Complex, beautiful, but let down by a flat ending

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2014)

This films borrows heavily from the likes of Charlie Kauffman and David Lynch for multiple "films within films" that are really pretty much impossible to keep straight. Luckily the film is interesting, visually beautiful and yes, emotional enough that I was captivated anyway, and I quickly learned not worry so much about "where I was" in the story.
The film leans heavily on real science for much of its central conceit of branching reality as we make choices in life. With its talk of relativity and string theory (most of which is actually pretty accurate, as someone who's interested in such things), you can almost think of the film as an exercise in exploring the "many worlds" theory of quantum mechanics.
But don't worry if you're not up on the science, because the film ends up being a lot more grounded than that. Its overarching story is about love, after all, and the real explanation for what's going on ends up being based on emotion rather than science.
This film could have been a masterpiece in the same way something like "Mulholland Dr." is a masterpiece - an inventive, complex, deep and emotional film with multiple layers to peel back but a simple and resonant message at heart. And in fact, my wife - who is not into science fiction (or science) at all - called it "one of the best films she has ever seen".
But I felt let down by the ending, which becomes hugely and unnecessarily expository and works really hard to tie up every loose end into a neat and tidy little bow. The film is perfectly content to keep you in a state of mild confusion right up until the last 10 minutes, when absolutely everything is explained in monologue. And many will find the explanation unsatisfying, at least at first.
I will say that it ends up being one of those movies - like Mulholland Dr. - that you look back on once you know the "secret" and say "oooooh, so that's why this happened". The internal logic of the film suddenly becomes clear, and that can be fun. I just wish I had been allowed to get there on my own, without being dragged on a leash.
Still deserves an 8 out of 10 for the first 8/10 of the film, which is perfect.