On the eve of 2017’s Sundance Film Festival, Netflix has rolled out the official first trailer for The Discovery, a somber love story set in a world where scientists – specifically Robert Redford’s scientist – have concluded that an afterlife exists.
What follows is a worldwide existential crisis, one which prompts people into taking their own lives with reckless abandon in order to experience life after death. Headed up by Rooney Mara and Jason Segel – the latter of whom replaced Nicholas Hoult early on in development – The Discovery kicks into gear once Redford’s Dr. Thomas Harbor claims that he can scientifically prove the existence of an afterlife.
From that moment, the snippet above changes from a quaint indie romance to a poignant, thought-provoking drama, with Mara and Segel’s lovestruck leads attempting to quell the barrage of suicides and maybe – just maybe – salvage some semblance of love in the process. Also starring Riley Keough (The Girlfriend Experience) and Fargo‘s Jesse Plemons, The Discovery features a script co-written by Justin Lader, who last collaborated with writer-director Charlie McDowell for his Sundance darling, The One I Love. It also featured a peculiar love story set in an alternate reality, but will lightning strike twice for the creative pair?
“Suicide is not the answer. Stay in this life.” Sundance Film Festival will host the world premiere of The Discovery on Friday, January 20th. Netflix subscribers won’t have to wait too much longer before Charlie McDowell’s sophomore effort premieres online, with March 31 being the date for your diaries.
