So to first get this out of the way, comparisons to Malick's "Tree of Life" are somewhat valid in a high level sense for some of the shots in the film and that both constitute a series windows into the plot, allowing for your own interpretation vs. a clear manipulation of the viewer to what the director wants you to think or feel during a scene. Both also take the viewer through a cycle of shared experiences amongst the characters, but for very different purposes. I have only seen the ToL once and UC once, so I don't feel comfortable doing a rigorous comparison, but I totally get why ToL is brought up alongside UC.
Now for what I actually thought:
The film is a work of art. Like all art, it's open to interpretation and not everyone is gonna like it. I didn't love it right off the bat, but goddammit if I have been able to think about anything else for the last 14 hours or so and that has made me fall in love with it.
This is what I believe the plot is after one viewing, 6 hours of sleep, and a venti Green tea:
- Spoiler: show
- Act I:
If I understand this right, the kidnapper gets a worm from a blue orchid that grows near the Sampler's farm. That orchid/worm combination allows the kidnapper to suspend the consciousness of the victim (though the worm itself was removed right after Kris is infected, suggesting it's eggs are in her), allowing him complete control over them and the destruction of their life, I assume this is a metaphor for drug addiction. The Sampler uses the heavy bass sounds to draw worms up from the ground by simulating thunder, which draws Kris to him. He then extracts the worm via a painful process (I couldn't tell if he realizes what the kidnapper has done or even why these people are infected, or if it was one worm or many), a drug addicts withdrawal, and inserts it into the pig as pigs are a species whose biological facilities are somewhat compatible with humans. The Sampler then returns her to her vehicle and since the worm is now removed she regains he mental facilities (her soul is now back in exclusive charge of her mind?) without knowledge of what has happened, so some level of infect remains. The addict will always be an addict. The Sampler tags the pig and returns to his farm where he has many such pigs, so there are lots of victims out there.
Act II:
As Kris' consciousness fought with the worm infection's effect, they are now connected somehow. The worm/orchid combo took a piece of it into the worm when it suppressed her awareness. The transfer of the worm to pig has now merged all three of them, even though the direct host/parasite relationship between Kris and the worm is broken. The Sampler, somehow, has the ability to 'sample' this three-way connection for all the pigs on his farm and view snippets of the victim's lives which he records are music. Is he God? I don't think so. He is more like a psychologist counseling the drug addict, recording their lives in a doctor's journal and selling those notes as musical CDs in place of books. He is what I’ll call ‘the First’.
The pig that holds part of Kris meets another pig (Jeff’s pig) at the Sampler’s farm that it falls in piggy-love with. This causes Kris and Jeff to meet, and sensing a connection between themselves, they begin a relationship. They have both been victims of the kidnapper(s). They were both married. To each other? I am not sure, but I think so. The experience of the pigs is being fed back to the victims. Their mundane piggy lives in the pen are taking a toll on Kris and Jeff, while the Sampler looks in.
Act III:
The Kris pig gets pregnant via the Jeff pig and thus Kris begins to feel the biological effects of the pregnancy. The share the same memories now since they are further infection-connected via the growing fetuses in the Kris pig. That’s why they both remember the same friend growing up. She is not pregnant and the doctor’s speech to her is the first big crack in wall hiding the truth. This has never happened before, perhaps no two victims have ever met before or no pre-existing couple has both been victims, and the result is that Kris is gaining some of the abilities that the Sampler has. She is able to begin to reach back towards him and the farm, like he reaches to her. The Sampler attempts to stop this, the resulting dilution, by killing the piglets. But it’s too late as Kris has done a ‘deep dive’ into herself and begins to piece it all together. Metaphorically though the gathering of the broken pieces of the pool and consciously though the book. She has found him and blames him for everything and ends up killing him. Pouring through his notes Kris and Jeff reach out to other victims and help them reassemble their lives. They begin to care for the pigs and bring them happiness thus bringing the pure-animal like love of life back into themselves. The scene of Kris holding the piglet is her experiencing motherhood through the pigs, as she lost that ability herself.
What does that all mean?
- Spoiler: show
- All living thing’s consciousness is essentially a parasite, an infection. And that infection can spread or be placed in competition with another parasite. This is similar to how scientists believe mitochondria integrated into cells.
Why did I call the Sampler, ‘the First’. Because it make sense from the story that he is first person to be infected with the competing parasite and he derives his power to connect with everyone else because a little bit of his consciousness has infected all the victims via the orchid/worm path.
What I am still working on:
- Spoiler: show
- Do the Sampler, orchid collectors, and kidnapper know each other?
Were Jeff and Kris already married?
What the fuck was up with kidnapper's helpers? Were they learning to become Samplers?
Is this a metaphor for the mental healthcare industry?
Why were there so many victims in the one room towards the beginning?
