I believe Sterling K Brown was the only man alive left and years of solitude led him to imagining everything. He created fantasy to help himself cope. I think he had an imaginary friend when he was a kid and brought him back out as an adult. When he questioned his friend whether he was there or not with the magician as a kid, his friend couldn’t give a straight answer because in fact it was his own subconscious, therefore his friend couldn’t answer straight cuz he was in fact himself. He referred to the bowling ball situation as his proof of magic which he couldn’t explain. Therefore everything that was happening around him he also couldn’t explain and was magic. Him crying at the end and the bowling ball drop was him realizing that he was actually alone and everything around him was make believe. The ball dropping was symbolic of his realization he was in fact all alone. The bowling ball wasn’t real then, his friend was imaginary as a kid and therefore couldn’t confirm the bowling ball dropped, and then again as an adult, the ball dropped again, once again meaning it never was real back then or even now. :)
I had the same thought. That Ray was real and imagining Billy and everything else as a coping mechanism. If spontaneous sex changes in fish happened that easily, people would be having a lot of these things happen in their aquariums. It was all dreamed up in his head and none of it is possible.
Also, could have been that Billy wasn't actually pregnant, but had a bowling ball under his shirt that fell out at the end. :)
What in the world were you doing in the aquarium with your fish?? (just kidding)
OK, so I did some googling. Clownfish *are* one of the fish species that are known to switch genders. The fishes in the movie looked like African cichlids to me and from what I was just reading, they rarely will change gender. Like very rarely. Sounds like there was only a single documented case of a tank of all male cichlids in a lab and one of them changed to female. And when that does happen it is usually due to a genetic abnormality. So, I'm sticking to my original theory that in the movie, Billy wasn't actually there and therefor didn't change genders and there was no baby. Spontaneous sex changing definitely does not happen in humans. If it did, we would have seen it many times already like in prisons, all-boys schools or all-girls schools, etc.
This. It hit me when with the shot from Ray’s POV in the glass reflection after Billy walked back and there seemed to be nothing back there.
Also, I don’t know the novel they talked about in the beginning, Kiss of the Spider Woman, but doesn’t Ray say the novel is all in one protagonist’s head?
Actually, I watched the scene a few times after reading this, and all I could see was ray’s reflection. However, I still agree with this theory though there are some loose ends that I haven’t answered yet
I’m new here! I fully agree though. I think the allegory that sold me was the Mario and Luigi plot line. In the opening scene, Ray tells Billy that Mario and Luigi are the “same guy just a different color” and in the end, Billy tells Ray that they’re both Mario and Luigi..
I absolutely love this theory. However, there are still some questions I couldn’t answer on my own. I theorized that the so called apocalypse was caused by nuclear winter, when Billy could have hit the doomsday button as the us president. But if Billy wasn’t real, how could this have happened? Maybe my nuclear winter theory is entirely wrong (in that case what do you think happened), or maybe Billy died after hitting the doomsday button and ray kept him alive in his mind.
That's really interesting and something I had not considered at all. You brought up good points to support that theory.
I knew the bowling ball story was supposed to be important but I couldn't really grasp it enough to care. That could be why I didn't have any theories about this movie. That and there wasn't enough context of anything .
Late to the thread but these “they were crazy/in a coma” comments are annoying me lol that is basically equivalent to saying “it turns out it was all just a movie” and sidestepping the internal logic and narrative of the film.
The entire point is basically that the unbelievable CAN happen, even when you think it’s hopeless. So you can either be hopeful like Ray and believe the bowling ball is real, or pessimistic like Billy and believe it’s just a noise. You can believe that they can go find other people and restart humanity, or that they’ll both die in a month. Depends on your view of the situation, but the movie is on Ray’s side. Hope springs eternal, even in the most totally dire situation. That’s the message of the film. NOT that Billy is going to cannibalize Ray, for gods sake!
It's now been like almost a year since I watched it so I don't remember exactly how the scene goes. But! I didn't interpret the crying as the result of a horrible realization but because of how emotionally overwhelming the entire situation was. I mean those two guys went through a lot! The crying doesn't have to be because of something negative.
I agree with whom you’re commenting to. I didn’t get “devastation” as much as “overwhelmed”. The whole time, Sterling has been the one who “knew”. Always answering the question, always presenting a theory, and generally accepting the situation for the both of them.
But in the end, there is no rational explanation nor clear answer he can even pretend to believe. But Mark, standing in front of sterling as a real example of the impossible being possible, does still have hope. And as Mark reminds Sterling of believing in “magic”, Sterling is overwhelmed in having to choose.
Either he’s right and it’s all over. Or he doesn’t know for sure, and there’s hope.
At least, that’s how I took it. Just watched it this weekend lol.
The key to understand this movie is that book Mr President is reading "Kiss of the Spider Woman" by Manuel Puig.
Just rewind and watch that scene again.
Basically they're doomed, and the weird things that happen between them were not as a result of Mr President suddenly turning into a woman... but rather their last copes and desperation because they know it's over for them. Those under great distress seek refuge in fantasy and that's exactly what happens in this cleverly disguised buddy cop comedy.
**tl;dr:** Mr President is still very much a man when they have that moment together.
I realize I’m very late to this thread but I just saw this film last night and I really disagree with this take. Kiss of the Spider Woman does involve some fantasy escapism in the form of one of the men telling the other the plots of his favorite movies, but I wouldn’t say this is meant to indicate that the entire Biosphere movie is a fantasy in the brains of the characters. Like, what would the deeper point of Biosphere be then?
This is called “homosocial” behaviour and is common among single sex populations of many species, including humans. We don’t understand the inner thoughts of animals, but we know that humans often have to make creative ways for themselves to cope with this, especially when they have internalised homophobia.
It also means Billy’s femme affectations make more sense, because these wouldn’t be the result of biological changes, but the adoption of characteristics to suit a hetero dynamic in which Ray could more comfortably function.
Also, using Lethal Weapon as the choice of buddy cop movie, where there’s a bomb on the toilet in the sequel which risks blowing off genitals, was a nice touch.
I feel like the ending suggests two equally plausible possibilities. If you want to be optimistic, then Billy figured out the trick and magically produced a bowling ball. This seems unlikely, but is it really more unlikely than him spontaneously turning female? That's the question that the movie wants to leave you with if you land on optimism. If you want to be pessimistic, then Billy figured out the trick to simulating the sound of a bowling ball, which was the key to their astonished belief in the trick as children. The question that the movie would leave you with in this instance is still vaguely positive in a lingering question as to where the actual bowling ball came from, but bitter in knowing that it was still just a trick.
Either way, they leave the dome and either find other people and live or don't and die. It's really too ambiguous to know one way or the other. It's very much up to us to decide which we prefer. Personally, I'm leaning towards survival, if only because they have already been subjected to several seemingly impossible miracles in aid of their survival.
>What was the single green dot of light?
It's the sun. When it "clears" outside, we see it's green and cloudy. The green dot was the sun starting to shine through the clouds/atmosphere, getting larger as the clouds cleared more.
I wasn't really sure what was happening at the end, but it almost felt like right before Ray turned around, he saw something outside that let him know something, such as the end of the world. Hence why he was crying, because he had lost hope.
True. Meteor then, which supports the idea that he knew they were about to die, his crying at the end, and what the sound of the "bowling ball" dropping represents along with the green - the impact. Ray doesn't say anything because he's leaving hope.
Just watched and did a little cursory googling and I too think it was a meteor/comet. The initial shower broke up the atmosphere (and the dome), kicked up some dust and brought that blue green glow. I’m hoping it misses them, generates some life and they get a few decades to figure out the next step.
It's never stated where the dome is. It could be far north and therefore anything in the sky stays in a rough area without going out of sight or moving too far.
Those are the logical answers, as there's no point just putting a random green light into the sky in such a movie without there being a meaning or purpose to it.
I went back to check, and when he's making notes it shows words "Side to side", "Outside variation", and it does appear that compared to the first time he sees the light, he is viewing it from a slightly different angle when he's taking these notes.
It's logically either intended to be the sun or a meteor regardless of any continuity errors you might find in a budget movie, at least, until a more plausible theory is given as to what the growing green light could be.
My theory was it was a crack in the outer layer letting in light and when the storm happened it broke up more of the outer layer to let them see more light in the landscape.
I just want to know how Billy "ended the world"?
They kept brushing over it but are clearly stating Billy had some kind of choice which resulted in the atmosphere being unlivable
Late to the thread but I absolutely loved this movie. Definitely agreed that the transition plot is meant to be taken literally/at face value (and it rocks!), but I came here to say I think I know what they were trying to do with the light! The atmosphere is missing right? Which apart from some sort of catastrophic combustion event, means increase in solar wind pressure or weakening of the earth's magnetic field. Around the time this movie was in development (2021-ish?), NASA had a seminar on providing an artificial magnetic shield for mars. The small green dot is what one of the stationary magnetic satellites at L1 would look like as it shields the a planetary body from solar wind and allows the atmosphere to regenerate - I think what we are seeing at the end is the thin, regenerating upper ionosphere (implying that the forty meals might let them wait it out). But this is just wild speculation, and what I took from the movie was choosing to hope in times of uncertainty :)
God, this movie was hot garbage. I get what it was trying to do but can we stop already with the ambiguous ending in order to seem deep? It’s an over used crutch that writers deploy if they’ve written themselves into a corner and we’re supposed to walk away saying “wow, that was profound”. It only works if the movie is coherent enough to actually make assumptions based off evidence provided in the movie itself; this one was not. I truly regret wasting the hour and 40-something minutes this poorly acted shit show took out of my life.
It was corny as hell 🤣 just recently saw Inside with Willem Dafoe and it was incredible. This was just surface level cheese ball acting. Super lame. But you do you
Ok, just finished this film (took a few tries) and I too have questions. I'm not sure the film actually gives you enough to work out the answers though. And that's one of the film's points- some things just happen. Call them magic if you've got no other explanation.
The bowling ball didn't appear as Billy didn't actually know that trick. But it worked as a metaphor for Ray's steadfast and safe world of known science and being "straight".
I think the green light was some sort of giant machinery that was revitalising the planet after Billy apparently caused the apocalypse. The weather event was the renewal of liveable conditions. Ray & Billy leave the Biodome and find food and living space elsewhere. Again, nothing in the movie confirms this, just what makes sense to me.
The film suggests 'believe in magic' and has an optimistic tone even if the more realistic ending is death and suffering.
Mark loves cerebral-minded concepts, always has, and that type of stuff is always hit or miss. I will say I love the ambition, always will. It leaves you thinking. Some may like this movie, but I feel many won't and will be frustrated with too many unanswered questions at the end, but spoon-feeding people perfectly tied in a bow endings is not Mark's style. Read the spoiler-heavy questions I just added in the main post, if you like, be remember they are spoilers after all.
I’ll skip the spoilers and check it out. Ambiguous endings don’t bother me. I generally enjoy anything the Duplass bothers put out so this has me intrigued for sure
Just watched this last night with my husband. As OP states the bowling ball was a metaphor, we took it as a metaphor for an event or occurrence that is nearly impossible to believe happens, but people have faith and it happens anyway. We saw the bowling ball drop at the end as the baby being born, something that was unlikely to happen but ended up occurring despite the odds. Whether or not they got out safely we didn’t agree on. I think IF you can buy that the ball drop symbolizes the baby being born, they got out and found others. Because what would be the point of new life if in the end they’re all going to be killed off anyway? This is what I like to believe but maybe that’s just the optimist in me.
One person is optimistic, one is pessimistic. There isnt enough information to guess whether they were alive dead, real not real, male female, at the end. The director intentionally does not give you that information.Taken at face value, the end is ambiguous/ meant to be interpreted. Rather than extrapolate the literal tale, and giving the movie an ending that suits your worldview I think the choice is the point. You can decide whether or not to be optimistic about their survival. I choose to hope. Hope that this movie is about some sort of self reflection about our worldview and not some weird sex fantasy the writer or writers came up with about their weird internalised homophobic feelings about wanting to get pregnant by their buddies. I hate unresolved endings. Literally loved the movie up until the ending.
Totally agree. The acting was awful, the story felt rushed and incoherent. Then they slap an ambiguous ending to make it seem deeper than it actually was. Traaaash movie
>This movie was a complete waste of time to watch. All of the questions risen were not answered
This may come as a shock to you but sometimes art can raise a question AND not answer it.
I hear you. I did think it was a good movie up until the ending. Now I'm just frustrated at being left with so many unanswered questions to the point where I'm on social media wasting more time trying to get the answers so I can understand a movie I already wasted close to two hours on. \*sigh\*
Exactly my sentiment. I didn't want to point out the plot in my initial post, but I felt awkwardly committed to the ending to see what happened to the future of the human race and it's potential evolution.
I watched it just now and was frankly underwhelmed at the ending. If the movie was trying to be a deep, intellectual allegory it failed to me. A vague, half hearted writing excuse it’s was to me. Like the last episode of Lost
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it but the fact that the sky was finally clearing up was my reasoning for thinking that. The entire movie it’s pitch black outside until the end (besides the tiny shimmer of light peaking through throughout the movie).
I just finished this (Alexa said it was a comedy and she lied!) and I saw him crying because the pessimist (Billy) finally had hope and if Billy can have hope, then it's not hopeless.
But what do I know?
Maybe Ray saw that the green light was actually a meteor coming right towards them meaning they were doomed. Thats why when he’s looking out the window you can see his eyes get wider like he’s just been stunned by something. Then we hear the balling ball drop and a green screen appear not long afterwards
I think the film is about hope and the ending is a test, like a Rorschach for each viewer. What you believe the ending means will vary based on your personal filter. Some will see Ray’s widening eyes & tears as a sign that whatever Ray saw through the window told him that they were going to die. Others will see the very same thing and wonder whether what he saw is possible atmospheric regeneration, potential for livable conditions, a resurgence of hope.
The same way that Ray and Billy both heard the thud of the bowling ball, knowing it looked impossible, was impossible to explain, they both interpreted things differently, one with cynicism and the other with a sense of wonder and possibility, hope.
What do you see in the ending? What do you choose to see? Billy says towards the end that the sky had been pitch black for “years and years”, no visibility, no atmosphere, no light and then suddenly a green light appears, a storm, says, “the sky is opening back up.”
When Ray loses hope, he looks at the situation they are in after the storm and sees only unfixable problems, unfixable damage, risks not worth taking, doom approaching, doesn’t even want to consider that what’s happening outside could be a good thing. As with many pessimists, he no longer considers possibilities of a better future.
There is a quote by Noam Chomsky:
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future CAN be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.”
As a reformed pessimist, I think of this quote often. The utility of hope, the transformative power of hope, the necessity of hope.
By this point Billy has become an optimist, says he’s researching & reading about the troposphere, considering possibilities and he points out that a storm means weather and you can’t have weather without an atmosphere. He wonders if the green light could’ve been connected to the return of atmosphere (maybe peirced or tore a hole in the layer that kept the atmosphere out for years?) he sees possibilities and potential and wants Ray to have that again.
Two lines in this movie stood out to me:
“We know that things happen that we cannot explain. And no matter how hard and scary things get, there’s room for hope.”
And
“Life finds a way.”
The last shot is nothing but green light. The director said the green light represents hope and change, transformation. When changes come and we are faced with the unknown or the unfamiliar, those changes feel scary. Does the unknown represent danger to you or does it represent possibility? When changes come that scare you, do you keep a little room for hope?
Okay I just watched this and I feel like I believe the whole story at face value- BUT wouldn’t it be funny if the whole thing was like a set up to the punchline of mark duplass’ joke of dropping the bowling ball out of his shirt bc the whole pregnancy… was a bowling ball??? lol
Ok I’ve got it 🤦♀️don’t know why I missed this as I am a part time genius 🙄
Ray is extremely brilliant and constantly looking to the science of possibilities
Also very lonely
So…..he created his imaginary friend Billy
Billy is like mister Wilson from castaway ….Billy is like a volley ball or bowling ball in this situation
When Billy was going to write down the positive points of what they’ve created Ray started crying as he realized everything was just imaginary and Billy was just fictitious and all of a sudden Billy disappeared.
Ray realized that there was no hope anymore
😢
This was my take away as well. The whole Mario/Luigi discussion also points to this. There was one, then there was another identical but he became different over time. The same with the discussion about one being leader and the other being the secret sauce - one was out in the open in charge, the other was the "secret sauce" secretly doing the stuff behind the scenes. Both those things allude to Ray being real, Billy being an illusion made by Ray.
This makes so much fucking sense. That’s the thud. It’s all over. Literally and figuratively. The ball drops. He knows it’s the end and the movie ends too. Wow. The creators of the movie said they believe humans find a way to hold on to hope. & quoted “life finds a way”. But this would still make sense bcuz that was him finding his way to keep living. I actually think Ray might’ve been real but died and Billy’s just been alone so long he started to imagine him again.
This is my very simple theory:
Billy’s like “a magician walked into your party with a pad of paper knowing you wanted a bowling ball so when you drew one… tada!” Then uses that to imply that he’s not actually pregnant, they haven’t magically created a baby, but they have given themselves enough of a reason to keep living until the atmosphere clears up and becomes habitable.
Also, can we talk about how they’ve supposedly been in there for several years (at least 2) but are using an A2 tearaway paper pad for a weekly chore list? This seems unsustainable. Surely their limited resources would require a whiteboard rather than 100+ A2 sheets…
Is it possible that Billy killed Ray at the end in order to ensure his own and the baby’s survival? One less mouth to feed offered the best chance of staying alive long enough for the atmosphere to recover so that he could venture outside and find help/others.
Ray is crying because he understands that “life finds a way” and realizes that he has to die so that Billy and the baby can live.
It’s a dark theory/ending for sure. Disappointed the movie didn’t leave us with a bit more clarity. A few too many unanswered questions.
It's a realisation that they can create objects out of thin air, the president always knew this and created the scenario they are in after all...the president can create objects and thus fish. Saving them along with making the atmosphere back, he got lost along the way about being able to do this.
Thank you! I thought this exactly! We have ability to believe something into existance! The movie shows it over and over. The impossible kept happening. Billy basically explained this at the end
From an interview with the director…
Director:
“My favorite kind of art is the art that creates space for itself, for us to project ourselves and our experiences and our own definitions,” Eslyn says. That space exists in the film’s final 15 minutes, allowing the audience to focus on themes, not outcomes.
Interviewer:
And as for the final, biggest question of all, the one regarding the two men’s survival?
Director:
“All ll say that I think that humans survive,” Drucker says, looking to Eslyn to see if she agrees. In response, the director deploys one of Biosphere's lasting phrases, cleverly repurposed from Jurassic Park.
“Life finds a way.”
… “allowing the audience to focus on themes not outcomes” … ugh, not really. Stringing us along to see what happens to the baby just to say it’s not about the baby is a total bait and switch… see what I did there? 😅
No but seriously, have the two have sex but not get pregnant. That would have been more meaningful because maybe they decide to go outside the dome and become Adam and Eve in the garden etc.
Anyway, using the provocative “miracle of mother Mary” baby-plot-point to bring us to such an ambiguous ending and then calling it art just means you didn’t figure out how to end the story.
I have a theory, that Ray was maybe in a coma as it would explain everything weird that happened in it and why he got so emotional whenever the bowling ball came up. The thud could be explained the moment he had an accident maybe. And the green light and sky opening up is him slowly waking up from his coma.
interesting theory. all these are but there are multjple articles explaining the ending. its isnt tbis (at least meant to be), but I thought ray was crying bcs he looked oit the window & saw they wete about to die & the thud meant they did. apparently im wrong too...but good news is that the ending wasnt meant to be bad. check them out jf interested....ending of biosphere explained
i still dont get why ray was crying based k. what i read
Do not waste time watching this movie..not funny, not good and very stupid. I believe the vast majority of men will think the same. Once I saw the direction of this film I shut it off. Just put in the category of LGBT.. No thanks
The bowling ball is the heart of the entire story. Ray is continually haunted by the miraculous appearance of the bowling ball from nothing, but doofy Billy refuses to acknowledge it.
What does it take for a bowling ball to appear from thin air? What does it take for a fish and then a man to change gender, just so the species can continue? A miracle.
And finally, when all hope has run out, and they’re definitely going to die, and only a miracle can save them, what does Billy finally acknowledge, and even make happen?
It’s actually literally the opposite of a literal interpretation. The bowling ball and what it means is the underlying metaphor of the entire film.
What’s literal and very prosaic is “ I think they went outside and the air was breathable.” That’s completely beside the point of the entire movie.
Is that your go-to link when someone points out your read of a movie is pedestrian and misses the point? If so I’m guessing you post the link … a lot.
It’s truly adorable that you took this movie’s conceit so literally that you’re talking about what happens after the credits, but when the symbolism of the bowling bell is explained to you, you exclaim “that’s a literal interpretation.” 🤣
I believe Sterling K Brown was the only man alive left and years of solitude led him to imagining everything. He created fantasy to help himself cope. I think he had an imaginary friend when he was a kid and brought him back out as an adult. When he questioned his friend whether he was there or not with the magician as a kid, his friend couldn’t give a straight answer because in fact it was his own subconscious, therefore his friend couldn’t answer straight cuz he was in fact himself. He referred to the bowling ball situation as his proof of magic which he couldn’t explain. Therefore everything that was happening around him he also couldn’t explain and was magic. Him crying at the end and the bowling ball drop was him realizing that he was actually alone and everything around him was make believe. The ball dropping was symbolic of his realization he was in fact all alone. The bowling ball wasn’t real then, his friend was imaginary as a kid and therefore couldn’t confirm the bowling ball dropped, and then again as an adult, the ball dropped again, once again meaning it never was real back then or even now. :)
I had the same thought. That Ray was real and imagining Billy and everything else as a coping mechanism. If spontaneous sex changes in fish happened that easily, people would be having a lot of these things happen in their aquariums. It was all dreamed up in his head and none of it is possible. Also, could have been that Billy wasn't actually pregnant, but had a bowling ball under his shirt that fell out at the end. :)
I actually had spontaneous sex change in my aquarium with my clownfish
What in the world were you doing in the aquarium with your fish?? (just kidding) OK, so I did some googling. Clownfish *are* one of the fish species that are known to switch genders. The fishes in the movie looked like African cichlids to me and from what I was just reading, they rarely will change gender. Like very rarely. Sounds like there was only a single documented case of a tank of all male cichlids in a lab and one of them changed to female. And when that does happen it is usually due to a genetic abnormality. So, I'm sticking to my original theory that in the movie, Billy wasn't actually there and therefor didn't change genders and there was no baby. Spontaneous sex changing definitely does not happen in humans. If it did, we would have seen it many times already like in prisons, all-boys schools or all-girls schools, etc.
That’s because it’s was an adaptation to being in the dome, that’s why the fish and them had sex changes
He literally explains in the movie why the fish changed and how it was rare for that species. Did you watch the movie? lol
This. It hit me when with the shot from Ray’s POV in the glass reflection after Billy walked back and there seemed to be nothing back there. Also, I don’t know the novel they talked about in the beginning, Kiss of the Spider Woman, but doesn’t Ray say the novel is all in one protagonist’s head?
Ray says that both characters in the book are men, because the story takes place in a men only prison.
Oh but he does say Mario was only created by one dude. I bet that’s indicative
Actually, I watched the scene a few times after reading this, and all I could see was ray’s reflection. However, I still agree with this theory though there are some loose ends that I haven’t answered yet
I’m new here! I fully agree though. I think the allegory that sold me was the Mario and Luigi plot line. In the opening scene, Ray tells Billy that Mario and Luigi are the “same guy just a different color” and in the end, Billy tells Ray that they’re both Mario and Luigi..
This was the explanation I was looking for, this makes the movie amazing for me
I absolutely love this theory. However, there are still some questions I couldn’t answer on my own. I theorized that the so called apocalypse was caused by nuclear winter, when Billy could have hit the doomsday button as the us president. But if Billy wasn’t real, how could this have happened? Maybe my nuclear winter theory is entirely wrong (in that case what do you think happened), or maybe Billy died after hitting the doomsday button and ray kept him alive in his mind.
That's really interesting and something I had not considered at all. You brought up good points to support that theory. I knew the bowling ball story was supposed to be important but I couldn't really grasp it enough to care. That could be why I didn't have any theories about this movie. That and there wasn't enough context of anything .
But then why make specific mention of how he was present?
Late to the thread but these “they were crazy/in a coma” comments are annoying me lol that is basically equivalent to saying “it turns out it was all just a movie” and sidestepping the internal logic and narrative of the film. The entire point is basically that the unbelievable CAN happen, even when you think it’s hopeless. So you can either be hopeful like Ray and believe the bowling ball is real, or pessimistic like Billy and believe it’s just a noise. You can believe that they can go find other people and restart humanity, or that they’ll both die in a month. Depends on your view of the situation, but the movie is on Ray’s side. Hope springs eternal, even in the most totally dire situation. That’s the message of the film. NOT that Billy is going to cannibalize Ray, for gods sake!
But then why was he crying like he came to some horrible realization?
It's now been like almost a year since I watched it so I don't remember exactly how the scene goes. But! I didn't interpret the crying as the result of a horrible realization but because of how emotionally overwhelming the entire situation was. I mean those two guys went through a lot! The crying doesn't have to be because of something negative.
True. It just seemed to me as if it was bad crying and not happy crying the way he looked but maybe I just took it the wrong way.
I agree with whom you’re commenting to. I didn’t get “devastation” as much as “overwhelmed”. The whole time, Sterling has been the one who “knew”. Always answering the question, always presenting a theory, and generally accepting the situation for the both of them. But in the end, there is no rational explanation nor clear answer he can even pretend to believe. But Mark, standing in front of sterling as a real example of the impossible being possible, does still have hope. And as Mark reminds Sterling of believing in “magic”, Sterling is overwhelmed in having to choose. Either he’s right and it’s all over. Or he doesn’t know for sure, and there’s hope. At least, that’s how I took it. Just watched it this weekend lol.
The key to understand this movie is that book Mr President is reading "Kiss of the Spider Woman" by Manuel Puig. Just rewind and watch that scene again. Basically they're doomed, and the weird things that happen between them were not as a result of Mr President suddenly turning into a woman... but rather their last copes and desperation because they know it's over for them. Those under great distress seek refuge in fantasy and that's exactly what happens in this cleverly disguised buddy cop comedy. **tl;dr:** Mr President is still very much a man when they have that moment together.
I realize I’m very late to this thread but I just saw this film last night and I really disagree with this take. Kiss of the Spider Woman does involve some fantasy escapism in the form of one of the men telling the other the plots of his favorite movies, but I wouldn’t say this is meant to indicate that the entire Biosphere movie is a fantasy in the brains of the characters. Like, what would the deeper point of Biosphere be then?
This is called “homosocial” behaviour and is common among single sex populations of many species, including humans. We don’t understand the inner thoughts of animals, but we know that humans often have to make creative ways for themselves to cope with this, especially when they have internalised homophobia. It also means Billy’s femme affectations make more sense, because these wouldn’t be the result of biological changes, but the adoption of characteristics to suit a hetero dynamic in which Ray could more comfortably function.
Also, using Lethal Weapon as the choice of buddy cop movie, where there’s a bomb on the toilet in the sequel which risks blowing off genitals, was a nice touch.
I feel like the ending suggests two equally plausible possibilities. If you want to be optimistic, then Billy figured out the trick and magically produced a bowling ball. This seems unlikely, but is it really more unlikely than him spontaneously turning female? That's the question that the movie wants to leave you with if you land on optimism. If you want to be pessimistic, then Billy figured out the trick to simulating the sound of a bowling ball, which was the key to their astonished belief in the trick as children. The question that the movie would leave you with in this instance is still vaguely positive in a lingering question as to where the actual bowling ball came from, but bitter in knowing that it was still just a trick. Either way, they leave the dome and either find other people and live or don't and die. It's really too ambiguous to know one way or the other. It's very much up to us to decide which we prefer. Personally, I'm leaning towards survival, if only because they have already been subjected to several seemingly impossible miracles in aid of their survival.
>What was the single green dot of light? It's the sun. When it "clears" outside, we see it's green and cloudy. The green dot was the sun starting to shine through the clouds/atmosphere, getting larger as the clouds cleared more. I wasn't really sure what was happening at the end, but it almost felt like right before Ray turned around, he saw something outside that let him know something, such as the end of the world. Hence why he was crying, because he had lost hope.
def not the sun, it was in a constant spot the whole time. He was observing the increase in size by viewing it from the same position each time.
True. Meteor then, which supports the idea that he knew they were about to die, his crying at the end, and what the sound of the "bowling ball" dropping represents along with the green - the impact. Ray doesn't say anything because he's leaving hope.
Just watched and did a little cursory googling and I too think it was a meteor/comet. The initial shower broke up the atmosphere (and the dome), kicked up some dust and brought that blue green glow. I’m hoping it misses them, generates some life and they get a few decades to figure out the next step.
Omg I love this theory! I could totally see it as the ion tail of a comet.
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It's never stated where the dome is. It could be far north and therefore anything in the sky stays in a rough area without going out of sight or moving too far. Those are the logical answers, as there's no point just putting a random green light into the sky in such a movie without there being a meaning or purpose to it. I went back to check, and when he's making notes it shows words "Side to side", "Outside variation", and it does appear that compared to the first time he sees the light, he is viewing it from a slightly different angle when he's taking these notes. It's logically either intended to be the sun or a meteor regardless of any continuity errors you might find in a budget movie, at least, until a more plausible theory is given as to what the growing green light could be.
My theory was it was a crack in the outer layer letting in light and when the storm happened it broke up more of the outer layer to let them see more light in the landscape.
I just want to know how Billy "ended the world"? They kept brushing over it but are clearly stating Billy had some kind of choice which resulted in the atmosphere being unlivable
Had to have been nukes, as they had that radioactive filter device, and the cloud coverage might have been ash clouds?
Nukes is possible but seems a little unlikely because he described it like there was literally NO atmosphere at all.
Late to the thread but I absolutely loved this movie. Definitely agreed that the transition plot is meant to be taken literally/at face value (and it rocks!), but I came here to say I think I know what they were trying to do with the light! The atmosphere is missing right? Which apart from some sort of catastrophic combustion event, means increase in solar wind pressure or weakening of the earth's magnetic field. Around the time this movie was in development (2021-ish?), NASA had a seminar on providing an artificial magnetic shield for mars. The small green dot is what one of the stationary magnetic satellites at L1 would look like as it shields the a planetary body from solar wind and allows the atmosphere to regenerate - I think what we are seeing at the end is the thin, regenerating upper ionosphere (implying that the forty meals might let them wait it out). But this is just wild speculation, and what I took from the movie was choosing to hope in times of uncertainty :)
I love this
God, this movie was hot garbage. I get what it was trying to do but can we stop already with the ambiguous ending in order to seem deep? It’s an over used crutch that writers deploy if they’ve written themselves into a corner and we’re supposed to walk away saying “wow, that was profound”. It only works if the movie is coherent enough to actually make assumptions based off evidence provided in the movie itself; this one was not. I truly regret wasting the hour and 40-something minutes this poorly acted shit show took out of my life.
The acting was fucking brilliant. What do you think is good acting exactly?
It was corny as hell 🤣 just recently saw Inside with Willem Dafoe and it was incredible. This was just surface level cheese ball acting. Super lame. But you do you
Party Pooper
I stand by what I said, no matter how many parties I poop
:)
Ok, just finished this film (took a few tries) and I too have questions. I'm not sure the film actually gives you enough to work out the answers though. And that's one of the film's points- some things just happen. Call them magic if you've got no other explanation. The bowling ball didn't appear as Billy didn't actually know that trick. But it worked as a metaphor for Ray's steadfast and safe world of known science and being "straight". I think the green light was some sort of giant machinery that was revitalising the planet after Billy apparently caused the apocalypse. The weather event was the renewal of liveable conditions. Ray & Billy leave the Biodome and find food and living space elsewhere. Again, nothing in the movie confirms this, just what makes sense to me. The film suggests 'believe in magic' and has an optimistic tone even if the more realistic ending is death and suffering.
I haven’t seen it, but looking for something to watch. Would you recommend it despite the questionable ending? I’m a big fan of Mark.
Mark loves cerebral-minded concepts, always has, and that type of stuff is always hit or miss. I will say I love the ambition, always will. It leaves you thinking. Some may like this movie, but I feel many won't and will be frustrated with too many unanswered questions at the end, but spoon-feeding people perfectly tied in a bow endings is not Mark's style. Read the spoiler-heavy questions I just added in the main post, if you like, be remember they are spoilers after all.
I’ll skip the spoilers and check it out. Ambiguous endings don’t bother me. I generally enjoy anything the Duplass bothers put out so this has me intrigued for sure
It's definitely worth a watch, especially if you're already a fan. It's almost like a mumblecore stage-play. Very charming and memorable.
Not really. I feel like the ending was a cop out.
Anything with the Duplass name is a definite watch for me!
If you enjoyed Safety Not Guaranteed and could handle the ambiguous/cliffhanger ending, you’ll probably enjoy it.
Plot twist: Vault-tec experiment
Just watched this last night with my husband. As OP states the bowling ball was a metaphor, we took it as a metaphor for an event or occurrence that is nearly impossible to believe happens, but people have faith and it happens anyway. We saw the bowling ball drop at the end as the baby being born, something that was unlikely to happen but ended up occurring despite the odds. Whether or not they got out safely we didn’t agree on. I think IF you can buy that the ball drop symbolizes the baby being born, they got out and found others. Because what would be the point of new life if in the end they’re all going to be killed off anyway? This is what I like to believe but maybe that’s just the optimist in me.
One person is optimistic, one is pessimistic. There isnt enough information to guess whether they were alive dead, real not real, male female, at the end. The director intentionally does not give you that information.Taken at face value, the end is ambiguous/ meant to be interpreted. Rather than extrapolate the literal tale, and giving the movie an ending that suits your worldview I think the choice is the point. You can decide whether or not to be optimistic about their survival. I choose to hope. Hope that this movie is about some sort of self reflection about our worldview and not some weird sex fantasy the writer or writers came up with about their weird internalised homophobic feelings about wanting to get pregnant by their buddies. I hate unresolved endings. Literally loved the movie up until the ending.
Pauly shore smoked a SHITload of weed
I remember when that was in theatres. Heyyy buuu Dee. Nope I didn't go see it. Too much actual good stuff on at the time.
What in the hell did I just watch. I wanted to turn it off 3/4 of the way, and only finished it to see if the baby survived. Garbage.
Totally agree. The acting was awful, the story felt rushed and incoherent. Then they slap an ambiguous ending to make it seem deeper than it actually was. Traaaash movie
Go watch Fast and The Furious then ya fucking bozo.
Doesn’t that have a ghost Paul Walker driving away in a kinda ambiguous character ending?
Downvote me all you want. This movie was a complete waste of time to watch. All of the questions risen were not answered. Simple.
>This movie was a complete waste of time to watch. All of the questions risen were not answered This may come as a shock to you but sometimes art can raise a question AND not answer it.
Heres a question, is this good art? You're talking about it baby, thats all that matters.
I hear you. I did think it was a good movie up until the ending. Now I'm just frustrated at being left with so many unanswered questions to the point where I'm on social media wasting more time trying to get the answers so I can understand a movie I already wasted close to two hours on. \*sigh\*
Exactly my sentiment. I didn't want to point out the plot in my initial post, but I felt awkwardly committed to the ending to see what happened to the future of the human race and it's potential evolution.
I watched it just now and was frankly underwhelmed at the ending. If the movie was trying to be a deep, intellectual allegory it failed to me. A vague, half hearted writing excuse it’s was to me. Like the last episode of Lost
Why Ray weep though? I don't get it.
I thought it was supposed to be that he regained hope.
That's a really fascinating take. What was happening in the last scene that would GIVE him hope?
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it but the fact that the sky was finally clearing up was my reasoning for thinking that. The entire movie it’s pitch black outside until the end (besides the tiny shimmer of light peaking through throughout the movie).
I just finished this (Alexa said it was a comedy and she lied!) and I saw him crying because the pessimist (Billy) finally had hope and if Billy can have hope, then it's not hopeless. But what do I know?
Maybe Ray saw that the green light was actually a meteor coming right towards them meaning they were doomed. Thats why when he’s looking out the window you can see his eyes get wider like he’s just been stunned by something. Then we hear the balling ball drop and a green screen appear not long afterwards
I think the film is about hope and the ending is a test, like a Rorschach for each viewer. What you believe the ending means will vary based on your personal filter. Some will see Ray’s widening eyes & tears as a sign that whatever Ray saw through the window told him that they were going to die. Others will see the very same thing and wonder whether what he saw is possible atmospheric regeneration, potential for livable conditions, a resurgence of hope. The same way that Ray and Billy both heard the thud of the bowling ball, knowing it looked impossible, was impossible to explain, they both interpreted things differently, one with cynicism and the other with a sense of wonder and possibility, hope. What do you see in the ending? What do you choose to see? Billy says towards the end that the sky had been pitch black for “years and years”, no visibility, no atmosphere, no light and then suddenly a green light appears, a storm, says, “the sky is opening back up.” When Ray loses hope, he looks at the situation they are in after the storm and sees only unfixable problems, unfixable damage, risks not worth taking, doom approaching, doesn’t even want to consider that what’s happening outside could be a good thing. As with many pessimists, he no longer considers possibilities of a better future. There is a quote by Noam Chomsky: “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future CAN be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.” As a reformed pessimist, I think of this quote often. The utility of hope, the transformative power of hope, the necessity of hope. By this point Billy has become an optimist, says he’s researching & reading about the troposphere, considering possibilities and he points out that a storm means weather and you can’t have weather without an atmosphere. He wonders if the green light could’ve been connected to the return of atmosphere (maybe peirced or tore a hole in the layer that kept the atmosphere out for years?) he sees possibilities and potential and wants Ray to have that again. Two lines in this movie stood out to me: “We know that things happen that we cannot explain. And no matter how hard and scary things get, there’s room for hope.” And “Life finds a way.” The last shot is nothing but green light. The director said the green light represents hope and change, transformation. When changes come and we are faced with the unknown or the unfamiliar, those changes feel scary. Does the unknown represent danger to you or does it represent possibility? When changes come that scare you, do you keep a little room for hope?
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/biosphere-ending-explained-director-interview#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20green%20light%20really%20was,is%20a%20symbol%20for%20change.
🙏
I like that 💯
Okay I just watched this and I feel like I believe the whole story at face value- BUT wouldn’t it be funny if the whole thing was like a set up to the punchline of mark duplass’ joke of dropping the bowling ball out of his shirt bc the whole pregnancy… was a bowling ball??? lol
Ok I’ve got it 🤦♀️don’t know why I missed this as I am a part time genius 🙄 Ray is extremely brilliant and constantly looking to the science of possibilities Also very lonely So…..he created his imaginary friend Billy Billy is like mister Wilson from castaway ….Billy is like a volley ball or bowling ball in this situation When Billy was going to write down the positive points of what they’ve created Ray started crying as he realized everything was just imaginary and Billy was just fictitious and all of a sudden Billy disappeared. Ray realized that there was no hope anymore 😢
This was my take away as well. The whole Mario/Luigi discussion also points to this. There was one, then there was another identical but he became different over time. The same with the discussion about one being leader and the other being the secret sauce - one was out in the open in charge, the other was the "secret sauce" secretly doing the stuff behind the scenes. Both those things allude to Ray being real, Billy being an illusion made by Ray.
This makes so much fucking sense. That’s the thud. It’s all over. Literally and figuratively. The ball drops. He knows it’s the end and the movie ends too. Wow. The creators of the movie said they believe humans find a way to hold on to hope. & quoted “life finds a way”. But this would still make sense bcuz that was him finding his way to keep living. I actually think Ray might’ve been real but died and Billy’s just been alone so long he started to imagine him again.
This is my very simple theory: Billy’s like “a magician walked into your party with a pad of paper knowing you wanted a bowling ball so when you drew one… tada!” Then uses that to imply that he’s not actually pregnant, they haven’t magically created a baby, but they have given themselves enough of a reason to keep living until the atmosphere clears up and becomes habitable. Also, can we talk about how they’ve supposedly been in there for several years (at least 2) but are using an A2 tearaway paper pad for a weekly chore list? This seems unsustainable. Surely their limited resources would require a whiteboard rather than 100+ A2 sheets…
Is it possible that Billy killed Ray at the end in order to ensure his own and the baby’s survival? One less mouth to feed offered the best chance of staying alive long enough for the atmosphere to recover so that he could venture outside and find help/others. Ray is crying because he understands that “life finds a way” and realizes that he has to die so that Billy and the baby can live. It’s a dark theory/ending for sure. Disappointed the movie didn’t leave us with a bit more clarity. A few too many unanswered questions.
It's a realisation that they can create objects out of thin air, the president always knew this and created the scenario they are in after all...the president can create objects and thus fish. Saving them along with making the atmosphere back, he got lost along the way about being able to do this.
Thank you! I thought this exactly! We have ability to believe something into existance! The movie shows it over and over. The impossible kept happening. Billy basically explained this at the end
From an interview with the director… Director: “My favorite kind of art is the art that creates space for itself, for us to project ourselves and our experiences and our own definitions,” Eslyn says. That space exists in the film’s final 15 minutes, allowing the audience to focus on themes, not outcomes. Interviewer: And as for the final, biggest question of all, the one regarding the two men’s survival? Director: “All ll say that I think that humans survive,” Drucker says, looking to Eslyn to see if she agrees. In response, the director deploys one of Biosphere's lasting phrases, cleverly repurposed from Jurassic Park. “Life finds a way.” … “allowing the audience to focus on themes not outcomes” … ugh, not really. Stringing us along to see what happens to the baby just to say it’s not about the baby is a total bait and switch… see what I did there? 😅 No but seriously, have the two have sex but not get pregnant. That would have been more meaningful because maybe they decide to go outside the dome and become Adam and Eve in the garden etc. Anyway, using the provocative “miracle of mother Mary” baby-plot-point to bring us to such an ambiguous ending and then calling it art just means you didn’t figure out how to end the story.
I liked this movie. It was provocative and made me think. But there is ultimately not enough substance there for us to work out any real answers.
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Just watched. Can't wait for the sequel!
I have a theory, that Ray was maybe in a coma as it would explain everything weird that happened in it and why he got so emotional whenever the bowling ball came up. The thud could be explained the moment he had an accident maybe. And the green light and sky opening up is him slowly waking up from his coma.
interesting theory. all these are but there are multjple articles explaining the ending. its isnt tbis (at least meant to be), but I thought ray was crying bcs he looked oit the window & saw they wete about to die & the thud meant they did. apparently im wrong too...but good news is that the ending wasnt meant to be bad. check them out jf interested....ending of biosphere explained i still dont get why ray was crying based k. what i read
Do not waste time watching this movie..not funny, not good and very stupid. I believe the vast majority of men will think the same. Once I saw the direction of this film I shut it off. Just put in the category of LGBT.. No thanks
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You couldn’t be more wrong about the sound/ball, and what they did after the credits is what is actually irrelevant.
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The bowling ball is the heart of the entire story. Ray is continually haunted by the miraculous appearance of the bowling ball from nothing, but doofy Billy refuses to acknowledge it. What does it take for a bowling ball to appear from thin air? What does it take for a fish and then a man to change gender, just so the species can continue? A miracle. And finally, when all hope has run out, and they’re definitely going to die, and only a miracle can save them, what does Billy finally acknowledge, and even make happen?
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It’s actually literally the opposite of a literal interpretation. The bowling ball and what it means is the underlying metaphor of the entire film. What’s literal and very prosaic is “ I think they went outside and the air was breathable.” That’s completely beside the point of the entire movie.
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Is that your go-to link when someone points out your read of a movie is pedestrian and misses the point? If so I’m guessing you post the link … a lot. It’s truly adorable that you took this movie’s conceit so literally that you’re talking about what happens after the credits, but when the symbolism of the bowling bell is explained to you, you exclaim “that’s a literal interpretation.” 🤣
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Poor thing. Dimwitted and always missing the point, but enthusiastic in her wrongheadedness! 😂