Foodgasm of the bizarre variety
Denis Villeneuve, the visionary director behind films like Sicario, Arrival, Prisoners, and Blade Runner 2049 brings to us this mind-bending art piece that legitimately floored me (pun intended). Next Floor is a shocking, virtually dialog free, 10-minute marvel of film making, delivered directly to the viewers from the twisted mind of the director. The short, beautifully captured with intricately detailed frames has garnered universal praise and laurels among the film festival crowd. Denis most certainly has his own distinct style which can be seen here in all its glory.
Though the film came out 12 years ago, the themes behind it have often eluded the one’s who have seen it, owing to the lack of any official explanation from the director or anyone else for from the creative team (All in the name of “keeping things up to interpretation”). In this article, I’m gonna try to give the most probable if not the true explanation behind the ‘Next floor.’
(Before continuing with the explanation, make sure that you've watched the film!
If you haven't, watch it here. If you have, please proceed.)
Summary
The film starts off with a menacing close up into the eyes of a man staring directly into the camera. Intense drums play in the background to set the vile and dastardly tone for the upcoming chain of events. As the camera pans out from his eyes, the man can be seen dressed in black and white formals, overlooking a dinner table. The mood shifts from being menacing to calm as the music morphs into a classical melody of violins and cellos. The table is crowded with a collection of 11 pampered guests, who are indulging themselves in a gastronomical carnage of food, primarily comprising of meat. A staff of cavalier servers and valets are present to tend to the guests attending this luxurious banquet.
The man from the opening shot is a bald man, who appears to be the head of the waiting staff, ordering them around and overlooking their functions. The frame fills up with grotesque imagery of food that is being served in this opulent banquet.
The setting is very dark, with little key light providing illumination. The shadows cover the guest's faces.
As the feast goes on, the table starts to become heavy with the weight of the seemingly endless supply of food that is set on top of it. The floor beneath them is unable to hold the immense mass and breaks apart. All the guests fall down along with the table that seats them, landing on the floor below. As they land, the waiting staff quickly follows them down via the staircase, and prepare to set up the feast again. They clean up the dust and plaster off of their guests and the eating begins anew as if nothing ever happened. The chandelier that hung above them is reeled down to their floor.
More and more disturbing dishes are being wheeled in now. A whole dear recently killed, a ram wailing in pain, a rhinoceros head, are served as gourmet delicacies and the guests gorge themselves on it, like savages.
The next time the floor breaks from the immense weight placed upon it, the table ends up going through 2 floors. When they land, the bald guy signals the servers to stands back, predicting that the floor will break again. The guests share a glance, contemplating whether they should continue with their feast or not. A bearded man hesitantly grabs a piece of meat and chomps down on it. A bald patron sitting on the opposite side gives a sinister smile and figuratively throws himself at the food and others follow suit. They know that the end result will be devastating for them, but they can’t help themselves.
Their greed has turned into their compulsion.
The floor again begins to crack below the table, and sure enough, it breaks and the table falls through again. But this time it doesn’t land, it keeps going, breaking through all the floors, like an endless pit.
The chandelier that hung above them breaks from the ceiling and follows the guests down the hole.
Witnessing the unbelievable chain of events all the waiters share a shocked expression.
The camera moves back to the bald man, the drums ominously play in the background, while his eyes come in focus. And the film comes to an end.
Explanation:
Greed
The film very effectively depicts greed in it’s most raw and ugly form. The guests don’t offer up anything to the waiters and are in an endless cycle of eating and consuming. It is a commentary on the condition the society is in right now and the way humanity has been like forever. The director believes that the rich have no consideration for the people supposedly a level below them and are blinded by their own self-interest. Even though the waiters are there to tend to all their needs the guests are just blinded with consuming far more than their fill.
The moment when all of them stop eating after they have fallen through 2 floors, they start to contemplate their actions and covertly ponder upon their next move. One of the guests, a woman, looks hesitant, as if not in the mindset to continue and wants to get up and walk off. A distraught expression appears on her face. But when her fellow privileged folk decides to continue on the path, she is left with no choice but to follow. This highlights the systemic nature of greed and consumption as well as the herd mentality that exists among the rich. Just like the pit, they end up falling into, their greed is also a pit, perhaps the deeper one among the two. Once you step in, it is impossible to get out. You always find yourself wanting more.
The pit
The hole that the guests eventually fall into is equated with hell. The more they consume, the deeper they fall inside hell. Till the point that their sins of greed have transcended the threshold of what is deemed tolerable and they just fall end up falling endlessly to their doom.
The waiters are just selfless servers, doing their job, and are untouched by the carnage. Even though the devourers manage to drag them down a bit to their level, by going down the floors, ultimately they are saved from the same fate that falls upon their guests. According to the film, those of us who are not plagued with greed and only consume up to our means, are not sinners and will be saved from judgment when the inevitable doomsday comes.
The Chandelier
The chandelier that hangs above the dinner table is the epitome of hope that is left for humanity. The setting is dark from the beginning, the only source of light seems to come from the chandelier. Every time they fall through to the next floor, the hole in the ceiling is still there to remind them of their folly, but the chandelier is reeled down as a reset. They still have the chance to turn things around, they still have hope. However, they choose not to do the right thing and give in to their impulse to consume. When they fall to their doom, the rope that held the chandelier breaks, and it starts falling down with them. This signifies that the hope in humanity is now completely lost. Thye have lost their light, their grace. There will be no resets for them now.
The bald man
Now comes the biggest question of all. Who is the bald man? The one who sees all but doesn’t intervene. As if all that transpires was preemptive and orchestrated by him.
In my opinion, the bald man is the image of God. He is the great enabler, who simply gives humans the resources and provides them with all they would need. The choice rests upon them and what they decide to do with it. His appearance is also a mix of good and bad, his clothes are dark with a little bit of white. He is bald like many other guests but is not a part of them. Instead, he is the head of the pure souls, i.e the waiters. This tells us about his unbiased presence, he doesn’t influence the guests in any direction, he is just there to observe.
When they fall for their doom, he smiles in an approving manner as if he foresaw this outcome.
Alternative Theory
Another popular theory that has sprouted up, connects the abundant consumption with humanity consuming the earth’s resources. The people on the table have been shown scarfing down their food at an unusually quick pace, the same way humans are quickly consuming the Earth of all it’s resources. The table is likened to be the Earth, and the humans are dragging it down with the weight of their sins. Ultimately the director may be implying that the humans are gonna take the earth down with them at the rate with which we are robbing it of all resources.
Conclusion
The film is short but leaves a deep-seated impact on the viewer’s mind. It is conceptualized brilliantly and delivers an effective message with almost zero spoken word dialog. The nonlinearity of the whole thing is what makes it special. It isn’t contrived, it is riveting, drawing our attention and keeping it there throughout its duration.
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