If you don't have a background in science or psychology I can see where you might not enjoy this movie. I have a university degree in physics and found it brilliant from beginning to end. Not all the physics works, but that shouldn't be a deal breaker because filmed entertainment never gets all the physics right. And I'm not a big fan of the Many Worlds hypothesis, which others have postulated this movie tends toward (read up on the theory of Eternal Inflation if you want to know what's really out there).
So, spoilers ahead: What's depicted in this movie is what takes place between two people who agree do to something no one should ever be asked to do. In a universe different from our own, in an era where the rest of their technology is approximately equivalent to where ours was in the 1970s, the scientists have figured out a way to travel through space at a billion light years per year. When the astronauts achieve their goal (breaking through the edge of their universe), multiple universes (and times) begin to merge into their own. But by then, having spent 13 years in space together, the astronauts' mental health and ability to interact has eroded to zero. As other reviewers have noted, the movie begins at the end and (for the most part) moves backward in time, showing with riveting effectiveness how the astronauts descend into their own, and their interpersonal, mental collapses.
Other reviewers have posted a big "what the hell" about the ending; final major spoiler: The movie ends in a universe where the the scientist (Dr. Abe Anderson) is not selected for the mission. The reason being that in his universe his wife has not left him, therefore he fails the mission planner's criteria: a pilot who only cares about flying and a scientist with pretty much nothing left to live for.
So, spoilers ahead: What's depicted in this movie is what takes place between two people who agree do to something no one should ever be asked to do. In a universe different from our own, in an era where the rest of their technology is approximately equivalent to where ours was in the 1970s, the scientists have figured out a way to travel through space at a billion light years per year. When the astronauts achieve their goal (breaking through the edge of their universe), multiple universes (and times) begin to merge into their own. But by then, having spent 13 years in space together, the astronauts' mental health and ability to interact has eroded to zero. As other reviewers have noted, the movie begins at the end and (for the most part) moves backward in time, showing with riveting effectiveness how the astronauts descend into their own, and their interpersonal, mental collapses.
Other reviewers have posted a big "what the hell" about the ending; final major spoiler: The movie ends in a universe where the the scientist (Dr. Abe Anderson) is not selected for the mission. The reason being that in his universe his wife has not left him, therefore he fails the mission planner's criteria: a pilot who only cares about flying and a scientist with pretty much nothing left to live for.