At its heart, the Daniel’s Everything Everywhere All at Once is the story of a mother and daughter struggling to understand each other and how they ultimately come to understand what love really means.
The film begins with Joy (Stephanie Hsu) chasing her mother, Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), around their family’s laundromat, holding onto the shred of hope that they can have a real conversation. When Evelyn pushes her away and lies about Joy’s queerness to her father (James Hong), their relationship is permanently damaged.
From there, Everything Everywhere’s sci-fi action twist kicks in, whirring into a multiverse of mayhem. Featuring hot dog fingers, swinging dildos, and countless googly eyes, the film’s visual spectacle means it is far from normal, but it never loses its connection to the emotional core.
As Evelyn plunges through these universes, she experiences multiple variations of how her own life could have played out. We see her regrets, ambitions, and success through this. It forces her to confront not only her relationship with Joy, but also her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and come to accept and appreciate the life they’ve built together.
This weight that she has carried for so many years and subsequently subjected her family to is slowly lifted. In turn, she sees her daughter properly for the first time: as a reflection of herself. ‘Stubborn, aimless, a mess. Just like her mother’.
The film and lead performers beautifully capture the weight and expectations of children in Chinese families, and how their parent’s ambitions for them can cause so much strain. Evelyn internalises her father’s disappointment, the root of her pain, and is unfulfilled by her husband’s undying love and support. This passes onto Joy and causes their rift.
In the end, she realises that she is not wasted potential and her daughter is not on the road to the same fate. Having seen all of her own endless possibilities, she tells Joy that she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. They don’t need to choose their best life or reach their maximum potential. Life isn’t about seeking the best possible outcome. They may be incredibly flawed, but that’s the nature of being human, and love is worth trying for.
