Spoiler Warning: Windfall (2022)Netflix's Windfall is the most recent film from writer/director Charlie McDowell, most known for The One I Love. Windfall is a minimalist thriller where the characters are nameless, going by Nobody (Jason Segel), Wife (Lily Collins), CEO (Jesse Plemons), and Gardener (Omar Leyva). The film is about a Nobody who breaks into the home of a CEO and his Wife. When the latter returns early, the wife sees Nobody leaving, leading to him taking the CEO and his Wife as hostages until he gets enough money to start a new life. The film consists of the three waiting for the CEO's assistant to bring them $500,000. A simple concept. Or is it?
As Nobody spends time with the CEO, he notices how narcissistic and selfish he is and how Wife may have regretted giving up her self independence for security and wealth. The CEO continually badgers Nobody about his reason for being there, but Nobody doesn't reveal anything about himself until the very end of the film. Through McDowell's employment of tension, focus objects, and violence, he crafts a masterclass in the minimalist thriller. Windfall brings back fond memories of the classic Los Angeles thriller with the bare essentials, delivering its own spin along the way.
The Tension
After Nobody takes CEO and Wife hostage, he gets them to hand over $5000 and locks them away in a sauna. Nobody jogs back to his car when he notices a camera in front of it. Knowing there's no way out of the situation, Nobody heads back to the home, where he sees the sauna has been opened. Nobody subdues CEO and Wife in the neighboring orange vineyard and demands they give him $500,000, enough to start a new life. CEO gets his assistant to agree, bringing the sum by the following day. A waiting game ensues, leaving the three alone to small talk.
Upon talking to Wife, Nobody learns that she used to be an assistant before meeting CEO but now runs his foundation. When CEO brings up that she'll be demoting herself to a more advisory role after they have their baby, she responds with a reluctant confirmation. Nobody quickly finds that CEO is a man who cares about nothing but his money and himself. Wife begins coming to terms with her regret over marrying CEO, having traded her independence for wealth and prestige. She worries she'll never have another choice again and that her last choice was choosing to walk down the aisle. Nobody gives away nothing, refusing to state his cause for being there and about any loved ones in his life. The rift between CEO and Wife grows, as Nobody remains a mystery.
The Violence
When the Gardener unexpectedly arrives, he gives CEO a piece of paper to sign. Before Nobody can yank the paper away, CEO writes "call 911" on the paper. With the money drop fast approaching, Nobody has to watch over three people in the living room. Caring more about saving his money than the lives of those in the room, CEO begins to question whether Nobody has the ability to shoot anyone. The confrontation between the two eventually leads to Nobody firing off a warning shot next to CEO's ear. After hearing the shots, the Gardener tries to run away but trips and slams into the glass door, shattering it and accidentally cutting his own throat. Nobody's immediate reaction is to help the man, while CEO questions why he would run through a glass door. The latter doesn't realize this is a direct implication of his action to posture. This is the first drop of blood spilled.
In the film's finale, Wife retrieves the money bag for Nobody from outside the gate. She stands there momentarily as another car roars by and looks down at her feet and the car. Wife allows the car to drive by. Once thinking she had lost the opportunity to make impactful choices, at the moment, she does just that. Nobody finally confronts CEO before he leaves and states that the only reason he was there was to see what it was like being the CEO, and after meeting him, he feels better knowing what a horrible man he is. Nobody spills the beans on Wife and tells the CEO she kept birth control pills in her purse. This appears to be a cathartic moment for Wife, who is on the verge of freeing herself with a piece of broken glass. As Nobody ties his shoes on the way out, Wife smashes his head with a statue and shoots and kills the CEO, placing the gun in Nobody's hand. She stares at her feet one final time, about to make a life-changing choice. Wife's illusions are shattered just like the glass, picking up one of the shattered bits to take back what was hers.
The Focus Objects
There are many important objects in Windfall, which build towards the finale. Early in the film, Nobody notices a bizarre white statue, the same one that Wife smashes his head with in the end. Throughout the film, Nobody is always tying his boot, with CEO noticing this as a point of weakness for Nobody. CEO is amused by this weakness, and it inspires his outburst of claiming Nobody to be incapable. While CEO was wrong in how he went about it, it is this one weakness that kills Nobody. Had Nobody not inspired the outburst by tying the shoe, the Gardener wouldn't have shattered the glass, and Wife wouldn't have used it to release her binds. If Nobody hadn't tied his shoes at the front door with his back turned, Wife wouldn't have had the chance to kill him. If only Nobody knew how to tie his shoes, he might just have survived.
The rose tattoo on Wife's foot is symbolic of her giving herself to CEO. Wife was having her tattoo removed due to CEO'S distaste for it, but she appears to like it and regrets trying to get rid of it. Like the tattoo, the Wife isn't gone yet, she still has the chance to rectify the choice of marrying CEO, and by killing him, she does before being completely gone. Last but not least, in the start, Nobody sees the birth control pills in Wife's purse and doesn't mention it until the end. When Nobody finally mentions it to CEO, it seems to be the final straw, as Wife can't maintain the illusion any further and takes things into her own hands.
Windfall relies little on violence, only using it at the end, where every part of the violence is interconnected, leading to an important choice for the wife, from the Gardener shattering the glass to Wife using it to escape and kill Nobody. Each character is a caricature of vague names. Nobody is Nobody, just a guy who wanted to see what it was like to have money, and Wife is a formally independent woman who traded in her freedom for the security of a vain CEO. Only one of the characters chooses to break the caricature, and it's by no coincidence that it's the film's only survivor. For aspiring filmmakers looking to make their own contained minimalist thriller, Windfall is a tremendous example, building tension through mystery and inaction to capitalize on a violent and shocking ending.