The world is seemingly ending and Julia Roberts hates human beings in Leave the World Behind. When an apocalyptic thriller has an opening speech on the world that ends with “I f**king hate people,” you would think the prominent thought in a viewer’s mind would be: Why does she hate people so much or will they survive through this? Yet, as I streamed the latest Netflix drop in the dead of the night I only had one burning question: Why is everything so…blue?

If you haven’t yet watched Leave the World Behind, this is where you stop, watch the movie, and then return. Major spoilers await you ahead.

Everything is ambiguous in Leave the World Behind, including why Julia Roberts…

…hates people and mistrusts Mahershala Ali’s George and Myha’la Herrold’s Ruth. On one side, racism is hinted as the probable reason, especially when Roberts’ Amanda says, “They don’t look like they own this house.” However, she is not entirely unreasonable when she is skeptical of the two strangers who knocked on their vacation rental’s door in the middle of the night and claimed to be the owners. George’s shiftiness and Ruth’s aggressive defense don’t help matters either. But there is a bigger problem at hand: the world seems to be ending and director Sam Esmail has used a lot of blue in this film.

For those unaware, the 2-hour 21-minute movie based on a book of the same name follows a New York-based family of Amanda, Clay, Archie, and Rosie Sanford on a beach vacation in Long Island. What was supposed to be a relaxing vacation from the bustle of the city turns into a “vacation in hell” when two strangers (George and Ruth) show up and claim there was a blackout in the city. What follows is a bunch of events for which we get almost no explanation for.

From the menacing deers and pool-loving flamingos to ear-splitting noise and Archie falling sick, a lot happens and they are all piled upon one another. Like its source, the film doesn’t give any answers just a lot of speculations, which is as accurate as it gets in emergencies like these. What Leave the World Behind doesn’t grasp as well as the book is the depth of each character. Where the book has each of them fleshed out, we are left wondering why Julia Roberts’ Amanda loves R&B all of a sudden in the movie.

Well, we know why: Esmail wanted the film seeping in blue.

How Sam Esmail used the color blue to portray a scary world

When you see the color blue, you think of the skies and the sea. A general emotion associated with the color is peace, stability, and serenity. Yet, nothing in Leave the World Behind can ever invoke such a feeling. On the contrary, various character interactions and sequences in the film depict a cold insensitivity: be it Rosie’s obsession with Friends and iconic couple Ross and Rachel or Clay’s laidback approach to everything. So why did Esmail choose to paint the film in this color?

Well, Blue, when used in abundance, comes across as uncaring. And Esmail uses the color a lot. You will see the blue in jeans, cardigans, jumpers, dresses, cars, window panes, walls, and even the gramophone’s needle. The director went as far as color-grading the frames in blue. None of these instances ever add any warmth that the color is generally associated with.

Even the beach scene, with its blue sea and skies, had an unnerving premonitory air with the haunting score until the sequence ended with a huge tanker grounding on the shore as people ran amuck. The hallmark of the scene is how everyone in the Sanford family has a dash (or more depending on the characters) of blue in them–hinting at just how uncaring and cold each of them is, towards each other and the world in general.

But the scene is special for one more reason.

The beach scene foreshadowed the ending perfectly

Starting at the 11-minute mark of Leave the World Behind, the beach scene is the first time we understand that maybe the Sanfords’ vacation may not turn out the way they had envisioned. It also predicts how the film will end. Having checked into their rental property, the family heads to the beach for some relaxation. Clad in blue, they soon find a spot and settle down with their books, umbrellas, etc. Parents are doing their thing while the kids enjoy the ocean. It doesn’t take Rosie to notice (and later fixate) on the huge boat on the horizon.

When she later notices the boat moving closer, Clay in his typical laidbackness, goes into a tide on oil tankers. Here, the seating arrangement of each character (Rosie shutting herself out from her family by watching Friends from earlier) is worth noting. Archie and Clay are together, as they are in the final act. Amanda, while still under the umbrella, is a little further away, lost in her book. In the third act, she will be in the woods, off to find her missing daughter.

Rosie, however, is completely outside the umbrella and away from her family, fixated on the tanker. At the end of the movie, she is alone in Thornes’ property, binge-eating junk food and later watching Friends’ finale in the bunker. Just like the sitcom and the deers, Rosie can’t stop obsessing over the ship. This fixation is what makes her one of the most aware characters in the story, apart from George. She knew the deers were trying to tell them something; she knew the ship was moving closer. The latter proved to be true at the end of the beach scene. The former is up for interpretation.

What is not is Esmail’s use of the color blue. There was a creative choice. Or maybe I’m just overthinking films again.