The last time director Charlie McDowell and writer Justin Lader teamed up, for McDowell’s 2014 debut The One I Love, the result was an unexpected infusion of Twilight Zone sensibility into the modern ailing-couple drama. The trailer for the team’s new movie, The Discovery, offers evidence of a promising follow-up—from the looks of it, a refreshingly bizarre meditation on love in ever-changing times.
The drama, which will debut at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday and on Netflix on March 31, stars Rooney Mara and Jason Segel in a world in which the existence of the afterlife has been scientifically proven. Their characters appear to be caught up in a relationship complicated by the fact that increasing numbers of their fellow humans are committing suicide in order to expedite their arrival at the next phase.
Robert Redford costars as the scientist responsible for the discovery and the father of Segel’s character, with Breaking Bad‘s Jesse Plemons and The Girlfriend Experience‘s Riley Keough rounding out the cast. The Discovery is one of a growing number of Netflix original movies set to hit the streaming service this year.
