Yep. I'm definitely going to watch your other video, as it seems you haven't seen the half of it yet. I like your analysis style and such, but I personally don't agree with your concept of the one and the other. I would class them as parasites rather than vampires though. There is no great leap of logic to see that, if you've uncovered enough of the reverse clips. Then I'll leave a comment on the other video about the most profound part I found... if you didn't quite uncover it yet. It involves words spoken backwards.
You've missed a few key clips that show the One and the Other One are actual entities. They literally devoured people and became them. The clip you show where Carl walks in and kisses John is the first clip after the Other One consumes Carl. He says to her, "Long time no see," and then does something overt that the buttoned up carl would never do, Marissa/the One even screams "no!" at the end when she realized what has happened. His demeanor is so different than every other bts scene we see. As filming continues, she tells john about what she was and what the Other One was, and they agreed to keep doing the movie. When she can't take his mockery anymore, she kills the Other One. Sometime after the movie ends, she consumes John and becomes him. Thus why his interview has the One when played in reverse, and no one has seen Marissa in years. She didn't exist anymore. She talks in many clips previously that people can be two people, "the two marys were one person". When john/the One started making "Call me Dangerous (?)", he/she both fell in love with the actress amy, and felt a second chance to create the greatest story ever. He showed amy Minksy (which was never released) and she saw carl's real death scene, and the Other One got inside of her (a very important clip you didn't show). John started making 2oE, and literally brought Marissa back from nothing, becoming two people, both in love with amy/the other one. The one says this explicitly at one point. It's also plays into the theme of the movie itself, Two of Everything. This is the reason John aged while Marissa seemingly didn't, he lived those years while Marissa didn't exist. While trying to make this movie, the One can't handle doing everything herself, and begins to come apart. We hear John mysteriously disappear every time Marissa has a bleeding episode, because she couldn't keep up both people. Towards the end, we see her and John collapse at the same time. When she finally can't even get through a scene without bleeding from the head, she talks amy/the Other One into burning her to death on film, so the same way the Other One lived on would happen to the One. She talks about finding a way to immortality, through getting into people minds, dispersing through them. So while all of your sort of meta analysis of what happened is spot on as allegory for art and filmmaking (people being taken advantage of for art, overworking and killing themselves for it, the muse and the doubt always at war), it's pretty clear that there is a ground truth to what they were.
Pretty sure when you watch the clips in chronological order it becomes clear that the other one takes over Carl when Marissa cuts his neck during the shave scene. Immediately after that is the "that's no how Carl holds his cigarette" line in a clip and Carl's behavior changes. Other clips with the One and the Other One often describe taking another form/possessing people with blood involved or bitten necks etc.
OMG... This story is absolutely crazy... Was ever one real Marissa Marcel? Was she always possessed by the One? this story has an awesome way to be shown, but... I'm afraid it's too strange and weird to be easily understood. That's the reason so many people got tired of looking for more clips and go straight to UA-cam.
@@vikdevitoria2229 The One said she found her after a battle in WWI in France and took her over. Part of her wanting to push the sexuality in Ambrosio I think was giving the real Marissa a chance to experience things she never had before (one of her last thoughts before dying was of never having been kissed). It definitely is not an easy story to understand or even access, but it's also rare for a game to have so much room for open-interpretation while still having a tangible storyline.
So I think this is where your interpretation runs awry: Marissa died after The One consumed her, towards the end of World War II. Every instance of Marissa we see is The One using her likeness, decades later. The people you don't recognize in the subversive clips? That's other likenesses The One has used. One of those likenesses -- the older black man -- is the likeness that The One used when she consumed Marissa, which you see in one of the subversive scenes. The One later kills John Diurick at the end of Minsky, and so takes on his likeness for the next couple decades, directing movies as him. But in the 90's, she starts to miss being Marissa, so she revives that likeness. What goes wrong through the production of Two of Everything is that The One is trying to maintain both personas at the same time. That's why Marissa starts spontaneously bleeding, and why BOTH Marissa and John collapse in certain scenes. The One is wearing herself out, exhausting herself to death. The other part I think you missed is that, after The Other One Dies and is cremated, he is miraculously revived -- both a surprise to himself, and The One -- when Amy watches the old footage. He became Amy. So when Marissa is burned at the end, this is The One trying to be reborn in the same way: someone will watch the footage, and she will be reborn. And that's what the very ending means, when all the slides disappear and she says she's now a part of you: she's being reborn *in you*, in the same way The Other One was reborn in Amy.
We’re so conditioned to expect “the hidden lore you missed” in stories that it is a real challenge to articulate that the mystery and lack of clarity can be the point. I think you weaved that explanation in here really well. Sometimes you can’t say who the muse chooses or what form it takes.
Thanks! My opinion wavered even while making the video haha. It may well change again in the future but wanted to put this out as my first impressions from playing. Thanks for watching :)
Yeah at one point in a behind the scenes for Minsky where John says he likes to keep things “ambiguous” and in a rehearsal for ambrosia Arthur Fischer says that the film should let people imprint their own motivations and thoughts- which I think are nods to the aspects of the film left ambiguous and for the viewers to form their own view. It’s also very Lynchian, and that’s definitely in keeping with his style
I thought I would love Immortality because I was a huge fan of Her Story, but I didn't have the patience to finish it. Typing new words in a search box was a simple to understand how you could uncover new clips: you just needed to type something you hadn't typed before. In Immortality however, I found myself constantly clicking on random things with no rhyme or reason hoping they would lead me to a new clip I hadn't seen before, and they truly felt random because I had no way to know how they would relate to what I clicked either. In the end I got tired of blindly clicking on stuff and decided to wait for a lore video to put the pieces of the puzzle together, so thank you for making this video.
Im guessing you played it on PC which several reviewers remarked did pose as a challenge to the player. This is because the mouse as a controller doesn't shake, and because being able to cycle through all the options you could click on in a single image isn't as intuitive as the left and right d-pad the controller has. I will admit the final scene was a pain to find, perhaps intentionally so. But knowing that The One wanted to die like the Other One did gives you a big clue. The challenge was you needed to find a direct representation of that thing, [Spoiler here] fire, to move forward. And having by products of fire, Candles and cigs for example, didn't work. Infact there are only a handful of places where you can find fire and they do require you to hunt for them
Yes it was very frustrating endless clicking through the clips with no direction or clear instructions. But it was such shock when I discovered the first hidden clip! (Yes, you need the controller for those) And that ending clip before the credits was also made masterfully. Well worth the time spent but I did have half a mind to quit near the beginning.
@@myeung6666 coming here a little late but you can use mouse and keyboard if you drag the screen in a particular fashion. it was very inconsistent but I got it to work for my playthrough somehow lol
The One and the Other are immortal beings. They have discovered a way of preserving their immortality through film. I think part of them literally survives in film, waiting for some unexpecting viewer to stumble upon these reels of footage so the can take over their souls. When the viewer sees Marissa Marcel burn, The One jumps through the 4th wall and take over the body of the view, like the Other did to Amy.
It's worthwhile to translate parts of the backstory that are both in French and in German. At one point, the real Marissa Marcel asks The One what she is (In French). The One responds that she does not know. I think that's fair. The One and the Other don't understand their own nature any better that we as human beings understand ourselves.
I think they are the real Eve and Adam, the first two immortal human beings cast out by God and doomed to try to make sense of their existence through an eternal 'mortal' life.
Not only acting as someone acting but also acting as someone acting that they are new to acting while also acting that they're in fact an ancient being who's obsessed with acting.
While the idea of the one and the other being metaphors is cool, I think they are actual, sentient beings that adopted the likenesses of Marissa, John, Carl, and Amy. That would explain why both Marissa and John still look so young, 30 years later.
There's a negative you probably missed during Minsk, the one explains she is a parasite, when she bites a host she takes over the body. And she can control multiple hosts, at the third film she controls both Marissa and John, and at the end of the game she controls you the player.
My main issue was the terrible blonde wig. Lmao. But otherwise I’ve never been as terrified as I was when I saw “the one” for the first time, when I went into this game blind.
Yeah it seemed so strange to me that she never aged by 1999 nor did the director guy, thanks for the breakdown. You have made alot more sense of it than I had by the time the credits rolled.
Ah, great to see someone giving Charlotta Mohlin the shout-out she deserves ...was utterly transfixed by her performance (Must admit I took to referring to her character and The Other One as 'The Max Headrooms' while playing/discussing, but I think this was to offset the extreme eerieness they created as much as anything!). Really hope she wins an award. Your breakdown of the films was super-helpful! (I do subscribe to the 'Vampire' theory though - the 'death by fire' and amount of neck injuries seems to imply something like that, not to mention the whole 'consumption' theme. I'm fine with that sitting undeneath the rest of it though as a kind of flavour, though - all those other things can still be right.) Really interesting stuff. Watching this has scratched an itch I still had after putting hours into the game - thanks. 👍
As someone that watched you play through all of this and still had no idea what the hell was going on you've created a very impressive piece of content here mate and actually made this mindfuck of a game make total sense! Ps Marissa Marcel I think I love you
The one and other one are actual Monsters, (supernatural beings at least) not an allegory... Amy watches the other die, and the other is reborn in her body in the process... The ending is the one doing the same, but, in a shattering of the fourth wall, is rebirthing herself in you, the viewer. ...spooky 😨
Carl and John do not have a sexual or intimate relationship with eachother as you reference at 18:58, during that scene is the first time that "The One" notices that Carl has been possessed by "The Other". If you watch the behind the scenes clip where Marissa interviews the cast of three artists (two girls and a guy), you can see a woman walk into the room and start whispering to the two girls on the couch. If you watch the subverted clip of that scene, you can see that "The Other" has found Marissa and has inhabited that woman (as you see he is wearing the same clothes as her) and is spreading whispers and gossip throughout the set of Minsky, creating jealousy between Carl and John. You can see this during the interrogation scene with Carl and one of the women as she whispers to him "You know that Marissa is sleeping with John right". Since he has started to fall for Marissa at this point, this information throws his whole aura and attitude toward Marissa off, and this is seen by uncomfortable situations between him and Marissa henceforth. That scene you show at 18:58, where Carl says "Long time, no see" is really "The Other" addressing "The One" and letting her know that he has now taken over Carl. Marissa and Carls relationship then becomes increasingly strained during their bathroom sex scene, where due to jealousy over Marissa with John, Carl actually penetrates Marissa, instead of just acting, to which she goes "what was that?" and his sexual assault towards her leads her to kill him, purposely, being influenced by "The One" knowing of "The Other's" influence over Carl. Just wanted to straighten that out.
How do you know he actually penetrates her in the bathroom sex scene? Just from her saying “what was that?” And then in the subverted footage the Other mentions “make it look real”? Or is there more details in other clips that I maybe haven’t found yet?
At one point in the game I became convinced that what you call "The One", is actually TWO. One, as you said, is The Art, and the other is the norms, laws and constraints that we have created to limit The Art.
37:28 these are other people that One had taken their form (or consume). She is not a vampire but an immortal being that had also had the role of Jesus, Adam(the other one) and Eve and Marisa from ww2! I think One is possessing Marisa a long time ( without ageing) and that is why she is having blood on her head, the body is failing. That is why she askes Amy (the other one) to kill her with fire. She wants to become more, like the other one who managed to possess a viewer through a film (Amy). One succeeds as she is talking to you (the player) and she "is part of you now" 😉
Yeah I think you're right!! I may have to make another video on The One/The Other One specifically, as that's where the story gets especially hard to pin down
@@samg0 Also small correction in my comment. I now think that blood in the head of Marissa is because she is controlling John and Marissa at the same time. You can see that at some clips. In the one when she is drowning in the pool and John is falling in the pool unconscious, the one that they are booth unconscious and touch hands and when she has blood in her head when John is suddenly missing! Maybe it was too much for her that she brought back Marissa after so many years!
My interpretation was that The One is a sort of demon representing our desire to make evocative art unhindered by consequences. Marissa, being a young, naive actress is a perfect candidate and Fischer cultivates and feeds this demon inside her until The Other takes control and pleasure out of the pain, much as us, the viewer takes pleasure in the drama of the on-set antics and thrills of the films. Throughout the game the lines between real sex and fake sex, real violence and fake violence are blurred repeatedly, and perhaps like Method Acting, Marissa can no longer differentiate and becomes the characters she is acting. In the final scenes of the game when The Other says "I see you" and "I am a part of you" I believe she is saying we have taken too much pleasure in watching violence and sex on screen that we have now invited the same demon in us. The game starts by showing how moviemakers are pushing actors too far, then it shows how Marissa herself is pushing too hard, and finally the game ends with indicting the viewers as pushing the industry too hard. Perhaps it is an ancient evil waiting inside us all.
i love that you've resisted a literal interpretation of the one and the other one as supernatural beings but i'm struggling to do that myself with some of the reversed clips and especially the double/triple reverses. the clips with the black man especially, it seems to me its heavily implied that he was previously "possessed" by the one and was present in France when she "transferred" to Marissa. i honestly prefer to go with a more metaphorical explanation as you've done but the text makes it hard
It's my interpretation that The One and The Other One are allegories for the nature of art itself, with The One being the embodiment of progression within the medium and The Other One being the personification of traditionalism. The One exists to push the boundaries of what art is, and constantly does so, while also admiring and indulging in what she sees as the beautiful scarcity of human existence. The Other One, on the other (haha) hand, seems only concerned with the sheer longevity of the art they take part in, and seems to view humanity as insignificant in comparison to them: a means to survive and a resource to continue living. In one video The Other One criticizes John and suggests he is a child at play, as The Other One doesn't respect movies as a legitimate art form. The Other One also questions how long will their movie will be seen by people, and expresses frustration it will not last like the 'greater' works of art in time have.
There are certainly additional layers and metaphors you can draw from the story but I think you cannot accurately analyse this story unless you accept the premise that The One and The Other One are literal immortal beings and not just a vague concepts like "artistic passion" and "self doubt". There's many themes in this story but those are layered on top of and told through the lens of a story about immortal beings. I feel the game makes this point (even if few others) quite clear. There are repeated references to them existing before humans did, being distinct from humans, wanting to understand humans/art/emotions but unable to because of their immortality, musings on their physical form, flashbacks from their previous forms, saying that only fire can destroy them, that they reproduce unlike humans in a very abstract way, that they created the story of Jesus. These are not things that sensibly fit within a view that The One and The Other are simply human concepts like "insecurity". They are literal physical immortal beings in the context of the game.
You mentioned the vampire interpretations elsewhere online. I wonder if we can cast aside the noun "vampire," which is the fanged creature, for the adjective "vampiric" as a metaphor for the many layers of predation and consumption we see in the game. Because the game works on many multiplying layers, we may look beyond the three layers you mention. The game players, us, are also an agent in the game and a voracious consumer of other people's stories. The fact that we drive the narrative situates us not as a passive audience, like when we watch a movie, but as agents of the narrative; thus, we are implicated in Marissa's consumption. We are the consumers. Also, I wonder if interpretations of the game may get caught up in an either/or binary: Marissa is the victim and the men are the predators. Clearly, the game has a good dose of a victim/predator binary, but I am particularly struck by some of the scenes from "Ambrosio" where Marissa is not just observed but she gains some control over the narrative through her sexuality. She does this in her second film as well. For example, in the scene when she is between the two masks, her visage is practically demonic. Later, she is responsible for Carl's death after she spent much of "Minsky" (sp) trying to get Carl under her control. He always appeared uncomfortable, but he didn't seem to be able to do much about it. The game may be a comment on the mechanics of creation in film, games, art, etc.... In order to create something, one must enter a mechanism or dynamic of constantly shifting passivity/innocence and consumption/predation. A good real life translation of this theme can be seen in all of the chaos surrounding Olivia Wilde's latest film "Don't Worry Darling." The story surrounding the making-of her film has some many creepy layers of exploitation, and I have been so oblivious about my consumption of these stories that I have ignored my own complicity in the proliferation of more and more click bait-y articles about the whole drama. Yet, I know that I know I am one of many, many other people who have been swarming the news.
I really like that - the player consumes from behind the screen just like John and Arthur consumed from behind the camera. Great insight. It would put to bed the notion that Immortality "isn't really a game", which seems to be the main argument coming from negative user reviews around the game. To shine our decisions back in our face in order to tell us something - be it about the story, a meta-commentary, or about ourselves - is something only games can do. Thanks for watching :)
I interpreted The One as an external being to Marissa. She kills John and assumes control over his body (there are a couple scenes where The One does all John's dialogue) but she spreads herself too thin and ends up dying. John also isn't present after Marissa dies. The Other One takes over Amy to help.
Thought a little more about it. Basically The One doesn't fully control Marissa. Marissa is a being who's emotions and desires are heavily, heavily influenced by The One. This concept is demonstrated when The One kills John then he confronts her about it post-mortem in another scene. He's still there and knows what she did. Marissa is still there. Carl, Amy... all still there living The Ones desires. The One spreads themself too thin trying to control Marissa and John and kills them. The One doesn't die, but Marissa is broken and must be burned so that The One can be reincarnated again.
“extremely naked” lol this is a fantastic wrap up, and I am very grateful for this level of work because while I adored every second of this game, once I hit credits, I needed some time (and also because I had a few hidden clips that just refused to play no matter when I did) and it was helpful to get all the info in one concise place. I like your interpretation of the One and the Other, but I think the fact that John’s “death” is unexplained points to them being both a metaphor and literally a supernatural creature. I saw an explanation that made sense to me that John “died” because the One was bringing him and Marissa back (perhaps in an attempt to recapture what was lost on Minsky). the work of making them both exist was what caused the intense strain that led to her “death”. this also helps support the third wall breaking of the end, that they realize that their death captured on film allows them to take on anyone that watches, much like the One took on Marissa initially. (of course that means we are all now possessed so… whoops. there’s the horror part of the game.) the brilliance of this game, to me, is not the air tight narrative or perfect metaphors. it’s the conversations and debates and rumination. it’s something special.
So glad I found your explanation. Just played 10 hours straight, really addictive but as credits rolled I really had no idea what was going on so thank you for sharing. Game wise, I would have preferred it if the player could concentrate on one movie at a time. The switching between the 3 films so often when clicking things just made me lose any sense of storyline. Think overall I preferred Telling Lies as didn't break my brain as much but acting in this one was incredible
I agree! The music during the montage was especially poignant, and it clearly touched the actress who played the One as seen in a previous comment. Fantastic job!
i spent a solid four hours on this game trying to figure out what i was missing and you showed me in a solid 2 seconds flat that if you rewind it, things change. Never felt so stupid in my life.
This video definitely deserves more appreciation! You did an amazing work, keep it up! Also, I was just thinking, if Sam Barlow decided to add the final chapter of your video as a final presentation before the credits rolled, the general explanation of MM's story would be so much better and coherent than what is currently in the game (as you already mentioned).
The most haunting aspect of this is that the One strove for a very human form of celluloid immortality, yet through the passion she had and the choices she made, she doomed the three films to obscurity by dint of the mortal reactions by us ordinary folk to the circumstances she wrought (“you can’t release a film if the main protagonist/director has been…etc.”) All kicked off by Fisher’s gut reaction to the visceral non-cinematic universe that his cast was creating. Brilliant.
Through art and creativity we humans become channels for something "greater" (or lesser). A lot of artists look at it like their channeling the spirit realm/spirits. These can be good spirits or they can be bad ones. We can go into demons, angels, muses all that stuff but let's not get wrapped up in labeling them/it. This makes art a very deep, beautiful, vulnerable and sometimes even dangerous and scary ritual. Connecting to the unknown, to the mystery should be the joy of your life, the thing that makes you as a human more vital, loving and caring. What this games does very well is relating the toxic culture of "Hollywood" to channeling lesser spirits. The toxic context becomes an environment where lesser spirits can thrive and perpetuate their existence (becoming immortal). Art becomes vampiric instead of revitalizing.
I have finished the game today and going through a couple of hours looking at “explanation” vídeos until I found this very good one. But looking at the comments , yours is the one that makes the perfect match from what I felt the game tried tô express. Fantastic !!
My understanding is Marissa and John are being controlled by the same spirit(the one) by the third film. You can see at the end of minsk, the negative film of the interview shows the one taking the interview instead of John, and before that you see John being consumed by the one. Driving two bodies at the same time is what killed the one in the end too. This is also fore shadowed by the plot of the 3rd movie.
I was engrossed in the game for the first 4 hours. after that I was was entertained a bit longer until I had looped back to the same scene for the 10th time and looked at the clock and realized I didn't have any more free time and I didn't know how much more could possibly be left to discover. I had made the assumption that "the one" and "the others" were meant to be some type of demons embodied by Marissa's emotions. Overall I loved the intrigue and mystery of it all but I don't think the mechanics were implemented well. I still don't even know how to effectively use the icons on the upper left hand side of the grid screen. I stumbled on my first "secret" scene unknowingly scrubbing through the clip trying to investigate the meaning of that low synth wave sound. and then a creepy image of and older lady between 2 seemingly dead men with blood on there necks popped onto my screen and i nearly fell out of my chair. that was pretty good. this will be a game that sticks with me for a while and I would gladly pay to play another in the future. the acting was out of this world, and the plots of the 3 movies were good and engaging. I admire the work that went into the game. I like it when games are logical so I hope that my interpretation of "the others" being demons is wrong. and I also hope they aren't vampires lol.
Oh! also very good video Sam!. I enjoyed how you laid out the plot, there were a few scenes I hadn't uncovered and to get a full picture of the narrative gives me closure. now i can get some sleep 😆
Thanks for watching! You might like Her Story, which is another of Sam Barlow's games. It's the same found-footage/real-life actors deal but has a bit more structure than Immortality in terms of gameplay.
Just finished this game (credits rolled) not 4 hours ago. I had always planned on going back to collect the clips I was missing but This definitely provided a much clearer picture of what I should be looking for, or intuning. I'm still working through my own interpretation and I feel like I will end up in a similar place as you but this is definitely the kind of fertile ground that set my brain moving in ways that make it impossible to know where it will end up. I feel a strong urge to write about this game, but I haven't figure out how I want to do that yet. Oddly, most of all it made me reflect on Her Story much stronger. I like what Sam Barlow puts to play so far, and I can't wait to see where he goes with it next.
Okay, after watching your breakdown, I think I have a good idea. The "vampiric" other people you mention are past people that the one inhabited. She keeps their memories and the weight of their stories in time. She cremates the other, killing him. But, he's captured in film, and through film is able to inhabit Amy in a new way, untethered to her flesh, cohabitating with her. The one wants the same, that freedom of not being tied to an individual, so she has him burn her and she now infects people through film the same way, as she does to you. Immortal, and no longer imprisoned.
I went all in on the mythology angle. Full on possible spoilers for The One and The Other A muse devours her subject, Marissa Marcel, to live through her from the start of her career. That's not how it's supposed to go, they're just supposed to be parasitic until nothing is left then they take that remnant with them (The first director seems to react to both muses, and blood around the mouth implies the feeding throughout). The muse might have done this at least twice before(two unexplained characters). The first muse runs into a second muse who's a bit appalled but intrigued. There's a biblical suggestion that the first muse tempts the second muse with knowledge, like they did before (It's implied they were behind the garden of Eden parable, Satan as a concept, and Jesus which might have been the first muse's first full possession...or maybe that was Mary...both of them...that could have been literal or inspirational...might explain why there's such a long gap before Marissa). The muse gets into a relationship with John the photography lead, and acts as inspiration for him to become a director. The second muse possesses someone, potentially for the first time (that's what I got out of it anyway, the second muse is made to be oppositional by being more conservative and literal). The second muse chooses another to possess and they end up working together as male and female leads in a film. They end up in a bad love triangle with the director John, the first muse 'kills' the second and is unable to resolve the relationship with John so devours him (there's a scene reminiscent of the minsky murder but it's John drained through the neck. We then see the muse as John in the next night show interview). The muse tries to give directing a try, and runs into and reignites a relationship with second muse, as Amy. This happens over 3 decades but is not witnessed as it does not involve Marissa but John. It's implied there's been some success as he's able to bankroll the third film, which has implications as to why its filming feels rushed towards the end. This ends with the third movie, as the muse was running out of inspiration and decided as one last hurrah to bring Marissa back (The mocap scene suggests this as the muse has split multiple ways). I want to say its a try at literally passing the acting torch to herself by bridging generations, as there are two performers in the table scenes who are never shown, and one might be a devoured younger Marissa look-a-like (this 3rd person is admittedly conjecture, but the John/Marissa dual natures for the third film seems pretty clear). The burn the candle at both ends shown in the performers is literal, the muse gives up being John to power through as Marissa (and the double?) but the body(ies) give out and the second muse frees the first from Marissa Marcel. Death of the Author happens in front of us, and thus we are now all the muse (Which to me is the implication of the second muse's death, Amy is but one of the second muses possessions when she sees a private viewing of the muse's onscreen death).
I have the exact interpretation, I would just add by the last clip when Marissa is burnt, the one sees you as the player. Symbolized she was reborn and consumes the player to continue her existence, the same way the other consumed Amy.
I think she (the one) is a vampire of sorts, and vampires work by taking over mortals and giving them immortality while they are in their bodies. The vampire also boosts the talent of the host, as she brings a lot of experience and passion to the host and she works on a deeper level, with motivation of an immortal being are drastically different and are much more soul searching, self-actualization and are art/metaphysics skewed, basically the highest point on the Maslow’s pyramid. However, a vampire has a love relationship with the host and a passion of the new body can/will go away just as human relationships usually have an ending and so a vampire can get bored of the body and then she leaves for a new host. As I understand she moves to the director’s body at the end of the second movie to try and live as a creator, not as an object, but then gets deeply disappointed in him and decides to resurrect Marissa, moves out of the director’s body, director becoming an automaton as a result, a dying man with no passions or talents. Finally she comes to an end of a lifecycle of an immortal but passionate and imperfect being, as she no longer can grow or learn things in a profound way, becomes old not physically, but metaphysically, gets to a sort of a dead end from which she can get away only by burning and being cleansed/reborn in maybe a buddhist sense of restarting at a higher level of capacity of understanding of the world but by losing the actual experience/thinking patterns that keep her down. As I understand the Other followed that same path, and this is then the immortality on a grand, cosmic scale. So basically buddhism+vampires 😊
Beautiful and excellent video. While I may not agree 100% with everything, this video alone elevated Immortality to a whole other level. Your interpretations were great and it certainly gave me a lot to think about. But that rise and fall of Marcel.... Best part of it all. Thank you for making this
To help possibly answer your questions: it’s mentioned that The One was possibly “asleep” or “waiting” during the time between Minsky and ToE, which could possibly explain why she doesn’t age. She mentions reawakening/coming back in Marissas form. There’s also a scene where The One kills John after revealing her true form to her, which could explain why he dies during filming. Also, the two random people that appear could possibly be other life’s that The One has “devoured”, just like she did to Marissa.
Hi I have a question, what is the purpose of the game is to watch movies and then arrange them so that the story is consistent? Or watching everything and what to do after that I didn't understand what to do when I explored another scene in the same movie and watch it what should I do?
So the purpose is to discover what happened to Marissa by putting the puzzle altogether. The puzzle will automatically sort stuff, but you’ll still have to study and figure out what’s going on. At first, it may seem disorganized and disorienting, but once you watched enough of the clips (or collected them all and watch them chronologically) it will make more sense as to why the movies didn’t get released and to why she went missing. For the “the one and the other” scenes to appear, you must use sound cues (and controller vibrations) to find them. These explain the deeper plot of what the overall story is. My advice if you are having issues understanding the story or plot, just collect as many scenes as you can and watch it chronologically. I
One doesn't kill John, she possesses him. You can she that if you reverse the interview of John on the talk show. After years Arthur Fisher before dying he gave the stolen negatives of Ambrosio to John (One actually) and she remembered how she liked being her and brought her back. At this point she is controlling both but Marissa's body is failing!
I kinda thought the one and the other could be angels or fallen angels taking on a human host and eventually the body couldn't handle it any more. Or perhaps a muse who took things too far.
I think the one and the other are witches who lived into art like paints, music and movies its a surreal concept that defines the videogames are now art and the witch is living in the game just with the final línes “now im Part of you”
I didn't get that there were secret clips for an embarrassingly long time (about an hour in) because the noise sounds just like my kitchen taps when they start leaking, I kept getting up. The first time I rewound the clip and hit on a hidden clip was the scene where Marissa is stood between the two masks and the masks turned into the dead bodies of John and Carl. That was a freaky experience!
When you take "the One" and "the Other One" as more literal it starts to make more sense. They are 4th dimensional beings "Man has conquered the surface of the planet, Space, but we have conquered time." And are able to inhabit different people throughout time (that's who those people are in those weird flashbacks). She even makes reference to having inhabited the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. They are immortal as long as they are not burned, which is why the one had Carl (the Othe One) cremated. But he came back through the power of film when Amy watched the Minsky footage and saw Carl (The Other One) die on screen. You are also able to see The One inhabit John in the post-mortem talk show appearance after Minsky meaning "The One" is now inhabiting John and helps him have an incredible directing career (You can even kind of see that sort of transfer when she so called "drinks his blood" in one scene). Eventually she decides to bring back Marissa and try to inhabit both at once (which is why John disappears during some table reads) but it is too difficult and leads to tons of complications. Eventually after she learns how the other one came back through film and decides she needs the same thing burning Marissa specifically on camera and breaking the 4th wall ("I see you"). And then there's the ending shot of course where she says "I'm part of you now". We have watched the footage and are now the creative housing for "The One" in effect making her immortal through film. Sorry for the absurdly long comment but after hearing Rebekah Valentine on Kinda Funny's spoilercast of this game it made WAY too much sense.
so the scene where Amy is shown the footage of The Other One Dying - this seems to me both the strongest point for a literal interpretation of the immortals as a real entities with agency that control the characters. However there are many questions as to whether this scene is literal. Some questions I raise: Why are we seeing this at all? Marissa took Amy to a movie theater and convinced her to watch a snuff film; and film her doing it? All the behind-the-scenes footage we see is done as part of production or press. It makes sense as to why we see the after parties, etc. This is not. To my knowledge we don't see a possession scene for Carl, right? (Then again - all the footage we see is real, or its the Immortals interrupting real footage. So that implies this must have actually happened in some form...) The footage is shown on film, as it would have looked with the cameras of the time. Additionally the candid stuff is shot on a different kind of film as you can tell from the smaller "thumbnails" presumably a different mm. But the 4th wall breakers are crystal clear, shot in cinematic "letterbox" shape. This footage of Amy seeing the movie is shot like this, implying to me it is not a "home movie" taken outside. Again to take this shot Marissa would have needed to drag a huge camera into a movie theater and spun it around Amy It's especially strange because to my knowledge this is the only scene that breaks the game's premise - that you are watching pieces of film. If you're watching the scene of Marissa shooting Carl, it essentially match cuts _for the player_ into this other scene. Or I guess you could assume that the footage of Carl's death is actually footage of Marissa filming Amy watching Carl's death on screen the entire time; that you don't have the original film, just a copy of it and the only place it can be seen is in the scene-within-a-scene
Oh thanks a lot for the time you put into the making of this video. I have played for about 5hs and reached the The One’s face, which blocked completely my game so I cannot go further 😅. But besides that I can really see how much content I have missed! I completely agree with you about the timing of “the face” appearance and lack of guidance when you first arrive to the game. Even after the face showed up I tried to unlock more stuff and I was like… ok what am I looking for? I liked the first hours of the game but as a gamer I kinda missed a motivation/completion. I do like the debate it generates though! Thanks again this was a great video and I can imagine how much time you put into it.🎉
What a brilliant analysis, thank you very much! The film synopses + Marissa Marcel's story are so well summarized with your own insight that I immediately subscribed.
FIrst of all, thanks for this video, i came here looking for an answer, and you gave me, that there is no need to have a clear answer about fucking everything, it is right to have some doubts, to do not know some things, and be happy and enjoy a piece of art, like Inmortality, even if you do not understand every single corner of it. Moreover, you said that you have no clues why Marissa did not age, but i have an idea. The one talks on the game about some kind of hibenation, may she hibernated those 30 years before Carl´s Death, as we know that Marissa and The One are the same "person".
This was incredibly helpful, thank you so much!!!! I got to the credits and was very disappointed, but there was so much more I missed that I didn’t realize existed until I watched this. Some of the reverse videos trigger at normal speed reverse, but others I thought were just ghostly images and didn’t realize all those videos could be triggered with a different controll mechanism! I thought people were just making up explanations in articles I was reading. 😅
I think there's also a biblical metanarrative here. From the very obvious placement of apples, snakes, the One and the Other One often appearing naked together as if Adam and Eve, the literal reference of Marissa being like Eve in a movie poster, the the frequent inferences that blood is spiritually important, etc. The impression I was left with was that the Other One was God who had lost faith in humanity and was trying to leave them behind and the One as Lucifer who still believed in humanity and tried to mold them through art. They frequently discuss things being "like they used to when they were close" as before Lucifer's fall from grace. One scene the One mentions that the Other One died before and inspired humanity (presumably as Jesus) and she wanted to do that too. He says that she chose "them over me" as Lucifer fell from grace because he wanted to be closer to imperfect humanity instead of perfect godly angels. At least that's the impression I got.
Hi I have a question, what is the purpose of the game is to watch movies and then arrange them so that the story is consistent? Or watching everything and what to do after that I didn't understand what to do when I explored another scene in the same movie and watch it what should I do?
I’m so glad I found this! There were so many details I was missing and couldn’t quite put together. This was an art piece in itself! So well done. I might have to break out and play the other games you’ve broken down now, as I’m really not a gamer but love these immersive experiences
Great video, it's feels to me that it's a newer version of games that broke away like "Norm" and made something a little off the cuff from what is the trend. Interesting how art, music & movies have now bleed into the gaming industry... fantastic time to be alive.
Very interesting - I got the credits and what felt like the exact right time? After I saw the death of Carl and figured out who the One was. Also I do think they live for generations and are gods or vampires or something. Great video!
I feel like the metaphorical interpretation is how it connects the threads of the story, BUT The One is both Marissa AND John in Two of Everything. Look at the second TV interview that features John. In The One's perspective she gives the exact same dialogue for the interview as John while even wearing his clothing. Marissa even "becomes a recluse" after the movie. She disappears entirely. She mentions that both she and The Other can embody people, take them into themselves and in doing so it brings so many thoughts and memories of that person. All they have to do is literally consume a bit of them on death. She does this to at least one other person, the lead actor on Ambrosio. The scene where he tries to stab the Virgin Mary. In Her perspective he stabs Her to no avail, and she stabs him in return before tasting the blood on the knife. His behavior changes afterwards, becoming less vibrant as he was and more like what She felt She needed in a screen partner. In Two of Everything, not only is She burning the candle at both ends as Marissa, but instead She's projecting John. That's why in Her perspective The Other is all there is and John isn't present, She even reads some of his lines. It's also why they're so perfectly in sync. They're the same mind piecing together this movie. She's become the director, the writer, and the lead actress for the film, causing Her to pass out frequently. Finally it explains John missing. As She gets weaker She can't project the two of them anymore. He disappears EVERY time She loses her grip until he just no longer appears... The One gave everything of Herself to art, pured so much of her soul into the essence of film in an effort to achieve an Immortality without pointless, wasted time. Those movies never released, yet the game (Initially titled something like The Marisa Archives or something) pulls them together into something the player has to dig deeper and deeper into... Until it's finished. Your obsession has made Her immortal: inside your mind. You will likely never forget her, and you'll likely pass on the game to others. You'll make videos on it, talk to friends about it, have it influence your actions and take inspiration from it, spread its existance everywhere until so many people know about it it'll never really go away. "I'm part of you now"
I wouldn't go with that metaphoric interpretation, I don't believe that's the intention. It's pretty clear, by how they talk about Virgin Mary, Adam, Eve, Jesus... in the subverted clips, that they're some kind of "celestial immortal beings" (hence the name). Also, I think The One was somehow controlling Marissa AND John at the same time in the last movie, that's why John doesn't show up in the subverted clips, or even The One is dressed and acting like him sometimes. And why they fade at the same time, place and position. They also talk about how they're time beings, and about how the light travels from the skin of the actors to our eyes. And that's the new way of jumping between bodies that they discovered.
Y also belive the way they used to get inside bodies was "consuming" their victims (this is said in the clips), which is represented by a neck bite. That's something we can see in the footage, with the older black man "eating" Marissa. That's The One from her previous body.
Black man eating Marissa? Haven't seen that one! I have seen the black man and the dark haired woman that are previous forms of the One, but not the eating scene!
I think that so much of game and film analysis is about uncovering hidden meanings that in a game like Immortality, with a very clear "hidden" layer to uncover, people get very attached to their interpretation of that hidden layer as something truer, more real, than the surface they scratched past to find it. I think that's why people are so drawn to the immortal vampire stuff as literal, as a higher level of reality than as a metaphor or allegory. I will readily admit that there are things which make better sense through that lens. the clips leading up to the shooting in Minsky or the flashbacks to France or the vanishing of John or Marissa's physical breakdown. But does an analysis of the meaning of the entire work as a squabble between two immortals about the value of art really do a more complete job? Does it explain what we're actually "seeing" in scenes with the One saying and doing things to actors in the films that did not actually occur? Does it explain why the One sometimes has dialogues with the characters (Ambrosio for example), not the actors playing them? Does it better tell us how to interpret parallel journeys to Marissa's like Ambrosio and Sophia's affair, or Amy and John's relationship, or Naomi, an actor in a similar place in her career to Marissa in Ambrosio who is Marissa's literal double in a film about double lives called Two of Everything? I really like this video, and I like that it credits the story of the One and the Other, without discarding Marissa's story as secondary. I like having questions, and I find it fascinating that a game with so much abstract imagery, dance, song, and silence draws so many people to its most literal interpretation.
Your review of the movies was excellent, pointing out several details that are easily missed like the number of takes. But your review of the One and Other is too metaphorical. The One tells us who they are: immortal symbiotic parasites. They grant humans art and inspiration by feeding upon them and eventually killing them. Also, it is extremely important to understand that Marissa Marcel (MM) has been DEAD for the entirely of this game. She was killed by the One in the form of the Old Man during WWII. But these beings have the ability to bring back the form of prior hosts, and this is what the One does with MM to continue to explore art (and why she does not age). The One finds greater meaning in this than the Other, who understands that this cycle of inspiration and feeding is simply their nature, which infuriates the One. One can now get more metaphorical by noting that the real process of creating art can be likened to the terrible toll it takes on the creators and actors, but is explained here fictionally by being a reflection of what these parasites are doing. At the end of Minsky, we learn two important things. First, the One takes on the persona of John Durick (JD) and is a successful director for 30 years up until Two of Everything. Second, it has been pointed out several times by the One that immolation is the one sure way to kill these beings. But the Other discovers a way out: if they are observed dying by fire, they can be reborn in the observer. This is how the Other comes back: by being observed by Any. And the end of the game is the One being observed by US, and we are now the hosts of the One! One final point is that, like MM is playing both Maria and Heather, the One is playing both MM and JD during the last film, which is why JD is exhausted and often missing (and eventually dies), The One is warned by the Other that they cannot maintain this dual form, and in the end immolates them with us watching so that the One can continue in a new refreshed form, having completely used up MM. As you say, there is plenty of ambiguity in the hidden footage, but my summary above is what you get if you take everything they say at near face value. YMMV
Spot on. I think there are many clips people didn't see where things are pretty explicit. It's such an atypical mythology, I couldn't help but find all the pieces.
He also mentions the directors of the first two films being abusive but JD was the director for both 2OE and Minsky, while Fisher was the director of Ambrosio. This video implies that John only directed the last film.
The montage at the end was beautiful! I played on iPad and I think it made it way more difficult, besides the fact that my game bugged toward the end before I uncovered all the hidden scenes. I don't totally connect with your interpretation, I think there is a literal supernatural narrative to it besides the metaphors, but it's an interesting angle that adds depth. I would say it's not a game for everyone, it has an obtuse play style - especially at first - but it is very rewarding once you start understanding pieces of the story. It's also a very meta game, even more towards the end in 2oE since it's like a person pretending to be a person pretending to be a person, all that in a game with actors pretending to be characters. Since I'm one to fall into rabbit holes, I loved it! I'm also someone who prefer games for storytelling rather than complex gameplay. I'm trying Her Story next :)
Maybe this is just because I was reading Susanna Clarke while playing, but I pretty much immediately settled on the idea that The One and The Other One were faeries, and I liked it too much to ever let that idea go
I think John isn’t in two of everything because the director doesn’t matter at that point but Marissa was closest to him during minsky which is why she sees him there and why the one assumes both
Dude I love videogame analysis After watching immortality I understood some stuff so I decided to watch an analysis video And ur video is so fuckin impressive I reaaally liked the last 5 minute montage section of the video too🔥🔥🔥 I like ur style of analysis and this is why I'm subscribing to u. It's like I've struck gooooold (guess wt am I referencing ;) ).
The credits rolled for me after watching the last chronological clip (the burning of Marissa). I assume the discovery of that clip triggers the credits for everyone, as the subversive footage of that clip - The One approaching the camera, staring at the player, and declaring that they are part of you, the player, now you have witnessed Them and Their death - directly merges into the event preceding the credits, wherein every clip's thumbnail in your archive gradually merges into The One's face, gazing at you. The credits roll after this because The One has achieved Immortality through the player.
Under the "about" menu it's stated that Ambrosio was never released, but why? I never found anything that explains why Ambrosio was never released, there's even a scene where the cast and crew are celebrating the wrap up of shooting.
Yeah, it's not specified. There are a few scenes talking about how Fischer was in a decline, career-wise, so my guess is it just wasn't good enough to actually make it to the movie screen.
I missed my chance to play this for free (and don’t have the budget to get it, any games I get need high replay value) and started watching a couple of Let’s Plays, but I’d rather just get the full story first and then watch their (the Let’s Players) reactions to it. So thank you for this video, and thanks to the commenters that gave extra explanation to what’s going on with The One/Other.
I like this video because it really highlights the metaphorical interpretation that I kinda missed out on, cause I usually take everything in art to be viscerally literal.
I really appreciate this reading and I think it adds a very interesting perspective I would have never arrived at alone. I honestly think the game would have been improved iif you could only access the One's clips after you have enough of an understanding of the events to find non fantastical explanations to the mysteries set up in the game. I fully believe there is an interpretation to be taken from the regular clips that is intended. For example, one detail you skimmed over the reason Ambrosio didn't release as a film. As you pointed out, Andrew brought Marissa on bc he got a kick out of defiling a perfectly innocent underage girl. However, important context is that during the filming of Ambrosio it is not Andrew who is having his way with Marissa, it is Marissa who is toying with him. There are several clips where she defies with directorial orders and as the filming goes on she along ith John push the limits of what they can get away with, adding more and more nudity and extreme sex wherever possible. They go as far as to film scenes behind Andrew's back which he only discovers once the reels arrive at the editing room. There he realizes that the Marissa Marcel he cast for his film was just a play she was putting on for her own amusement. That's why Andrew ultimately decided to never release the film. He felt that the film was one last humiliation in his dying career. As for your reading of The One and The Other, I think it's hard to argue that they are not just ageless supernatural shapeshifters. At least, there are very many scenes where they lay out information that doesn't make sense any other way. At the very least, The One isn't a representation of Marissa's feelings since after Minsky she goes on to possess John. I do think a lot of these themes can be read into the character's though. The One is defined by her obsessive quest to connect with others and be recognized as a person and an artist while The Other looks at all people with disdain and unworthy of the attention. They are two urges within the soul in constant struggle. I do think the most important theme of the story is that while the protagonists fail to gain immortality by creating a timeless masterpiece, they arrive at a synthesis where their struggle and passion can resonate with the viewer and though their works may be forgotten with time a part of them lives on within others.
I think they are the real Eve and Adam, the first two immortal human beings cast out by God and doomed to try to make sense of their existence through an eternal 'mortal' life.
Follow-Up video breaking down who is The One! ua-cam.com/video/jRa2CRtEbkI/v-deo.html
Thanks all for your support on the video 💙
Yep. I'm definitely going to watch your other video, as it seems you haven't seen the half of it yet. I like your analysis style and such, but I personally don't agree with your concept of the one and the other. I would class them as parasites rather than vampires though. There is no great leap of logic to see that, if you've uncovered enough of the reverse clips. Then I'll leave a comment on the other video about the most profound part I found... if you didn't quite uncover it yet. It involves words spoken backwards.
... but yeah, your concept is also valid. 😁
You've missed a few key clips that show the One and the Other One are actual entities. They literally devoured people and became them. The clip you show where Carl walks in and kisses John is the first clip after the Other One consumes Carl. He says to her, "Long time no see," and then does something overt that the buttoned up carl would never do, Marissa/the One even screams "no!" at the end when she realized what has happened. His demeanor is so different than every other bts scene we see. As filming continues, she tells john about what she was and what the Other One was, and they agreed to keep doing the movie. When she can't take his mockery anymore, she kills the Other One. Sometime after the movie ends, she consumes John and becomes him. Thus why his interview has the One when played in reverse, and no one has seen Marissa in years. She didn't exist anymore. She talks in many clips previously that people can be two people, "the two marys were one person". When john/the One started making "Call me Dangerous (?)", he/she both fell in love with the actress amy, and felt a second chance to create the greatest story ever. He showed amy Minksy (which was never released) and she saw carl's real death scene, and the Other One got inside of her (a very important clip you didn't show). John started making 2oE, and literally brought Marissa back from nothing, becoming two people, both in love with amy/the other one. The one says this explicitly at one point. It's also plays into the theme of the movie itself, Two of Everything. This is the reason John aged while Marissa seemingly didn't, he lived those years while Marissa didn't exist. While trying to make this movie, the One can't handle doing everything herself, and begins to come apart. We hear John mysteriously disappear every time Marissa has a bleeding episode, because she couldn't keep up both people. Towards the end, we see her and John collapse at the same time. When she finally can't even get through a scene without bleeding from the head, she talks amy/the Other One into burning her to death on film, so the same way the Other One lived on would happen to the One. She talks about finding a way to immortality, through getting into people minds, dispersing through them. So while all of your sort of meta analysis of what happened is spot on as allegory for art and filmmaking (people being taken advantage of for art, overworking and killing themselves for it, the muse and the doubt always at war), it's pretty clear that there is a ground truth to what they were.
Great explanation
Pretty sure when you watch the clips in chronological order it becomes clear that the other one takes over Carl when Marissa cuts his neck during the shave scene. Immediately after that is the "that's no how Carl holds his cigarette" line in a clip and Carl's behavior changes. Other clips with the One and the Other One often describe taking another form/possessing people with blood involved or bitten necks etc.
@@Farengast Oh wow, the shaving thing makes so much sense, great catch.
OMG... This story is absolutely crazy... Was ever one real Marissa Marcel? Was she always possessed by the One? this story has an awesome way to be shown, but... I'm afraid it's too strange and weird to be easily understood. That's the reason so many people got tired of looking for more clips and go straight to UA-cam.
@@vikdevitoria2229 The One said she found her after a battle in WWI in France and took her over. Part of her wanting to push the sexuality in Ambrosio I think was giving the real Marissa a chance to experience things she never had before (one of her last thoughts before dying was of never having been kissed).
It definitely is not an easy story to understand or even access, but it's also rare for a game to have so much room for open-interpretation while still having a tangible storyline.
So I think this is where your interpretation runs awry: Marissa died after The One consumed her, towards the end of World War II. Every instance of Marissa we see is The One using her likeness, decades later. The people you don't recognize in the subversive clips? That's other likenesses The One has used. One of those likenesses -- the older black man -- is the likeness that The One used when she consumed Marissa, which you see in one of the subversive scenes.
The One later kills John Diurick at the end of Minsky, and so takes on his likeness for the next couple decades, directing movies as him. But in the 90's, she starts to miss being Marissa, so she revives that likeness. What goes wrong through the production of Two of Everything is that The One is trying to maintain both personas at the same time. That's why Marissa starts spontaneously bleeding, and why BOTH Marissa and John collapse in certain scenes. The One is wearing herself out, exhausting herself to death.
The other part I think you missed is that, after The Other One Dies and is cremated, he is miraculously revived -- both a surprise to himself, and The One -- when Amy watches the old footage. He became Amy. So when Marissa is burned at the end, this is The One trying to be reborn in the same way: someone will watch the footage, and she will be reborn.
And that's what the very ending means, when all the slides disappear and she says she's now a part of you: she's being reborn *in you*, in the same way The Other One was reborn in Amy.
Excellent video regardless, though. Helped me fill in some blanks.
This seams absolutely right! Fits that Marissa didn't age in between movies as well
This is an excellent interpretation. I like it a lot and makes the most sense to me.
Best explanation yet!
Amazing analysis mate well written 👍
I played this game in the middle of the night. The “I see you” unsettled me more than anything else has in a very long time.
Seriously, that snap to her face right up to the camera was pure horror
We’re so conditioned to expect “the hidden lore you missed” in stories that it is a real challenge to articulate that the mystery and lack of clarity can be the point. I think you weaved that explanation in here really well. Sometimes you can’t say who the muse chooses or what form it takes.
Thanks! My opinion wavered even while making the video haha. It may well change again in the future but wanted to put this out as my first impressions from playing. Thanks for watching :)
Yeah at one point in a behind the scenes for Minsky where John says he likes to keep things “ambiguous” and in a rehearsal for ambrosia Arthur Fischer says that the film should let people imprint their own motivations and thoughts- which I think are nods to the aspects of the film left ambiguous and for the viewers to form their own view. It’s also very Lynchian, and that’s definitely in keeping with his style
I thought I would love Immortality because I was a huge fan of Her Story, but I didn't have the patience to finish it. Typing new words in a search box was a simple to understand how you could uncover new clips: you just needed to type something you hadn't typed before. In Immortality however, I found myself constantly clicking on random things with no rhyme or reason hoping they would lead me to a new clip I hadn't seen before, and they truly felt random because I had no way to know how they would relate to what I clicked either.
In the end I got tired of blindly clicking on stuff and decided to wait for a lore video to put the pieces of the puzzle together, so thank you for making this video.
Im guessing you played it on PC which several reviewers remarked did pose as a challenge to the player. This is because the mouse as a controller doesn't shake, and because being able to cycle through all the options you could click on in a single image isn't as intuitive as the left and right d-pad the controller has.
I will admit the final scene was a pain to find, perhaps intentionally so. But knowing that The One wanted to die like the Other One did gives you a big clue. The challenge was you needed to find a direct representation of that thing, [Spoiler here] fire, to move forward. And having by products of fire, Candles and cigs for example, didn't work. Infact there are only a handful of places where you can find fire and they do require you to hunt for them
Yes it was very frustrating endless clicking through the clips with no direction or clear instructions. But it was such shock when I discovered the first hidden clip! (Yes, you need the controller for those) And that ending clip before the credits was also made masterfully. Well worth the time spent but I did have half a mind to quit near the beginning.
Indeed, I've played with a controller, and the experience is greater like that
@@myeung6666 coming here a little late but you can use mouse and keyboard if you drag the screen in a particular fashion. it was very inconsistent but I got it to work for my playthrough somehow lol
The One and the Other are immortal beings. They have discovered a way of preserving their immortality through film. I think part of them literally survives in film, waiting for some unexpecting viewer to stumble upon these reels of footage so the can take over their souls. When the viewer sees Marissa Marcel burn, The One jumps through the 4th wall and take over the body of the view, like the Other did to Amy.
It's worthwhile to translate parts of the backstory that are both in French and in German. At one point, the real Marissa Marcel asks The One what she is (In French). The One responds that she does not know. I think that's fair. The One and the Other don't understand their own nature any better that we as human beings understand ourselves.
I think they are the real Eve and Adam, the first two immortal human beings cast out by God and doomed to try to make sense of their existence through an eternal 'mortal' life.
There is a reverse in which The one confesses she asked the other one to be burned. ... but ... well... I don't think they can die! Hence the name.
@@NC-eh8kf the other one says the idea of the snake was his. Lol!
i think thats definitely a good part of it. like somehow when they invented christianity it emboldened them to be reborn again or retain some power.
I just played through it and it was very impressive how good the acting was, acting as someone acting as someone has got to get confusing sometimes.
I know, right? It's true hollywood-calibre acting in a videogame, which is a joy to see
Not only acting as someone acting but also acting as someone acting that they are new to acting while also acting that they're in fact an ancient being who's obsessed with acting.
While the idea of the one and the other being metaphors is cool, I think they are actual, sentient beings that adopted the likenesses of Marissa, John, Carl, and Amy. That would explain why both Marissa and John still look so young, 30 years later.
This means so much to me! Thank you.
charlotta, your performance was amazing!!
@@fromreal thank you!
THE Charlotta Mohlin?! In my comments section?! 😄 Thank you so much 💙
One, stop staring into our souls 😛
@@brutus85xbox sorry, I can’t help myself😂
There's a negative you probably missed during Minsk, the one explains she is a parasite, when she bites a host she takes over the body. And she can control multiple hosts, at the third film she controls both Marissa and John, and at the end of the game she controls you the player.
My main issue was the terrible blonde wig. Lmao. But otherwise I’ve never been as terrified as I was when I saw “the one” for the first time, when I went into this game blind.
Yeah it seemed so strange to me that she never aged by 1999 nor did the director guy, thanks for the breakdown. You have made alot more sense of it than I had by the time the credits rolled.
They’re not human
Ah, great to see someone giving Charlotta Mohlin the shout-out she deserves ...was utterly transfixed by her performance (Must admit I took to referring to her character and The Other One as 'The Max Headrooms' while playing/discussing, but I think this was to offset the extreme eerieness they created as much as anything!). Really hope she wins an award.
Your breakdown of the films was super-helpful! (I do subscribe to the 'Vampire' theory though - the 'death by fire' and amount of neck injuries seems to imply something like that, not to mention the whole 'consumption' theme. I'm fine with that sitting undeneath the rest of it though as a kind of flavour, though - all those other things can still be right.)
Really interesting stuff. Watching this has scratched an itch I still had after putting hours into the game - thanks.
👍
As someone that watched you play through all of this and still had no idea what the hell was going on you've created a very impressive piece of content here mate and actually made this mindfuck of a game make total sense!
Ps Marissa Marcel I think I love you
Intrigued by the story but did not have the patience for this. So very much appreciate your summary, which you share wonderfully. Thank you sir.
The one and other one are actual Monsters, (supernatural beings at least) not an allegory... Amy watches the other die, and the other is reborn in her body in the process...
The ending is the one doing the same, but, in a shattering of the fourth wall, is rebirthing herself in you, the viewer.
...spooky 😨
Carl and John do not have a sexual or intimate relationship with eachother as you reference at 18:58, during that scene is the first time that "The One" notices that Carl has been possessed by "The Other". If you watch the behind the scenes clip where Marissa interviews the cast of three artists (two girls and a guy), you can see a woman walk into the room and start whispering to the two girls on the couch. If you watch the subverted clip of that scene, you can see that "The Other" has found Marissa and has inhabited that woman (as you see he is wearing the same clothes as her) and is spreading whispers and gossip throughout the set of Minsky, creating jealousy between Carl and John. You can see this during the interrogation scene with Carl and one of the women as she whispers to him "You know that Marissa is sleeping with John right". Since he has started to fall for Marissa at this point, this information throws his whole aura and attitude toward Marissa off, and this is seen by uncomfortable situations between him and Marissa henceforth. That scene you show at 18:58, where Carl says "Long time, no see" is really "The Other" addressing "The One" and letting her know that he has now taken over Carl. Marissa and Carls relationship then becomes increasingly strained during their bathroom sex scene, where due to jealousy over Marissa with John, Carl actually penetrates Marissa, instead of just acting, to which she goes "what was that?" and his sexual assault towards her leads her to kill him, purposely, being influenced by "The One" knowing of "The Other's" influence over Carl. Just wanted to straighten that out.
How do you know he actually penetrates her in the bathroom sex scene? Just from her saying “what was that?” And then in the subverted footage the Other mentions “make it look real”? Or is there more details in other clips that I maybe haven’t found yet?
At one point in the game I became convinced that what you call "The One", is actually TWO. One, as you said, is The Art, and the other is the norms, laws and constraints that we have created to limit The Art.
37:28 these are other people that One had taken their form (or consume). She is not a vampire but an immortal being that had also had the role of Jesus, Adam(the other one) and Eve and Marisa from ww2!
I think One is possessing Marisa a long time ( without ageing) and that is why she is having blood on her head, the body is failing. That is why she askes Amy (the other one) to kill her with fire. She wants to become more, like the other one who managed to possess a viewer through a film (Amy).
One succeeds as she is talking to you (the player) and she "is part of you now" 😉
Exactly this. That's my interpretation after completing the game.
Yeah I think you're right!! I may have to make another video on The One/The Other One specifically, as that's where the story gets especially hard to pin down
@@samg0 Also small correction in my comment. I now think that blood in the head of Marissa is because she is controlling John and Marissa at the same time. You can see that at some clips. In the one when she is drowning in the pool and John is falling in the pool unconscious, the one that they are booth unconscious and touch hands and when she has blood in her head when John is suddenly missing! Maybe it was too much for her that she brought back Marissa after so many years!
My interpretation was that The One is a sort of demon representing our desire to make evocative art unhindered by consequences. Marissa, being a young, naive actress is a perfect candidate and Fischer cultivates and feeds this demon inside her until The Other takes control and pleasure out of the pain, much as us, the viewer takes pleasure in the drama of the on-set antics and thrills of the films.
Throughout the game the lines between real sex and fake sex, real violence and fake violence are blurred repeatedly, and perhaps like Method Acting, Marissa can no longer differentiate and becomes the characters she is acting.
In the final scenes of the game when The Other says "I see you" and "I am a part of you" I believe she is saying we have taken too much pleasure in watching violence and sex on screen that we have now invited the same demon in us. The game starts by showing how moviemakers are pushing actors too far, then it shows how Marissa herself is pushing too hard, and finally the game ends with indicting the viewers as pushing the industry too hard. Perhaps it is an ancient evil waiting inside us all.
i love that you've resisted a literal interpretation of the one and the other one as supernatural beings but i'm struggling to do that myself with some of the reversed clips and especially the double/triple reverses. the clips with the black man especially, it seems to me its heavily implied that he was previously "possessed" by the one and was present in France when she "transferred" to Marissa. i honestly prefer to go with a more metaphorical explanation as you've done but the text makes it hard
It's my interpretation that The One and The Other One are allegories for the nature of art itself, with The One being the embodiment of progression within the medium and The Other One being the personification of traditionalism. The One exists to push the boundaries of what art is, and constantly does so, while also admiring and indulging in what she sees as the beautiful scarcity of human existence. The Other One, on the other (haha) hand, seems only concerned with the sheer longevity of the art they take part in, and seems to view humanity as insignificant in comparison to them: a means to survive and a resource to continue living. In one video The Other One criticizes John and suggests he is a child at play, as The Other One doesn't respect movies as a legitimate art form. The Other One also questions how long will their movie will be seen by people, and expresses frustration it will not last like the 'greater' works of art in time have.
There are certainly additional layers and metaphors you can draw from the story but I think you cannot accurately analyse this story unless you accept the premise that The One and The Other One are literal immortal beings and not just a vague concepts like "artistic passion" and "self doubt".
There's many themes in this story but those are layered on top of and told through the lens of a story about immortal beings. I feel the game makes this point (even if few others) quite clear. There are repeated references to them existing before humans did, being distinct from humans, wanting to understand humans/art/emotions but unable to because of their immortality, musings on their physical form, flashbacks from their previous forms, saying that only fire can destroy them, that they reproduce unlike humans in a very abstract way, that they created the story of Jesus.
These are not things that sensibly fit within a view that The One and The Other are simply human concepts like "insecurity". They are literal physical immortal beings in the context of the game.
You mentioned the vampire interpretations elsewhere online. I wonder if we can cast aside the noun "vampire," which is the fanged creature, for the adjective "vampiric" as a metaphor for the many layers of predation and consumption we see in the game. Because the game works on many multiplying layers, we may look beyond the three layers you mention. The game players, us, are also an agent in the game and a voracious consumer of other people's stories. The fact that we drive the narrative situates us not as a passive audience, like when we watch a movie, but as agents of the narrative; thus, we are implicated in Marissa's consumption. We are the consumers.
Also, I wonder if interpretations of the game may get caught up in an either/or binary: Marissa is the victim and the men are the predators. Clearly, the game has a good dose of a victim/predator binary, but I am particularly struck by some of the scenes from "Ambrosio" where Marissa is not just observed but she gains some control over the narrative through her sexuality. She does this in her second film as well. For example, in the scene when she is between the two masks, her visage is practically demonic. Later, she is responsible for Carl's death after she spent much of "Minsky" (sp) trying to get Carl under her control. He always appeared uncomfortable, but he didn't seem to be able to do much about it.
The game may be a comment on the mechanics of creation in film, games, art, etc.... In order to create something, one must enter a mechanism or dynamic of constantly shifting passivity/innocence and consumption/predation. A good real life translation of this theme can be seen in all of the chaos surrounding Olivia Wilde's latest film "Don't Worry Darling." The story surrounding the making-of her film has some many creepy layers of exploitation, and I have been so oblivious about my consumption of these stories that I have ignored my own complicity in the proliferation of more and more click bait-y articles about the whole drama. Yet, I know that I know I am one of many, many other people who have been swarming the news.
I really like that - the player consumes from behind the screen just like John and Arthur consumed from behind the camera. Great insight. It would put to bed the notion that Immortality "isn't really a game", which seems to be the main argument coming from negative user reviews around the game. To shine our decisions back in our face in order to tell us something - be it about the story, a meta-commentary, or about ourselves - is something only games can do.
Thanks for watching :)
I interpreted The One as an external being to Marissa. She kills John and assumes control over his body (there are a couple scenes where The One does all John's dialogue) but she spreads herself too thin and ends up dying. John also isn't present after Marissa dies. The Other One takes over Amy to help.
Thought a little more about it. Basically The One doesn't fully control Marissa. Marissa is a being who's emotions and desires are heavily, heavily influenced by The One. This concept is demonstrated when The One kills John then he confronts her about it post-mortem in another scene. He's still there and knows what she did. Marissa is still there. Carl, Amy... all still there living The Ones desires. The One spreads themself too thin trying to control Marissa and John and kills them. The One doesn't die, but Marissa is broken and must be burned so that The One can be reincarnated again.
@@DStef55 could you say more about John confronting The One? and do you know how to get that scene?
Did you unlock the scene with The One being interviewed on the talk show? I think that explained a lot for me
Came here because of the Jacob Geller video. Damn these last 7 minutes, incredible.
“extremely naked” lol
this is a fantastic wrap up, and I am very grateful for this level of work because while I adored every second of this game, once I hit credits, I needed some time (and also because I had a few hidden clips that just refused to play no matter when I did) and it was helpful to get all the info in one concise place.
I like your interpretation of the One and the Other, but I think the fact that John’s “death” is unexplained points to them being both a metaphor and literally a supernatural creature. I saw an explanation that made sense to me that John “died” because the One was bringing him and Marissa back (perhaps in an attempt to recapture what was lost on Minsky). the work of making them both exist was what caused the intense strain that led to her “death”. this also helps support the third wall breaking of the end, that they realize that their death captured on film allows them to take on anyone that watches, much like the One took on Marissa initially. (of course that means we are all now possessed so… whoops. there’s the horror part of the game.)
the brilliance of this game, to me, is not the air tight narrative or perfect metaphors. it’s the conversations and debates and rumination. it’s something special.
I'll be honest I haven't even heard of this game, I'm just here because I love the way you lay out game stories
Appreciate the support! :)
So glad I found your explanation. Just played 10 hours straight, really addictive but as credits rolled I really had no idea what was going on so thank you for sharing.
Game wise, I would have preferred it if the player could concentrate on one movie at a time. The switching between the 3 films so often when clicking things just made me lose any sense of storyline.
Think overall I preferred Telling Lies as didn't break my brain as much but acting in this one was incredible
The montage in the last section was incredibly well done. Really made me appreciate the game even more - great job!
I agree! The music during the montage was especially poignant, and it clearly touched the actress who played the One as seen in a previous comment. Fantastic job!
i spent a solid four hours on this game trying to figure out what i was missing and you showed me in a solid 2 seconds flat that if you rewind it, things change. Never felt so stupid in my life.
This video definitely deserves more appreciation! You did an amazing work, keep it up!
Also, I was just thinking, if Sam Barlow decided to add the final chapter of your video as a final presentation before the credits rolled, the general explanation of MM's story would be so much better and coherent than what is currently in the game (as you already mentioned).
The most haunting aspect of this is that the One strove for a very human form of celluloid immortality, yet through the passion she had and the choices she made, she doomed the three films to obscurity by dint of the mortal reactions by us ordinary folk to the circumstances she wrought (“you can’t release a film if the main protagonist/director has been…etc.”) All kicked off by Fisher’s gut reaction to the visceral non-cinematic universe that his cast was creating. Brilliant.
Through art and creativity we humans become channels for something "greater" (or lesser). A lot of artists look at it like their channeling the spirit realm/spirits. These can be good spirits or they can be bad ones. We can go into demons, angels, muses all that stuff but let's not get wrapped up in labeling them/it. This makes art a very deep, beautiful, vulnerable and sometimes even dangerous and scary ritual. Connecting to the unknown, to the mystery should be the joy of your life, the thing that makes you as a human more vital, loving and caring.
What this games does very well is relating the toxic culture of "Hollywood" to channeling lesser spirits. The toxic context becomes an environment where lesser spirits can thrive and perpetuate their existence (becoming immortal). Art becomes vampiric instead of revitalizing.
Fantastic analysis, I think you've hit the nail on the head there. I'm gonna have to make another video based on this outlook, aren't I 😛
@@samg0 Please do my friend, please do.
I have finished the game today and going through a couple of hours looking at “explanation” vídeos until I found this very good one. But looking at the comments , yours is the one that makes the perfect match from what I felt the game tried tô express. Fantastic !!
that ending sequence is really beautiful
My understanding is Marissa and John are being controlled by the same spirit(the one) by the third film. You can see at the end of minsk, the negative film of the interview shows the one taking the interview instead of John, and before that you see John being consumed by the one. Driving two bodies at the same time is what killed the one in the end too. This is also fore shadowed by the plot of the 3rd movie.
I was engrossed in the game for the first 4 hours. after that I was was entertained a bit longer until I had looped back to the same scene for the 10th time and looked at the clock and realized I didn't have any more free time and I didn't know how much more could possibly be left to discover. I had made the assumption that "the one" and "the others" were meant to be some type of demons embodied by Marissa's emotions. Overall I loved the intrigue and mystery of it all but I don't think the mechanics were implemented well. I still don't even know how to effectively use the icons on the upper left hand side of the grid screen. I stumbled on my first "secret" scene unknowingly scrubbing through the clip trying to investigate the meaning of that low synth wave sound. and then a creepy image of and older lady between 2 seemingly dead men with blood on there necks popped onto my screen and i nearly fell out of my chair. that was pretty good. this will be a game that sticks with me for a while and I would gladly pay to play another in the future. the acting was out of this world, and the plots of the 3 movies were good and engaging. I admire the work that went into the game. I like it when games are logical so I hope that my interpretation of "the others" being demons is wrong. and I also hope they aren't vampires lol.
Oh! also very good video Sam!. I enjoyed how you laid out the plot, there were a few scenes I hadn't uncovered and to get a full picture of the narrative gives me closure. now i can get some sleep 😆
Thanks for watching! You might like Her Story, which is another of Sam Barlow's games. It's the same found-footage/real-life actors deal but has a bit more structure than Immortality in terms of gameplay.
Thank you for putting in the time to do this. Not just this video, but all the ones before. You are always doing excellent work.
Amazing video- got choked up at the final bit. May I ask where I can find that specific arrangement of Martin Hall’s “Without the Fever”?
This game is a great argument for intimacy coordinators on set...
Just finished this game (credits rolled) not 4 hours ago. I had always planned on going back to collect the clips I was missing but This definitely provided a much clearer picture of what I should be looking for, or intuning. I'm still working through my own interpretation and I feel like I will end up in a similar place as you but this is definitely the kind of fertile ground that set my brain moving in ways that make it impossible to know where it will end up. I feel a strong urge to write about this game, but I haven't figure out how I want to do that yet. Oddly, most of all it made me reflect on Her Story much stronger. I like what Sam Barlow puts to play so far, and I can't wait to see where he goes with it next.
Thank you, after playing a bit and being confused out of my mind watching this has helped me grasp the art behind the game. Amazing.
Okay, after watching your breakdown, I think I have a good idea. The "vampiric" other people you mention are past people that the one inhabited. She keeps their memories and the weight of their stories in time. She cremates the other, killing him. But, he's captured in film, and through film is able to inhabit Amy in a new way, untethered to her flesh, cohabitating with her. The one wants the same, that freedom of not being tied to an individual, so she has him burn her and she now infects people through film the same way, as she does to you. Immortal, and no longer imprisoned.
I went all in on the mythology angle. Full on possible spoilers for The One and The Other
A muse devours her subject, Marissa Marcel, to live through her from the start of her career. That's not how it's supposed to go, they're just supposed to be parasitic until nothing is left then they take that remnant with them (The first director seems to react to both muses, and blood around the mouth implies the feeding throughout). The muse might have done this at least twice before(two unexplained characters). The first muse runs into a second muse who's a bit appalled but intrigued.
There's a biblical suggestion that the first muse tempts the second muse with knowledge, like they did before (It's implied they were behind the garden of Eden parable, Satan as a concept, and Jesus which might have been the first muse's first full possession...or maybe that was Mary...both of them...that could have been literal or inspirational...might explain why there's such a long gap before Marissa).
The muse gets into a relationship with John the photography lead, and acts as inspiration for him to become a director. The second muse possesses someone, potentially for the first time (that's what I got out of it anyway, the second muse is made to be oppositional by being more conservative and literal).
The second muse chooses another to possess and they end up working together as male and female leads in a film. They end up in a bad love triangle with the director John, the first muse 'kills' the second and is unable to resolve the relationship with John so devours him (there's a scene reminiscent of the minsky murder but it's John drained through the neck. We then see the muse as John in the next night show interview).
The muse tries to give directing a try, and runs into and reignites a relationship with second muse, as Amy. This happens over 3 decades but is not witnessed as it does not involve Marissa but John. It's implied there's been some success as he's able to bankroll the third film, which has implications as to why its filming feels rushed towards the end.
This ends with the third movie, as the muse was running out of inspiration and decided as one last hurrah to bring Marissa back (The mocap scene suggests this as the muse has split multiple ways). I want to say its a try at literally passing the acting torch to herself by bridging generations, as there are two performers in the table scenes who are never shown, and one might be a devoured younger Marissa look-a-like (this 3rd person is admittedly conjecture, but the John/Marissa dual natures for the third film seems pretty clear).
The burn the candle at both ends shown in the performers is literal, the muse gives up being John to power through as Marissa (and the double?) but the body(ies) give out and the second muse frees the first from Marissa Marcel. Death of the Author happens in front of us, and thus we are now all the muse (Which to me is the implication of the second muse's death, Amy is but one of the second muses possessions when she sees a private viewing of the muse's onscreen death).
I have the exact interpretation, I would just add by the last clip when Marissa is burnt, the one sees you as the player. Symbolized she was reborn and consumes the player to continue her existence, the same way the other consumed Amy.
I think she (the one) is a vampire of sorts, and vampires work by taking over mortals and giving them immortality while they are in their bodies. The vampire also boosts the talent of the host, as she brings a lot of experience and passion to the host and she works on a deeper level, with motivation of an immortal being are drastically different and are much more soul searching, self-actualization and are art/metaphysics skewed, basically the highest point on the Maslow’s pyramid. However, a vampire has a love relationship with the host and a passion of the new body can/will go away just as human relationships usually have an ending and so a vampire can get bored of the body and then she leaves for a new host. As I understand she moves to the director’s body at the end of the second movie to try and live as a creator, not as an object, but then gets deeply disappointed in him and decides to resurrect Marissa, moves out of the director’s body, director becoming an automaton as a result, a dying man with no passions or talents. Finally she comes to an end of a lifecycle of an immortal but passionate and imperfect being, as she no longer can grow or learn things in a profound way, becomes old not physically, but metaphysically, gets to a sort of a dead end from which she can get away only by burning and being cleansed/reborn in maybe a buddhist sense of restarting at a higher level of capacity of understanding of the world but by losing the actual experience/thinking patterns that keep her down. As I understand the Other followed that same path, and this is then the immortality on a grand, cosmic scale. So basically buddhism+vampires 😊
That part about transferring to John then back to Marissa is really interesting - reviving Marissa mirrors how the devil revives Antonia
I honestly don't understand how you still don't have millions of subs. Amazing content, really. Keep it up!
millions! That would be nice. As long as people keep watching my videos I'll keep making them
Beautiful and excellent video. While I may not agree 100% with everything, this video alone elevated Immortality to a whole other level. Your interpretations were great and it certainly gave me a lot to think about. But that rise and fall of Marcel.... Best part of it all. Thank you for making this
To help possibly answer your questions: it’s mentioned that The One was possibly “asleep” or “waiting” during the time between Minsky and ToE, which could possibly explain why she doesn’t age. She mentions reawakening/coming back in Marissas form.
There’s also a scene where The One kills John after revealing her true form to her, which could explain why he dies during filming.
Also, the two random people that appear could possibly be other life’s that The One has “devoured”, just like she did to Marissa.
Hi I have a question, what is the purpose of the game is to watch movies and then arrange them so that the story is consistent? Or watching everything and what to do after that I didn't understand what to do when I explored another scene in the same movie and watch it what should I do?
So the purpose is to discover what happened to Marissa by putting the puzzle altogether. The puzzle will automatically sort stuff, but you’ll still have to study and figure out what’s going on. At first, it may seem disorganized and disorienting, but once you watched enough of the clips (or collected them all and watch them chronologically) it will make more sense as to why the movies didn’t get released and to why she went missing. For the “the one and the other” scenes to appear, you must use sound cues (and controller vibrations) to find them. These explain the deeper plot of what the overall story is.
My advice if you are having issues understanding the story or plot, just collect as many scenes as you can and watch it chronologically. I
@@bigtexasyeehaw You saved me, I couldn't find an explanation for the purpose of the game, thank you, man.
One doesn't kill John, she possesses him. You can she that if you reverse the interview of John on the talk show. After years Arthur Fisher before dying he gave the stolen negatives of Ambrosio to John (One actually) and she remembered how she liked being her and brought her back. At this point she is controlling both but Marissa's body is failing!
I know Lynch probably won't play this game, but I hope he watches your video man, it was great. Also the game is like nothing else.
Thanks for this video, I was looking for something like this after finishing the game. Greetings from Argentina!
I kinda thought the one and the other could be angels or fallen angels taking on a human host and eventually the body couldn't handle it any more. Or perhaps a muse who took things too far.
I think the one and the other are witches who lived into art like paints, music and movies its a surreal concept that defines the videogames are now art and the witch is living in the game just with the final línes “now im Part of you”
I didn't get that there were secret clips for an embarrassingly long time (about an hour in) because the noise sounds just like my kitchen taps when they start leaking, I kept getting up. The first time I rewound the clip and hit on a hidden clip was the scene where Marissa is stood between the two masks and the masks turned into the dead bodies of John and Carl. That was a freaky experience!
My first clip was when the One kills John; also quite a freaky experience!
When you take "the One" and "the Other One" as more literal it starts to make more sense. They are 4th dimensional beings "Man has conquered the surface of the planet, Space, but we have conquered time." And are able to inhabit different people throughout time (that's who those people are in those weird flashbacks). She even makes reference to having inhabited the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.
They are immortal as long as they are not burned, which is why the one had Carl (the Othe One) cremated. But he came back through the power of film when Amy watched the Minsky footage and saw Carl (The Other One) die on screen.
You are also able to see The One inhabit John in the post-mortem talk show appearance after Minsky meaning "The One" is now inhabiting John and helps him have an incredible directing career (You can even kind of see that sort of transfer when she so called "drinks his blood" in one scene).
Eventually she decides to bring back Marissa and try to inhabit both at once (which is why John disappears during some table reads) but it is too difficult and leads to tons of complications.
Eventually after she learns how the other one came back through film and decides she needs the same thing burning Marissa specifically on camera and breaking the 4th wall ("I see you"). And then there's the ending shot of course where she says "I'm part of you now". We have watched the footage and are now the creative housing for "The One" in effect making her immortal through film.
Sorry for the absurdly long comment but after hearing Rebekah Valentine on Kinda Funny's spoilercast of this game it made WAY too much sense.
This analysis is top tier!!! Appreciate the work this one
so the scene where Amy is shown the footage of The Other One Dying - this seems to me both the strongest point for a literal interpretation of the immortals as a real entities with agency that control the characters. However there are many questions as to whether this scene is literal. Some questions I raise:
Why are we seeing this at all? Marissa took Amy to a movie theater and convinced her to watch a snuff film; and film her doing it? All the behind-the-scenes footage we see is done as part of production or press. It makes sense as to why we see the after parties, etc. This is not. To my knowledge we don't see a possession scene for Carl, right? (Then again - all the footage we see is real, or its the Immortals interrupting real footage. So that implies this must have actually happened in some form...)
The footage is shown on film, as it would have looked with the cameras of the time. Additionally the candid stuff is shot on a different kind of film as you can tell from the smaller "thumbnails" presumably a different mm. But the 4th wall breakers are crystal clear, shot in cinematic "letterbox" shape. This footage of Amy seeing the movie is shot like this, implying to me it is not a "home movie" taken outside. Again to take this shot Marissa would have needed to drag a huge camera into a movie theater and spun it around Amy
It's especially strange because to my knowledge this is the only scene that breaks the game's premise - that you are watching pieces of film. If you're watching the scene of Marissa shooting Carl, it essentially match cuts _for the player_ into this other scene. Or I guess you could assume that the footage of Carl's death is actually footage of Marissa filming Amy watching Carl's death on screen the entire time; that you don't have the original film, just a copy of it and the only place it can be seen is in the scene-within-a-scene
Oh thanks a lot for the time you put into the making of this video. I have played for about 5hs and reached the The One’s face, which blocked completely my game so I cannot go further 😅. But besides that I can really see how much content I have missed!
I completely agree with you about the timing of “the face” appearance and lack of guidance when you first arrive to the game. Even after the face showed up I tried to unlock more stuff and I was like… ok what am I looking for?
I liked the first hours of the game but as a gamer I kinda missed a motivation/completion. I do like the debate it generates though!
Thanks again this was a great video and I can imagine how much time you put into it.🎉
love your "supercut" at the end!
Amazing video thank you for making this!
incredible montage at the end, very illuminating but also just beautiful
What a brilliant analysis, thank you very much! The film synopses + Marissa Marcel's story are so well summarized with your own insight that I immediately subscribed.
I think the one takes control of John too. That’s why he disappears and passes out. And appears to be not there in that table read scene
FIrst of all, thanks for this video, i came here looking for an answer, and you gave me, that there is no need to have a clear answer about fucking everything, it is right to have some doubts, to do not know some things, and be happy and enjoy a piece of art, like Inmortality, even if you do not understand every single corner of it.
Moreover, you said that you have no clues why Marissa did not age, but i have an idea. The one talks on the game about some kind of hibenation, may she hibernated those 30 years before Carl´s Death, as we know that Marissa and The One are the same "person".
This was incredibly helpful, thank you so much!!!! I got to the credits and was very disappointed, but there was so much more I missed that I didn’t realize existed until I watched this. Some of the reverse videos trigger at normal speed reverse, but others I thought were just ghostly images and didn’t realize all those videos could be triggered with a different controll mechanism! I thought people were just making up explanations in articles I was reading. 😅
I think there's also a biblical metanarrative here. From the very obvious placement of apples, snakes, the One and the Other One often appearing naked together as if Adam and Eve, the literal reference of Marissa being like Eve in a movie poster, the the frequent inferences that blood is spiritually important, etc. The impression I was left with was that the Other One was God who had lost faith in humanity and was trying to leave them behind and the One as Lucifer who still believed in humanity and tried to mold them through art. They frequently discuss things being "like they used to when they were close" as before Lucifer's fall from grace. One scene the One mentions that the Other One died before and inspired humanity (presumably as Jesus) and she wanted to do that too. He says that she chose "them over me" as Lucifer fell from grace because he wanted to be closer to imperfect humanity instead of perfect godly angels. At least that's the impression I got.
Fantastic, but my analysys went more to the immortal beings with whose lives run on a cycle of death and rebirth side of things
Hi I have a question, what is the purpose of the game is to watch movies and then arrange them so that the story is consistent? Or watching everything and what to do after that I didn't understand what to do when I explored another scene in the same movie and watch it what should I do?
I’m so glad I found this! There were so many details I was missing and couldn’t quite put together. This was an art piece in itself! So well done. I might have to break out and play the other games you’ve broken down now, as I’m really not a gamer but love these immersive experiences
The final montage is amazing, absolutely incredible. It puts so many things in perspective without the need for more words. Congrats!
Thanks!
no, thank you!
Great video, it's feels to me that it's a newer version of games that broke away like "Norm" and made something a little off the cuff from what is the trend. Interesting how art, music & movies have now bleed into the gaming industry... fantastic time to be alive.
Discovered your channel through this video, it's incredible I hope more discover your channel through this video aswell
Wow man! Your videos are so well edited and insightful.
Very interesting - I got the credits and what felt like the exact right time? After I saw the death of Carl and figured out who the One was. Also I do think they live for generations and are gods or vampires or something. Great video!
I was wondering this - I also got the credits right after Carl's death. I was surprised that doesn't always happen because the timing was perfect
This was pretty fantastic as an analysis and literary critique. Subscribed. Great new content creator.
I feel like the metaphorical interpretation is how it connects the threads of the story, BUT The One is both Marissa AND John in Two of Everything. Look at the second TV interview that features John. In The One's perspective she gives the exact same dialogue for the interview as John while even wearing his clothing. Marissa even "becomes a recluse" after the movie. She disappears entirely.
She mentions that both she and The Other can embody people, take them into themselves and in doing so it brings so many thoughts and memories of that person. All they have to do is literally consume a bit of them on death.
She does this to at least one other person, the lead actor on Ambrosio. The scene where he tries to stab the Virgin Mary. In Her perspective he stabs Her to no avail, and she stabs him in return before tasting the blood on the knife. His behavior changes afterwards, becoming less vibrant as he was and more like what She felt She needed in a screen partner.
In Two of Everything, not only is She burning the candle at both ends as Marissa, but instead She's projecting John. That's why in Her perspective The Other is all there is and John isn't present, She even reads some of his lines. It's also why they're so perfectly in sync. They're the same mind piecing together this movie. She's become the director, the writer, and the lead actress for the film, causing Her to pass out frequently.
Finally it explains John missing. As She gets weaker She can't project the two of them anymore. He disappears EVERY time She loses her grip until he just no longer appears...
The One gave everything of Herself to art, pured so much of her soul into the essence of film in an effort to achieve an Immortality without pointless, wasted time. Those movies never released, yet the game (Initially titled something like The Marisa Archives or something) pulls them together into something the player has to dig deeper and deeper into... Until it's finished. Your obsession has made Her immortal: inside your mind. You will likely never forget her, and you'll likely pass on the game to others. You'll make videos on it, talk to friends about it, have it influence your actions and take inspiration from it, spread its existance everywhere until so many people know about it it'll never really go away.
"I'm part of you now"
I wouldn't go with that metaphoric interpretation, I don't believe that's the intention.
It's pretty clear, by how they talk about Virgin Mary, Adam, Eve, Jesus... in the subverted clips, that they're some kind of "celestial immortal beings" (hence the name).
Also, I think The One was somehow controlling Marissa AND John at the same time in the last movie, that's why John doesn't show up in the subverted clips, or even The One is dressed and acting like him sometimes. And why they fade at the same time, place and position.
They also talk about how they're time beings, and about how the light travels from the skin of the actors to our eyes. And that's the new way of jumping between bodies that they discovered.
Exactly, he has to make a new video about the game!
Y also belive the way they used to get inside bodies was "consuming" their victims (this is said in the clips), which is represented by a neck bite.
That's something we can see in the footage, with the older black man "eating" Marissa. That's The One from her previous body.
Black man eating Marissa? Haven't seen that one! I have seen the black man and the dark haired woman that are previous forms of the One, but not the eating scene!
@@brutus85xbox I think is one of the triple subverted clips. More scenes show up as you play backwards and forwards that video.
Spectacular work! Great job!
I think that so much of game and film analysis is about uncovering hidden meanings that in a game like Immortality, with a very clear "hidden" layer to uncover, people get very attached to their interpretation of that hidden layer as something truer, more real, than the surface they scratched past to find it.
I think that's why people are so drawn to the immortal vampire stuff as literal, as a higher level of reality than as a metaphor or allegory. I will readily admit that there are things which make better sense through that lens. the clips leading up to the shooting in Minsky or the flashbacks to France or the vanishing of John or Marissa's physical breakdown.
But does an analysis of the meaning of the entire work as a squabble between two immortals about the value of art really do a more complete job? Does it explain what we're actually "seeing" in scenes with the One saying and doing things to actors in the films that did not actually occur? Does it explain why the One sometimes has dialogues with the characters (Ambrosio for example), not the actors playing them? Does it better tell us how to interpret parallel journeys to Marissa's like Ambrosio and Sophia's affair, or Amy and John's relationship, or Naomi, an actor in a similar place in her career to Marissa in Ambrosio who is Marissa's literal double in a film about double lives called Two of Everything?
I really like this video, and I like that it credits the story of the One and the Other, without discarding Marissa's story as secondary. I like having questions, and I find it fascinating that a game with so much abstract imagery, dance, song, and silence draws so many people to its most literal interpretation.
Your review of the movies was excellent, pointing out several details that are easily missed like the number of takes. But your review of the One and Other is too metaphorical.
The One tells us who they are: immortal symbiotic parasites. They grant humans art and inspiration by feeding upon them and eventually killing them. Also, it is extremely important to understand that Marissa Marcel (MM) has been DEAD for the entirely of this game. She was killed by the One in the form of the Old Man during WWII. But these beings have the ability to bring back the form of prior hosts, and this is what the One does with MM to continue to explore art (and why she does not age). The One finds greater meaning in this than the Other, who understands that this cycle of inspiration and feeding is simply their nature, which infuriates the One. One can now get more metaphorical by noting that the real process of creating art can be likened to the terrible toll it takes on the creators and actors, but is explained here fictionally by being a reflection of what these parasites are doing.
At the end of Minsky, we learn two important things. First, the One takes on the persona of John Durick (JD) and is a successful director for 30 years up until Two of Everything. Second, it has been pointed out several times by the One that immolation is the one sure way to kill these beings. But the Other discovers a way out: if they are observed dying by fire, they can be reborn in the observer. This is how the Other comes back: by being observed by Any. And the end of the game is the One being observed by US, and we are now the hosts of the One! One final point is that, like MM is playing both Maria and Heather, the One is playing both MM and JD during the last film, which is why JD is exhausted and often missing (and eventually dies), The One is warned by the Other that they cannot maintain this dual form, and in the end immolates them with us watching so that the One can continue in a new refreshed form, having completely used up MM.
As you say, there is plenty of ambiguity in the hidden footage, but my summary above is what you get if you take everything they say at near face value. YMMV
Spot on. I think there are many clips people didn't see where things are pretty explicit. It's such an atypical mythology, I couldn't help but find all the pieces.
He also mentions the directors of the first two films being abusive but JD was the director for both 2OE and Minsky, while Fisher was the director of Ambrosio. This video implies that John only directed the last film.
The montage at the end was beautiful! I played on iPad and I think it made it way more difficult, besides the fact that my game bugged toward the end before I uncovered all the hidden scenes. I don't totally connect with your interpretation, I think there is a literal supernatural narrative to it besides the metaphors, but it's an interesting angle that adds depth. I would say it's not a game for everyone, it has an obtuse play style - especially at first - but it is very rewarding once you start understanding pieces of the story. It's also a very meta game, even more towards the end in 2oE since it's like a person pretending to be a person pretending to be a person, all that in a game with actors pretending to be characters. Since I'm one to fall into rabbit holes, I loved it! I'm also someone who prefer games for storytelling rather than complex gameplay. I'm trying Her Story next :)
Maybe this is just because I was reading Susanna Clarke while playing, but I pretty much immediately settled on the idea that The One and The Other One were faeries, and I liked it too much to ever let that idea go
Masterfully done
I think John isn’t in two of everything because the director doesn’t matter at that point but Marissa was closest to him during minsky which is why she sees him there and why the one assumes both
Was für ein tolles Video, dass du hier produziert hast. Vielen Dank für deine Erklärung und der hilfreichen Aufbereitung.
Dude I love videogame analysis
After watching immortality I understood some stuff so I decided to watch an analysis video
And ur video is so fuckin impressive
I reaaally liked the last 5 minute montage section of the video too🔥🔥🔥
I like ur style of analysis and this is why I'm subscribing to u. It's like I've struck gooooold (guess wt am I referencing ;) ).
I love how these clips look like they're from old movies while they were literally shot around 2021 - 2022.
In the scene at 19:08, I am pretty sure it is the Other One, who has taken over Carl's body.
The credits rolled for me after watching the last chronological clip (the burning of Marissa). I assume the discovery of that clip triggers the credits for everyone, as the subversive footage of that clip - The One approaching the camera, staring at the player, and declaring that they are part of you, the player, now you have witnessed Them and Their death - directly merges into the event preceding the credits, wherein every clip's thumbnail in your archive gradually merges into The One's face, gazing at you. The credits roll after this because The One has achieved Immortality through the player.
Under the "about" menu it's stated that Ambrosio was never released, but why? I never found anything that explains why Ambrosio was never released, there's even a scene where the cast and crew are celebrating the wrap up of shooting.
Yeah, it's not specified. There are a few scenes talking about how Fischer was in a decline, career-wise, so my guess is it just wasn't good enough to actually make it to the movie screen.
The movie had too much nudity and sex for the time. Maybe also the real sex scene of John(instead of Robert) and Marissa was also discovered.
@@brutus85xbox + a rape scene, blasphemy and much more
I think Fischer stole the film negatives
I appreciate your clip that really explains what the game is to me. Thanks bro! Will continue following your clips in the future.
Very good analysis.
I missed my chance to play this for free (and don’t have the budget to get it, any games I get need high replay value) and started watching a couple of Let’s Plays, but I’d rather just get the full story first and then watch their (the Let’s Players) reactions to it.
So thank you for this video, and thanks to the commenters that gave extra explanation to what’s going on with The One/Other.
I like this video because it really highlights the metaphorical interpretation that I kinda missed out on, cause I usually take everything in art to be viscerally literal.
I really appreciate this reading and I think it adds a very interesting perspective I would have never arrived at alone. I honestly think the game would have been improved iif you could only access the One's clips after you have enough of an understanding of the events to find non fantastical explanations to the mysteries set up in the game. I fully believe there is an interpretation to be taken from the regular clips that is intended. For example, one detail you skimmed over the reason Ambrosio didn't release as a film. As you pointed out, Andrew brought Marissa on bc he got a kick out of defiling a perfectly innocent underage girl. However, important context is that during the filming of Ambrosio it is not Andrew who is having his way with Marissa, it is Marissa who is toying with him. There are several clips where she defies with directorial orders and as the filming goes on she along ith John push the limits of what they can get away with, adding more and more nudity and extreme sex wherever possible. They go as far as to film scenes behind Andrew's back which he only discovers once the reels arrive at the editing room. There he realizes that the Marissa Marcel he cast for his film was just a play she was putting on for her own amusement. That's why Andrew ultimately decided to never release the film. He felt that the film was one last humiliation in his dying career.
As for your reading of The One and The Other, I think it's hard to argue that they are not just ageless supernatural shapeshifters. At least, there are very many scenes where they lay out information that doesn't make sense any other way. At the very least, The One isn't a representation of Marissa's feelings since after Minsky she goes on to possess John. I do think a lot of these themes can be read into the character's though. The One is defined by her obsessive quest to connect with others and be recognized as a person and an artist while The Other looks at all people with disdain and unworthy of the attention. They are two urges within the soul in constant struggle.
I do think the most important theme of the story is that while the protagonists fail to gain immortality by creating a timeless masterpiece, they arrive at a synthesis where their struggle and passion can resonate with the viewer and though their works may be forgotten with time a part of them lives on within others.
*Damn*, that is some good material to work with as actors, that is some *delicious* drama
That montage at the end is amazing
Great, emotional cut at the end.
Thank you, man!
What detailed and insightful breakdown! Thank you!
I just saw the game's credits and I'm here because I don't know what happened at all! 😅
I think they are the real Eve and Adam, the first two immortal human beings cast out by God and doomed to try to make sense of their existence through an eternal 'mortal' life.