Reaser) and Sammy (Walton Goggins), a married couple in their forties, in a tough spot. They have to tend to an entire line of guests, who are about to arrive any minute. While doing so, they also have to deal with their interpersonal issues. Sammy has invited Lucien (Pedro Pascal), with whom he hadn’t been on good terms. That alone makes Rose confused by this invitation besides the fact that she was once romantically involved with Lucian.
Back then, Rose had a thriving career as a theater actress. However, years later, she seems to have resigned to a life as a housewife, tending to the needs of her and Sammy’s young son Wilder (Roland Rubio). Unlike her, Sammy continues working as a Hollywood agent. However, he seems hardly passionate about his work. Besides, he and Rose seem like a chaotic pair, who are consumed by thoughts, farther from each other’s. He is worried about the futility of his work and the fate of his professional life. She is concerned about her child and his immediate needs. She doesn’t want Wilder to be glued to a screen and hopes they can share some memories instead.
Sammy is blissfully oblivious about his son’s health as he is mainly focused on branching out of his talent firm to start his own. Consumed by these anxieties, he doesn’t have the slightest interest in taking care of an old lady, who arrives outside their door, mistaking him for her late husband by the same name. She used to live in the house Rose and Sammy currently live in. However, Sammy hopes to leave it behind and move to a whole other country. He is consumed by the hope of starting over his life without realizing the emotional toll it would take on his family.
Gerald, Delia, and Lucien
Sammy throws this party just to convince his top client Gerald (Rufus Sewell) to join him in his new talent agency. However, it becomes even more difficult since Gerald arrives there high on drugs and expects Sammy to join him. Sammy snorts some coke, thinking it would help his case, but that doesn’t change Gerald’s opinion. Even in that state, Gerald is aware that Sammy alone won’t be able to help him in the troubling situation the industry is heading into. He knows that they already are in a steadily sinking ship of the entertainment industry. So, he wants to protect his career instead of throwing it all away to help a friend in need.
Before the guests arrive at the party, Delia (Eva De Dominici), a young actress, shows up, much to Sammy’s chagrin. Sammy wanted the party to be specifically about Gerald, but with Delia, he must ensure that he makes them feel like the most important people there. While he deals with that pressure, Helen invites herself into their home and becomes Rose’s responsibility. Helen accidentally locks herself inside their bathroom, which is the only time Sammy helps Rose with her. Otherwise, it’s just Rose making sure Helen feels at home and eventually finds her home.
As it happens, Lucien walks in and tries to kiss Rose. He confesses that he is still in love with her and hopes they get back together. Unlike Sammy, Rose is not disillusioned to leave everything behind on the shred of hope of a happier future. She sees through Lucien, a middle-aged actor who is chasing the high he felt in his youth and understands they don’t have a future anymore. He talks about his estranged 16-year-old kid, with whom he is trying to reconnect after learning about him shortly before. Rose hints that they too could have had a child, who would have been in his 20s by then if Lucien had only not dumped her.
The Uninvited (2024) Movie Themes Analysed:
Aging, Gender Dynamics, and Ambitions
‘The Uninvited’ is primarily a satire about the bourgeois seeking a sense of escapism once they realize the emptiness of their lives and the fallacies they once believed in. The male characters are mainly a testament to that. Gerald travels to the East to seek solace in pseudo-spirituality. Lucien seeks comfort in Rose, although he mainly seeks the pleasure he felt back when they acted on stage together. Sammy seeks a literal escape, hoping that will end his ennui and make him feel fulfilled or accomplished. The cost of their ambitions falls on the women in their lives.
Rose ends up being just a mother despite her acting talent and smarts. Sammy appreciates Rose’s wisdom but claims she doesn’t have the drive, sidestepping any blame for how her life turned out. Much like Rose, Helen once had a flourishing acting career, and she can recall only flashes of it due to her old age and amnesia. Delia is on the other end of her career and has made a name for herself, but she might resign to domestic life for reasons not too dissimilar to Rose. This interconnected thread ties in with the film’s observations about gender disparity.
Rose has often been expected to abandon her ambitions while Sammy keeps chasing an elusive hope even in his forties. Lucien wants to be with Rose once he starts being aware of his fading youth. To a certain extent, every character acts out of either fear, desperation, or preparation for the next stage in their lives.
The Uninvited (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Can Rose help Helen return home?
Toward the end of ‘The Uninvited,’ Rose and Sammy reach the end of the rope. Rose rejects Lucien’s offer to start a new life with him. She also gives Sammy a reality check and makes him realize that it’s too late for him to start over, especially considering the volatile economy. Sammy admits that he is likely losing his job, which leads to his sense of desperation. He confesses to having had a fling with a young colleague since he couldn’t bear Rose ignoring him during her postpartum. While his existential dread screams for attention, Rose’s dread lies underneath her sense of responsibility.
Rose tells Wilder a story about a fish, trapped in a rope, looking at a flying bird. She hopes he understands the value of a sense of contentment in what they have at any given point. On another hand, it likely becomes her way of coping with her life. While taking care of Wilder and Helen, she gets in touch with Helen’s friend, who agrees to come get her. Helen becomes almost a portrait of the future that awaits Rose while Delia, her past. That night, Delia takes a pregnancy test and tests positive. She recalls having slept with Lucien, which makes Rose realize the self-serving nature of Lucien’s elusive hope.
By the end of the night, Helen’s friend arrives as Rose and Sammy try to make sense of their lives with Rose’s fish story. They reach a rather obvious conclusion only after a trainwreck of a night. Helen, who once used to live there, still considers it her home. For Sammy, it might also be a thing of his past.
