Meander 2021 Movie Review & Film Summary

The Maze Runner is presented by the currently little-known French director Mathieu Turi. It feels like the filmmaker was just as tight on the budget as Lisa was in space. In addition, the director explains little, placing his hopes on the viewer, who must think of everything himself. Okay, the viewer is not in the first, but I would like to get some explanations and hints. It would be much more interesting to empathize with the heroine and go along with her the path suggested by the director.

Trying to get to the city on a cold night road, a young woman named Lisa warily gets into the car of a mysterious stranger, who unobtrusively invites her to get to the city. Making such a decision, there were still notes of doubt and fear in her head.

Initially, the picture is such that Lisa is lying on the road and decides to go up only when the car drives up very close. What is it? Suicidal tendencies? But let's continue.

Her doubts were justified and the driver turned out to be a maniac, about whom they just broadcast on the radio. Realizing that his fellow traveler recognized him as the wanted killer, he suddenly slows down. Lisa is hit and loses consciousness. Then he wakes up in a cramped metal box, dressed in a strange suit and with a brightly glowing futuristic device on his wrist. Thus begins her journey through a system of narrow high-tech tunnels full of deadly traps and cunning obstacles. To find freedom, you need to get to the end of the path. For avid moviegoers, this is another reworked chamber story and an explicit reference to the film "Cube", only the number of characters here is reduced to an absolute minimum.

It is not known why the title of the film contains the word "running", since the tunnels are very narrow and you can only crawl along them. In the original, the film is called Meander, which means an ornament with geometric segments located at right angles to each other. Remember the motives of Greek patterns. This implies something like this. In this case, the title quite aptly characterizes the picture. After all, a winding ornament with straight lines resembles a labyrinth, in which all the fantastic horror takes place. But this word will say little to the mass audience and the company came up with a more commercial name. However, linking to a teen franchise clearly did not work here. Therefore, an urgent question arises: "Why is she running?", If most of the time the heroine overcomes obstacles by crawling.

In the film, everything is subordinated to survival and the encounter with the heroine's personal tragedies of the real world, which will become a more terrible obstacle on the way to freedom. The creators diluted the fear and lingering hope of personal drama, sometimes allowing the heroine to stand up to her full height. The rest will be covered in fog even in the finale. The ending of the film is open and has maneuvers for various interpretations. Most of the time, it is proposed to experience the state of oppressive loneliness and claustrophobia that pervaded the walls of this labyrinth. The feeling of complete misunderstanding of what is happening and the creeping danger enhances the atmosphere of unrelenting horror. Only Lisa's thoughts can be called "runners" in this low-budget film, which is stuffed with references to other more commercially successful works. When the bracelet on her arm was blinking recalling the expiring time to pass the next test, thoughts became lightning fast and rushed feverishly in search of the right actions. This is due to the fact that the human value system is primarily focused on survival.

Also read: Into the Labyrinth: Ending & Explained & Plot Summary

We promised to return to possible suicide? As the film is watched, the fate of Lisa is poorly told and it becomes known that she could not protect her child from accidental death and the girl died very young. This, naturally, did not allow to live and breathe deeply. Constant remorse, accusations against oneself and life with such a load leaves an imprint and many, not coping with it, want to die. In this case, it is possible to draw an analogy between the tests of the heroine and her psychological dysmorality, which the mother, who has lost her child, is experiencing.

It can be assumed that the labyrinth was a testing ground for people who decided to commit suicide. And its successful passage was getting rid of suicidal thoughts and a chance to love your existence again. After going through all the tunnels and finding a way out, Lisa got rid of the feelings that pulled her like a stone to the bottom. She received the right to start a new life, but in another, unknown universe. This is another of the possible options for interpreting the ending.

Since the film goes beyond realism, it can be assumed that Lisa is dead. Everything that happens to her is a certain idea of ​​the author about the testing of the soul after death, something like Purgatory. And on how the deceased person will pass his way through the labyrinth, it will depend on where his soul will go. Well, Lisa did it and went to heaven.