White Noise might have been outshone by Glass Onion over the festive period on Netflix, but the all-star comedy-drama is starting to make a bigger noise as more viewers tune in for its strange delights.
Based on Don DeLillo's book of the same name, Noah Baumbach's new movie stars Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig and Don Cheadle, among others, and it turned out to be every bit as eccentric and chaotic as the trailer led us to believe.
Technically it's about a contemporary American family's attempts to deal with the mundane conflicts of daily life, but it's not quite as simple as that sounds and we wouldn't blame you if you were wondering what the hell was going on.
So we're here to help as we delve into what happened in White Noise and how it differs from the book. Major spoilers are ahead.
White Noise ending explained
White Noise is separated into segments (which feel like movements of a symphony), all of which deal with themes of mortality. The first is our academic section — we meet professor Jack Gadney (Driver) and his wife Babette (Gerwig) and their family.
Gadney, a renowned professor, is preparing for another year teaching his course of Hitler studies at the College on the Hill and is anxious about an upcoming conference because, to his great shame, he doesn't speak German.
His co-worker and friend professor Murray Siskind (Cheadle) is equally anxious about drumming up support for his own Elvis studies lecture and asks Gadney to drop by to draw attention.
What unfolds is an academic chest-beating competition, which Gadney seemingly wins though their mutual admiration makes it feel more like a draw. Meanwhile, the eldest Gadney child is spying on her mother Babette, who she suspects is addicted to drugs, causing her to become forgetful.
Their life is disrupted by a sudden 'airborne toxic event' which sends the family on a chaotic journey to a quarantine station. There, they're met by a team of 'SIMUVAC' responders (as in, simulated evacuation, which only confuses them all the more as to whether the airborne toxic event was even real) when Jack realises that he was standing in the open air during the toxic rainstorm and his health may be impacted, thus exacerbating his fear of death.
They return home eventually for the next 'movement' of the film; Babette has become increasingly distant and eventually confesses to enrolling in a study for a drug to combat fear of death, however it was shut down. Needing the drug, Babette began exchanging sex with the mysterious Mr Gray for the drug, Dylar, but has stopped taking it because it made her confused and she couldn't distinguish words from their objects.
Jack finds an ad for Dylar in the newspaper in their rubbish, and takes his father's gun and hunts Mr Gray down (also spurred on by Murray's comment that taking a life might alleviate Jack's fear of dying). Mr Gray is clearly high on his own supply, and he too suffers from the inability to distinguish words from what they mean.
Jack exploits this, saying things like 'speeding bullet!' which causes Mr Gray to drop to the floor. Eventually, he corners Mr Gray and shoots him, putting the gun in his hand to make it look like a self-inflicted wound. Only Mr Gray is still alive, and he shoots Jack and Babette, who has arrived on the scene.
Through this exchange, Jack has overcome his fear of death and he and Babette drive Mr Gray to a hospital run by atheist German nuns. The irony is too much to bear, and it reunites Babette and Jack.
The final scene takes place in the A&P supermarket, where they run into Murray and talk briefly, but seemingly happily, about the past year. As they head towards the tills, the credits roll and everyone begins to dance.
White Noise is now available to watch on Netflix.
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