SPOILER ALERT
***First off, Vic murdered Martin McRae — and all of his wife’s other side pieces.👀
Ana de Armas plays Melinda, a free-spirited, promiscuous, nympho — let’s be honest — who jumps from relationship to relationship to enrage her emotionless husband, Vic, played by Ben Affleck.
Vic is a retired technocrat who created the microchip technology that makes drones work like a heat missile. And that’s a metaphor for his compulsory behavior in this film. He hovers over his wife’s exploits like a drone.
Melinda and Vic have an open marriage and the film explores whether or not their marriage can sustain all of Melinda’s exploits without spiraling into jealousy, toxicity and obsession. That’s the thesis of the story.
One of the plot devices used to symbolize Vic’s obsession is snails. Vic harvests a colony of snails. Snails are significant to him because they represent outer strength; a shell of protection. Vic appears strong on the outside to friends and neighbors. To friends he’s seemingly unbothered that Melinda is flaunting her lovers in public.
But Vic is simmering with jealousy. He even tells a neighbor that a snail will climb a 12-foot wall for their mate.
Vic presents himself as a long-suffering husband and uses that victimhood and innocence as a way to circumvent any accusation of Melinda’s lovers’ murders.
The ending is a parallel of the first sequence. Vic returns home from a bike ride. His wife Melinda glares at him with suspicion as Vic removes his sweaty clothes right there on the front porch. But is that just sweat? Or, is Vic returning from murdering one of Melinda’s lovers?
Her eyes well. He asks, What?!” She replies, “nothing” and retreats upstairs to her quarters of the house. He goes into his room. They live in separate quarters. They are distant lovers.
There are times in the movie when they retract from each other’s advances. Melinda knows that Vic will always be there. But he’s unsure. He doesn’t know when she’s going to fall in love with one of her exploits. So, he seemingly kills them before they fall in love.
To scare off one of Melinda’s lovers, Vic admits to killing one of Martin McRae, Melinda’s lovers who’s been missing for a while. Vic claims he killed Martin McRae with a hammer. A crime of passion. This rumor is spread all over town, but Vic has protected himself like a snail. None of their friends believe Vic’s capable of killing anyone, including Martin McRae.
Except his wife and a new neighbor, screenwriter Don. Don and Melinda suspect Vic is a murderer. They even pay for a private investigator to follow Vic on his bike rides. But he’s too clever for the P.I. and exposes them. Then Vic flirts with Don’s wife Kelly. He needs Kelly on his side. This makes Melinda jealous.
Martin McRae’s remains are discovered and another man is arrested for shooting him. Where were his remains discovered? In the same woods where Vic spends a lot of time. In the same woods where Vic has buried Melinda’s other lovers. The gorge.
Vic doubles down, admitting several times that he killed Martin McRae and I believe him. He even ambiguously apologizes to Melinda when his body is found. Vic killed Martin McRae.
Now let’s explain the ending.
Melinda and their daughter Trixie plan a picnic at the gorge. They invite Vic along. This is where Vic buried Melinda’s lover, Tony. He’s gotta go. So they spend the afternoon at the gorge.
While Trixie’s playing by the stream, Vic notices Tony’s body floating near a boulder. He collects Trixie before she notices and they all leave.
Later, Melinda realizes she left her scarf there. Vic says he’ll pick it up tomorrow on his bike ride.
Again, the ending is a bookend or parallel of the first sequence.
The next morning, Vic rides his bike to the gorge. Melinda searches the house for Vic, but he’s already gone. She ends up in his makeshift, greenhouse-like quarters where he keeps his snails.
She steps on one of the snails, crushing it. Vic had been protecting these snails, but one got away from its habitat and now splattered by the heel of Melinda’s foot. Such a metaphor for their relationship.
Melinda finds the wallet of her lover, Tony, covered in snails. It confirms that Vic had something to do with Tony’s disappearance. Is Vic responsible for killing all of them? That’s the antithesis. It’s impossible for this couple to enjoy an open marriage without spiraling into a jealous rage.
Now the expression on her face in the first sequence makes sense. Melinda suspected Vic all along.
Vic’s at the gorge struggling to submerge Tony’s corpse back into the water.
Screenwriter Don catches Vic prodding at something in the water. Don waves Melinda’s scarf.
***Wait, that’s convenient. Why does Don have Melinda’s scarf? Did she call him and tell him to go get it? In an earlier scene, she was talking seductively to someone on the phone and when Vic questioned her she admitted it was Don. Is Don her new lover? Or are they still in cahoots to find Vic in his murderous act? Or, is she still trying to make Vic jealous because of Don’s wife Kelly? The games they play.
Don sees Tony’s dead hand emerge from the water. His suspicions are confirmed — Vic IS a murderer!
He’s not about to be Vic’s next victim so he flees to his Subaru wagon. He’s headed straight to the police station. Don’s plucking numbers on his phone, but we know from an earlier scene, Tony’s death scene, that there’s no service out there. Don thinks he’s hit the jackpot: he’ll get a book deal and then adapt the screenplay and they’ll both be hits.
Vic hops on his mountain bike and cuts through the gorge doing a buck 20 easy. He’ll cut Don off. He knows this land better than Don.
Meanwhile, Melinda’s at home packing. She’s finally leaving Vic. Daughter Trixie sees mom’s suitcase and tosses it in the backyard pool. “We’re not leaving,” she demands. Trixie wants mom to suffer, she enjoys aggravating her as we saw throughout the film.
Back at the gorge, Vic’s whipping through trees full speed. This mountain bike is more agile than Don’s all-wheel drive wagon.
Don’s sending his wife the “I told you so” text. But autocorrect is fumbling his words. The Subaru is swerving and fishtailing on the dirt road. He’s simultaneously texting. His phone flops out of his hand and onto the passenger side floorboard. Don reaches for it. Keep your eyes on the road, Don!
Then, out of nowhere, Vic propels off his bike and onto the road. Don swerves to miss him and loses control of the Subaru. His wagon dives off the cliff and into the gorge, toppling.
Back at home, Melinda’s suitcase submerges into the pool just like Don’s car.
Just like all Vic’s other successful murders of Melinda’s lovers, he enjoys a peaceful bike ride and the ambiance of this parish.
Vic arrives home on the bike. Melinda’s sitting there, staring, just as she had in the first sequence. This is the Synthesis of this story. This is how they love. This is their love story. Obsession, possession, jealousy. This is normal for them. Will she be less overt with her lovers? Will she protect them from her husband’s jealous rage?
“I saw Tony” she brags with a tearful eye, as she heads to her quarters of the house, just like the first sequence.
She is turned on by Vic’s jealousy. It’s her kink.
As the credits roll, Melinda burns Tony’s wallet and contents. The evidence.
To answer the thesis of this story — Can this couple enjoy an open marriage free of jealousy? No. They cannot.
