In Leave the World Behind, the world is ending – or at least the part that is controlled by technology. The people in the film are helpless without the Internet and its accompanying effects – and at the same time its existence is their curse.
To make this message clear, director Sam Esmail built an extremely present one into his Netflix film Friends reference a: Rose, the screen daughter of Julia Roberts’ character, is obsessed with the 90s sitcom. She watched all the episodes about the New York clique and when the internet goes down, all she’s missing is the finale. The film pits the ideal Friends world against the tech apocalypse.
The problem: Given this, Rose must have encountered a younger version of her mother while binging the episodes.
Julia Roberts stars in Friends and creates a Leave the World Behind paradox
Spoilers follow: For his film, Sam Esmail expanded the Friends metaphor that already exists in the book. Rose emphasizes several times how important the fate of the characters is to her – even more important than that of her family. The sci-fi thriller even ends with the famous intro song from Friends, I’ll be there for you. Sitcom and film are closely linked.
In Leave the World Behind, Julia Roberts plays Amanda Sandford, who is vacationing with her family in the New York area when chaos breaks out. And almost 28 years ago, the Hollywood superstar was in Friends as guests. More precisely: on January 28, 1996, she starred in the episode The One After the Superbowl with (Season 2, Episode 13).
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This is Julia Roberts’ Friends role: Roberts portrayed a childhood friend of Chandler’s (Matthew Perry) named Susie Moss. Chandler embarrassed Susie during school and wants to apologize.
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Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts in Leave the World Behind
What Julia Roberts’ Friends appearance means: Within the logic of the film, Rose experienced her mother Amanda as actress Julia Roberts – if she noticed the striking resemblance. Either way, two film realities collide and, strictly speaking, both are mutually exclusive.
And what now? The paradox is irresolvable and so we have no choice but to do what the film, Sam Esmail and Julia Roberts do: ignore it. The logic curvature isn’t a problem in the film anyway, but it remains a funny side note.
Leave the World Behind is not alone in this problem
Films that allude to other films always fall into such paradoxical faux pas. Just one example: In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker comes out as a big Star Wars fan. Accordingly, he knows the character Mace Windu, who is played by Samuel L. Jackson – who also portrays Nick Fury in the Marvel films. The MCU simply ignored this entanglement. The authors had no other choice.