As for the end
portman character was lying/unreliable narrator. The clone was mimicking her every move. Every single one. But the moment she hands it a grenade it suddenly stops mimicking her and just stands there until the grenade goes off? The fact is she just watched a video of her husband killing himself the same way.
She also absorbed the tattoo of the other character. So she was the clone with spliced DNA of some of the other squad,in my opinion.
The interpretation that Natalie is a clone and unreliable narrator would render the entire movie a waste of time to me. There are times when an unreliable narrator works but not with a film that so heavily relies on allegory and mystery. If I can't read into anything that was presented then it's all pointless to analyze.
And her being a clone doesn't jive with how Oscar Isaac's clone behaved. He came to her almost empty headed, just remembering her face and the barest of details about the person he was birthed from. But we're supposed to believe the Portman clone is ultra sophisticated and clever enough to weave a web of lies to trick her captors?
Her clone allowing itself to die doesn't seem out of place to me. It's established that Portman self destructs in her life. Burns down everything around her, so to speak. And that aspect of her personality was what imprinted on the clone.
I roll with the interpretation that the shimmer and whatever evolves from it isn't malevolent or a thinking being with desires. It is basically just a cosmic cancer that replicates and changes already existing cells. So when it created the Portman clone, it took on one of her flaws as a person, self destruction.
I believe Portman's character (Lena was her name I think?) is a deeply modified version of herself by the end of the film, having absorbed characteristics at the cellular level from various people and things that was inside the shimmer. She's no longer herself, she's something new. Now I believe SHE could have been lying about how much she knows, there was a lot of "I don't know" in there, but I don't believe Lena died and the being sitting inside the quarantine is a simple clone of her.
When they ask each other are they who they were, he admits that he isn't. He is a clone but she is something more than a clone. She is herself, changed, with the shimmer still inside of her.
And her being a clone doesn't jive with how Oscar Isaac's clone behaved. He came to her almost empty headed, just remembering her face and the barest of details about the person he was birthed from. But we're supposed to believe the Portman clone is ultra sophisticated and clever enough to weave a web of lies to trick her captors?
Her clone allowing itself to die doesn't seem out of place to me. It's established that Portman self destructs in her life. Burns down everything around her, so to speak. And that aspect of her personality was what imprinted on the clone.
I roll with the interpretation that the shimmer and whatever evolves from it isn't malevolent or a thinking being with desires. It is basically just a cosmic cancer that replicates and changes already existing cells. So when it created the Portman clone, it took on one of her flaws as a person, self destruction.
I believe Portman's character (Lena was her name I think?) is a deeply modified version of herself by the end of the film, having absorbed characteristics at the cellular level from various people and things that was inside the shimmer. She's no longer herself, she's something new. Now I believe SHE could have been lying about how much she knows, there was a lot of "I don't know" in there, but I don't believe Lena died and the being sitting inside the quarantine is a simple clone of her.
When they ask each other are they who they were, he admits that he isn't. He is a clone but she is something more than a clone. She is herself, changed, with the shimmer still inside of her.
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