# Leave the World Behind (film)
**Leave the World Behind** is a 2023 American apocalyptic psychological thriller film written and directed by [Sam Esmail](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-esmail), adapted from Rumaan Alam's bestselling 2020 novel of the same name. It stars [Julia Roberts](https://www.edgepedia.org/julia-roberts), Mahershala Ali, and [Ethan Hawke](https://www.edgepedia.org/ethan-hawke) as two families forced together in a Long Island rental house as a mysterious cyberattack unravels society. The film opened in select theaters on November 22, 2023, and began streaming on Netflix on December 8, 2023.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023) • [2](https://barw.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2024/01/BARW-Volume-56-Issue-1.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and screenwriter | Sam Esmail, creator of *Mr. Robot*[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023) |
| Source | Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel, a National Book Award finalist[3](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/leave-the-world-behind-release-date-photos?inapp=true) |
| Release | Limited theatrical release November 22, 2023; Netflix streaming December 8, 2023[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023) |
| Runtime and rating | 140 minutes; rated R for language, drug use, brief bloody images, and some sexual content[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023) |
| Principal cast | Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la, Kevin Bacon, Charlie Evans, Farrah Mackenzie[4](https://watch.afi.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind) |
| Executive producers | Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Rumaan Alam, Tonia Davis, Daniel M. Stillman, Nick Krishnamurthy[4](https://watch.afi.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind) |
| Reception | 73% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (159 reviews) against a 36% audience score; Metascore 68[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind/critic-reviews/) |
| Viewership | Debuted at #1 on Netflix's English Films List with 41.7 million views; Netflix's most-viewed film of 2023[6](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/top-10-week-of-dec-4-leave-the-world-behind-debuts-at-1-and-most-watched?en=true) • [7](https://www.axios.com/2024/06/04/netflix-popular-movie-show-2023) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and premise
Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts), a New York advertising executive, books a last-minute weekend getaway with her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke), a media studies professor, and their two children, Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rose ([Farrah Mackenzie](https://www.edgepedia.org/farrah-mackenzie)), at a luxurious rental home on [Long Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/long-island). Their vacation is interrupted at night by the arrival of G.H. Scott ([Mahershala Ali](https://www.edgepedia.org/mahershala-ali)), the home's wealthy owner, and his daughter Ruth (Myha'la), who have fled a citywide blackout in Manhattan and claim the house as their own. As communications fail and disasters accumulate, including a beached oil tanker and crashing planes, the two families are forced to cohabit and confront questions of race, class, and trust while a looming disaster grows more terrifying.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023) • [8](https://time.com/6338523/leave-the-world-behind-book-movie-differences/)
Esmail said he had long wanted to make a disaster film centered on a cyberattack because few people have a concrete idea of what one would look like or how damaging it would be, not just in America but globally.[3](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/leave-the-world-behind-release-date-photos?inapp=true) The film's recurring imagery includes a herd of deer that gathers silently around the property and an ear-splitting high-frequency noise that recurs throughout.[3](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/leave-the-world-behind-release-date-photos?inapp=true) • [9](https://screenwiseapp.com/media/leave-the-world-behind-movie)
## Adaptation from the novel
Esmail made several deliberate departures from Alam's book. The largest rewrites the character of Ruth: in the novel she is G.H.'s wife, part of a wealthy older couple, while in the film she is his outspoken twenty-something daughter, a change Esmail and Alam agreed would add a millennial perspective.[8](https://time.com/6338523/leave-the-world-behind-book-movie-differences/) • [3](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/leave-the-world-behind-release-date-photos?inapp=true) Esmail also expanded the disaster elements into a defined cyberattack context, showing plane crashes, ships beaching themselves, and self-driving cars running amok, whereas the book keeps its unsettling events, such as a loss of power, sudden sickness, and an unexplained piercing noise, unexplained.[8](https://time.com/6338523/leave-the-world-behind-book-movie-differences/)
The ending differs as well. In both versions Rose is drawn to a house in the distance, but in the film her obsession with the sitcom *Friends*, interrupted by the blackout, replaces the book's supply-gathering: she finds a [DVD player](https://www.edgepedia.org/dvd-player) and a boxed set of *Friends* seasons in the house's bunker and watches the finale.[8](https://time.com/6338523/leave-the-world-behind-book-movie-differences/) Esmail said he wanted the book and film to stand as two separate interpretations of the same story, so that neither would spoil the other.[8](https://time.com/6338523/leave-the-world-behind-book-movie-differences/) Alam maintained that the changes served the same conclusion, saying neither version offers an actual explanation of the events.[8](https://time.com/6338523/leave-the-world-behind-book-movie-differences/)
## Production
The house at the center of the film is a real location; exterior shots and some interiors were filmed in Old Westbury, New York. Esmail selected it for its open kitchen and living room and a pool within view of the kitchen. The production then built nearly 1:1 replicas of the rooms on soundstages in Bethpage, New York, which allowed the camera to zoom through walls and floors.[3](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/leave-the-world-behind-release-date-photos?inapp=true) Tod Campbell served as cinematographer and Lisa Lassek as editor.[4](https://watch.afi.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind) The film was produced by Esmail Corp and Red Om Films, with [Higher Ground Productions](https://www.edgepedia.org/higher-ground-productions), the Obamas' company, as executive producer.[3](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/leave-the-world-behind-release-date-photos?inapp=true) [Kevin Bacon](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-bacon) and Farrah Mackenzie joined the cast after the four leads were set.[10](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/kevin-bacon-boards-netflixs-leave-the-world-behind-from-director-sam-esmail)
## Reception
Critical response was generally favorable while audience response was markedly cooler. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 73% Tomatometer from 159 reviews, with a critics consensus calling it "an exceptionally well-acted apocalyptic thriller" that draws the viewer in despite its leisurely pace and somewhat simplistic messaging; the audience Popcornmeter score is 36%.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 68, based on 24 positive, 8 mixed, and 3 negative reviews.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind/critic-reviews/)
Reviewers divided over pacing and the ambiguous ending. TheWrap's Kristen Lopez called it one of the year's best,[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind/critic-reviews/) while the Associated Press's Mark Kennedy read it as a homage to [Alfred Hitchcock](https://www.edgepedia.org/alfred-hitchcock), complete with a man outrunning a crashing plane and discordant loud music.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind/critic-reviews/) The Guardian's Wendy Ide called it "a provocative, superbly acted action drama" combining spectacle with enough humor to temper the end-of-civilization scenario.[11](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/26/leave-the-world-behind-review-julia-roberts-mahershala-ali-sam-esmail-obama-rumaan-alam) Detractors cited the 140-minute runtime and unresolved plot: Empire's Lillian Crawford gave it 2 of 5 stars, arguing that starting the tension at maximum left nowhere to go across the film's exhausting runtime.[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023) The gap between critics and audiences drew commentary, with the film reaching #1 on Netflix's rankings while viewer responses, including public criticism from [Elon Musk](https://www.edgepedia.org/elon-musk), were more polarized.[12](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/leave-the-world-behind-movie-netflix-watch-b2466155.html)
## Viewership
The film debuted at #1 on Netflix's English Films List for the week of December 4, 2023, with 41.7 million views, making it the most watched title that week.[6](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/top-10-week-of-dec-4-leave-the-world-behind-debuts-at-1-and-most-watched?en=true) Netflix's 2023 viewership report later showed it was watched 121 million times in December, making it the platform's most-viewed movie of the year.[7](https://www.axios.com/2024/06/04/netflix-popular-movie-show-2023) European audience data from December 2023 showed the United Kingdom contributing 28% of its audience in the region.[13](https://icec.gencat.cat/web/.content/organisme/transparencia/pdfs_estudis/2023-The-Film-Agency_Report-December-2023.pdf)
## Themes
A central theme is dependence on technology. When digital communication fails, the characters' reliance on devices shapes their ability to cope: Clay, the media professor, is literally lost without his phone and shows withdrawal symptoms, while Amanda and Rose adapt more readily.[14](https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/leave-the-world-behind/themes/) Analysts have also read the story as depicting apocalypse as a slow, almost banal process driven by confusion and disconnection from rational explanation, rather than the mass chaos of conventional disaster fiction, with the title carrying a double meaning of escaping the world and watching the world one knew end.[15](https://www.supersummary.com/leave-the-world-behind/themes/) Academic commentary has examined the film's treatment of uncertainty, race, and class, including its reversal of racial dynamics relative to the novel.[16](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666659625000307) • [17](https://jurnal.uns.ac.id/hsb/article/view/104726)
## References
1. [Leave the World Behind (2023), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023)
2. [Continue Learning, BARW Volume 56 Issue 1](https://barw.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2024/01/BARW-Volume-56-Issue-1.pdf)
3. [Leave the World Behind: Cast, Release Date, Trailer & Plot, Netflix Tudum](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/leave-the-world-behind-release-date-photos?inapp=true)
4. [Leave the World Behind, American Film Institute](https://watch.afi.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind)
5. [Leave the World Behind critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/leave-the-world-behind/critic-reviews/)
6. [Top 10 Week of Dec. 4: 'Leave the World Behind' Debuts at #1, About Netflix](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/top-10-week-of-dec-4-leave-the-world-behind-debuts-at-1-and-most-watched?en=true)
7. [Netflix subscribers logged 183 billion hours last year, Axios](https://www.axios.com/2024/06/04/netflix-popular-movie-show-2023)
8. [How Netflix's 'Leave The World Behind' Adaptation Differs From the Book, Time](https://time.com/6338523/leave-the-world-behind-book-movie-differences/)
9. [Leave the World Behind, WISE Score & Parent Review, ScreenWise](https://screenwiseapp.com/media/leave-the-world-behind-movie)
10. [Kevin Bacon Boards Netflix's Leave the World Behind, About Netflix](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/kevin-bacon-boards-netflixs-leave-the-world-behind-from-director-sam-esmail)
11. [Leave the World Behind review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/26/leave-the-world-behind-review-julia-roberts-mahershala-ali-sam-esmail-obama-rumaan-alam)
12. [Leave the World Behind shoots to No 1 on Netflix, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/leave-the-world-behind-movie-netflix-watch-b2466155.html)
13. [The Film Agency Report, December 2023, ICEC](https://icec.gencat.cat/web/.content/organisme/transparencia/pdfs_estudis/2023-The-Film-Agency_Report-December-2023.pdf)
14. [Leave the World Behind Themes, SparkNotes](https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/leave-the-world-behind/themes/)
15. [Leave the World Behind Themes, SuperSummary](https://www.supersummary.com/leave-the-world-behind/themes/)
16. [Exploring responsible technology through archetypal responses in Leave the World Behind, ScienceDirect](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666659625000307)
17. [Racial Bias in The Adaptation of Rumaan Alam's Novel Leave The World Behind, Haluan Sastra Budaya](https://jurnal.uns.ac.id/hsb/article/view/104726)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2015–2019 films › Thriller and mystery films › Titles F to N*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license