It works

Interesting theory, it suits me. I am still curious to read the original book or all three of them.

Your alternate theory is interesting but how would you explain that doppelganger Kane didn't have memories yet doppelganger Lena does?

I'll have to watch it again because it looked pretty clear to me that doppelganger Lena blew up. You see the real Lena unpin the grenade and hand it to the alien, then run out. Also she was expressing emotions whereas once the alien became Lena's doppelganger, I remember it was still placid. The Lena running out of the lighthouse was clearly in distress.

I believe the real Lena was the one narrating and she just had a bit of the shimmer left in her.

Yep! Real Leena came out, albeit slightly modified.

@cpheonix said:

Your alternate theory is interesting but how would you explain that doppelganger Kane didn't have memories yet doppelganger Lena does?

I'll have to watch it again because it looked pretty clear to me that doppelganger Lena blew up. You see the real Lena unpin the grenade and hand it to the alien, then run out. Also she was expressing emotions whereas once the alien became Lena's doppelganger, I remember it was still placid. The Lena running out of the lighthouse was clearly in distress.

I believe the real Lena was the one narrating and she just had a bit of the shimmer left in her.

Hi cphoenix!

The doppelganger Kane did have memories and that's the reason why he could reach his home (may be was sub-consciously able to find his route). He was sick and as we know he was facing multiple organ failures, which should include his brain; lot of synapses would have been damaged and may be he couldn't retrieve information. Or he wasn't that adept to fully take control over his new acquired body and brain. By the time Leena escaped, the Shimmer was destroyed and she didn't fall sick or had her brain damaged. But I also tend to think that original Leena is much more a brainer, mentally strong & smarter. So the Alien who happened to acquire her body was able to do things better. Ofcourse, all this is just my wild guess; speculations!

For me too, it looked clear to me that the Doppelganger Leena blew up and that the real Leena escaped. I just don't know how to explain her red eyes and hugging Kane whom she knew was not her real husband.

For me too, it looked clear to me that the Doppelganger Leena blew up and that the real Leena escaped. I just don't know how to explain her red eyes and hugging Kane whom she knew was not her real husband.

She did a blood test on herself and showed that the shimmer was changing her... As for Kane, maybe she just accepted that as she was different she could take a (drastically) different Kane... Maybe it didn't work out in the long run!

@The_Foxcatcher said:

@cpheonix said:

Your alternate theory is interesting but how would you explain that doppelganger Kane didn't have memories yet doppelganger Lena does?

I'll have to watch it again because it looked pretty clear to me that doppelganger Lena blew up. You see the real Lena unpin the grenade and hand it to the alien, then run out. Also she was expressing emotions whereas once the alien became Lena's doppelganger, I remember it was still placid. The Lena running out of the lighthouse was clearly in distress.

I believe the real Lena was the one narrating and she just had a bit of the shimmer left in her.

Hi cphoenix!

The doppelganger Kane did have memories and that's the reason why he could reach his home (may be was sub-consciously able to find his route). He was sick and as we know he was facing multiple organ failures, which should include his brain; lot of synapses would have been damaged and may be he couldn't retrieve information. Or he wasn't that adept to fully take control over his new acquired body and brain. By the time Leena escaped, the Shimmer was destroyed and she didn't fall sick or had her brain damaged. But I also tend to think that original Leena is much more a brainer, mentally strong & smarter. So the Alien who happened to acquire her body was able to do things better. Ofcourse, all this is just my wild guess; speculations!

For me too, it looked clear to me that the Doppelganger Leena blew up and that the real Leena escaped. I just don't know how to explain her red eyes and hugging Kane whom she knew was not her real husband.

Hi Foxcatcher :)

IIRC, the doppelganger Kane said he saw Leena from afar and just walked to her. He obviously retained some memories but he was zoned out and at that point he didnt have organ failure. Whereas Leena was reeling off - and quite emotionally - exact, detailed memories. So for me she displayed un-doppleganger characteristics whereas Kane did.

As Bluersun stated, she had tested herself already and found the shimmer in her, hence the eyes at the end. As for her hugging the Kane doppelganger, it was the last remnant of her husband, it was probably a natural reaction.

@The_Foxcatcher said:

First lets go by Rules the movie established so we don't contradict them: [...] What do you think ?

Your theory is interesting and solid, but I'm still conflicted about the notion of the alien life form being centralized (the blob as you named it). From my (too) fresh experience of the movie, you have a huge point with the fact that when Blob/Lena's clone burns, the shimmer's creatures also burn. But on the other hand shouldn't Kane have burned down too (unless things outside the shimmer don't get affected ?) And... it's late so hopefully i'll be back later to expend on this, since my feeling is that the alien lifeform represents the opposite of what most sci-fi invasion movies portray, ie. a centralized, parasitic, homogenous and awful threat to life on earth. And that the movie conveys a much more amoral/unantagonistical message.

EDIT :

Sorry for the messy english and the ill-organized and uncomplete thoughts that follow. And after rereading this, it's clear that to a big extent I'm seeing what I want to see. Well, that's what's great with multilayered and complex artistic works, they don't spoonfeed one too much but rather leave doors open.

some (false ?) facts

• Kane knows about her cheating
• in the end they both carry the alien lifeform

some dialogs

• biologist : cell division (lecture at the beginning)
• biologist / kane : I don't know (x times)
• psychologist : people don't commit suicide they self-destruct
• physicist : all matter is refracted
• psychologist : It's not like us, it's unlike us. I don't know what it wants, or if it wants. ... we'll be fragmented into smaller parts until annihilation.

some questions

• the meaning of all women crew ?
• the meaning of all messed up crew ?
• what does the shimmer stand for symbollically, if it does stand for something ?
• the use of memory losses ?
• who's who in the end ?
• why's the title annihilation ?
• conscious manipulation from alien lifeform ?
• is the blob the "brain", the elementary, central and vital particle of the alien ?
• how Kane gets to recover without the medics noticing abnormalities ?

conscious manipulation from alien lifeform ?

[oops, SPOILER for Ex Machina here] In Ex Machina (also from Garland), the AI clearly manipulates the humans, but at the same time, IIRC, it is no Terminator, it just wants to flee from its prison, at any cost, perhaps for causing mayhem, perhaps not (learning, experimenting, living). [SPOILER END] The answer may be left for the viewer to decide : during the first questionning scene, Lena answers truthfully about what's become of the rest of the crew, except for the Psychologist, where her answer is a (retrospectively) ambiguous "I don't know". Either she's deliberately lying (conscious manipulation) or she's saying that Ventress transformed into an unknown thing. Personnaly I'd go for the latter.

• First, Area X expends slowly, and if it contained a centralized malicious intent, powerful as it looks, it might have spread a lot faster (3 years to spread across not so big an area).
• Then, the movie starts with a lecture about the splitting of cells to form life as we know it (ie. creation), and almost ends with the splitting of Ventress after saying "we'll be fragmented into smaller parts until annihilation", formally closing the cycle we're subjectively focusing on by starting it anew, in an endless loop.
• Last, but most importantly in my opinion, the whole "feel" of the movie conveys the idea of evolution as being just an amoral, continuous, and overwhelmingly unconscious process. As others said in this board, things just are (in a dynamical, non static way).

who's who in the end ?

We don't care and don't have to. Kane is the clone, Lena is the original, yet they're both new versions of their former self, as they would have been without the experience alien thing ; I think the cheating part supports that notion : she feels guilty, he gives the cold shoulder.

Is the alien lifeform gonna takeover the world ?

Probably. And why not ? From a relativistic evolutionary standpoint, is it such a bad thing, since it seems to evolve faster and give birth to much decentralized diversity, contrarily to most aliens in invasion scenarios, where they're often quite homogenous.

conclusion ?

I. Don't. Know.

what does the shimmer stand for symbollically, if it does stand for something ?

Again, I see it as a kind of giant "particle accelerator", that goes to show how evolution is neutral in itself, it creates marvellous things (the flowers, the salt/crystal trees), awful things (the mutated animals). But it affects the beings that are both input and output of the process, both observers and participants.

Here's a compelling explanation I've just read, less down to earth than mine, that emphasizes on subjectivity and psychology : https://newrepublic.com/article/147201/annihilation-brilliant-splicing-woolf-cronenberg

Re who is who - i don't think it matters.

In Lena's case we see her start as human, and we know she (along with everyone else) is changing. At the end, the simulacrum starts as an empty slate but moves towards becoming Lena. What if they were both changing toward a common hybrid? Like White getting darker and black getting lighter until they are the same shade of grey.

The same goes for Kane - all we really know us one if them remembered Lena more than the other and one of them couldn't cope with his state of being. We can't know for sure if the memory gaps in either are due to imperfect duplication, or the shimmer refracting the structure of his brain.

So the question of who is whom is moot - by the time the question matters they are identical - for all intents and purposes - anyway.

Your theory is interesting and solid, but I'm still conflicted about the notion of the alien life form being centralized (the blob as you named it). From my (too) fresh experience of the movie, you have a huge point with the fact that when Blob/Lena's clone burns, the shimmer's creatures also burn. But on the other hand shouldn't Kane have burned down too (unless things outside the shimmer don't get affected ?)

Hi Perelachaise!

Nice you got the Kane issue! As I said in my OP, 'If the Shimmer is destroyed, the sick Duplicate gets cured.' So its only the Shimmer effects cease to exist and not the Alien life as such. Its not that Leena burned and so the Blob/Shimmer burned. After catching fire, Leena spread the fire and she burned down the place.

But this struck the chord to my interesting theory. I theorise that the Alien which landed on Earth was infected / carrying infection. It probably escaped from its home planet and crashed on Earth. Like a Space Jockey crash landing Earth with the cargo full of Black goo. In this case both the Alien & the Infection is of totally unknown bio-science.

And thanks for getting Ex-Machina in to the discussion. As you know that the AI (Ava) was a very good Schemer, all it wanted was to set herself free like you said. It used humans to achieve her goal. Manipulating them, controlling the environment (creating power shut downs) and stuffs.

I don't know how specifically can I compare both films but I feel lot of thematic parallels between the two especially the ending. In Ex-Machina, the last shot simply shows how Ava blends into the human society. And so does I feel for Annihilation. Its simply shows how the Alien/s (free of infection) having occupied human bodies, start to live their new life on Earth.

Now the Shimmer is what I would call the Infection brought by the Aliens. It started spreading on Earth. It has already captivated the Alien and the Alien needs to set itself free. While it occupied human body (Kane), the infection was still there. After catching fire, Leena spread the fire and she burned down the place. After the Lighthouse (the central station of the Infection) got destroyed, its effects ceased to exist.

If the Leena who got burned was the Doppelganger Leena, then she sacrificed herself to kill the infection (Shimmer) to save Kane.

If the Leena who got burned was the real Leena and not the Doppelganger Leena, then she sacrificed herself to kill the Shimmer to save Earth.

That's the best I can think as of now.

Seems to me the shimmer is a built in bio bubble for the alien DNA to flourish and survive . I guess its "terraforming" the landing area modifying bio-matter at the DNA level

I wonder about the competence of a military that takes no apparent precautions in an unknown potentially hostile environment.

baby steps , send in one 5-10 meters and return for extensive examination including examination of recording devices. Each attempt would explore different area and deeper depth. If no response the next victim would be secured by tether and hauled if he didn't return in-time. This way you map out the area and experiment.

baby steps , send in one 5-10 meters and return for extensive examination including examination of recording devices. Each attempt would explore different area and deeper depth. If no response the next victim would be secured by tether and hauled if he didn't return in-time. This way you map out the area and experiment.

Yeah it’s odd that they kept sending in teams of people to die or worse. You’d start with drones and animals before risking human life, surely.

At least Leena and Kane are quarantined at the end, so hopefully they’d be kept away from humankind and, if necessary, destroyed.

Do you guys really need 3 hours of exposition eleminating all of the alternative scenarios that you mention of how to entre the shimmer as well as scientifically plausabile explanations before you can suspend disbelief to appreciate this film and the ideas and themes that it deals with?

Or are we just beung forum nit-pickey?

Leena did that blood test on herself and noted that she was mutating, like the others and anyone entering the Shimmer. I thought at the end she was still herself but realizing that she would eventually mutate regardless, and she caressed the mutant Kane from this despair.

Interesting, well made movie, reminding me of Andrei Tarkovsky's 'Stalker'.