Line #5 Film/Predestination


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/predestination.png]]
2
3	->''"The snake that eats its own tail, forever and ever."''
4
5	''Predestination'' is a 2014 Australian science fiction mystery film written and directed by Creator/TheSpierigBrothers. The film [[FilmOfTheBook is based upon]] the 1959 short story "Literature/AllYouZombies" by sci-fi writer Creator/RobertAHeinlein, and stars Creator/EthanHawke, Creator/SarahSnook, and Creator/NoahTaylor.
6
7	The film chronicles the life of a Temporal Agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to ensure the continuation of his law enforcement career for all eternity. On his [[OneLastJob final assignment]], the Agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time and prevent a devastating attack in which thousands of lives will be lost.
8
9	'''Because the movie consists entirely of [[PlotTwist twists and turns]], many of the trope names themselves are spoilers, and not all of the spoilers have been whited out. Proceed with caution.'''
10
11	----
12	!!This film provides examples of:
13	* TheForties: Jane was abandoned in an orphanage in 1945, with there being some flashbacks to this decade.
14	* TheFifties: There are brief flashbacks to this decade when Jane was growing up in the orphanage.
15	* TheSixties: The majority of Jane's flashbacks occur in this decade, showing her interactions with Robertson and Space Corp, getting pregnant and [[spoiler:having to transition to being John]].
16	* TheSeventies: The film starts with the Barkeep trying to disarm a bomb in 1975, Jane meets the Barkeeper in 1970 and it's explained that the at some point in 1975 the Fizzle Bomber will kill thousands of people, with the exact date changing due to time travel.
17	* TheEighties: The Barkeep takes John to 1985 after John [[spoiler:learns that the Barkeep is his future self and that he's his own father and mother]].
18	* TheNineties: After failing to disarm the bomb in 1975 safely, the Barkeep travels to 1992 to recover from his injuries.
19	* ActionPrologue: The opening BombDisposal sequence.
20	* AdaptationExpansion: While overall very faithful to the original story, the film expands the role of The Fizzle Bomber [[spoiler:and includes him in the web of paradoxes related to the Agent]].
21	* AdaptationTitleChange: The film is based on the short story "Literature/AllYouZombies".
22	* AdmiringTheAbomination: Mr. Robertson speaks kindly of the Fizzle Bomber and how he helped their organization become better at saving lives. Lampshaded by the Barkeeper: "You sound as if you admire him". [[spoiler: Then again, since it seems that the Fizzle Bomber itself is just another result of his manipulation, it's perfectly possible that he was actually admiring the fruits of his work.]]
23	* AgeCut: [[spoiler:At the end, several previous close-up shots are cut together to show the character's entire personal history in chronological order for the first time.]]
24	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Young Jane feels misunderstood and isolated at the orphanage and also later in life.
25	* AlternateHistory: The movie doesn't update Heinlein's setting to the early [=21st=] Century, likely so they can maintain the DeliberateValuesDissonance needed for Jane's story. As a result we have a [[IWantMyJetPack manned space program involving year-long missions by the Sixties]], and time travel being invented in the Nineties.
26	* ArcWords: "What if I could put him in front of you? The man that ruined your life?"
27	* BandagedFace: [[spoiler:John]], after his face gets burned in the bomb explosion.
28	* BirdsOfAFeather: {{Justified\|Trope}}. John and Jane are attracted to another for their many similarities.
29	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Fizzle Bomber is eventually taken out of business but the organization subjected Jane to a lifetime of physical and psychological suffering and isolation to accomplish this goal. And it might even be a straight-up DownerEnding if, as the Fizzle Bomber says, the Bartender killing him is only the beginning of his transformation into him, forcing to repeat the story all over again.]]
30	* BombDisposal: In the opening sequence, a mysterious character [[RelocatingTheExplosion tries to contain]] one of the Fizzle Bomber's {{time bomb}}s.
31	* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler: The Temporal Bureau arranged for this to happen to John, so that he would have no ties to his life and would want to become a temporal agent.]]
32	-->'''Robertson''': "[[spoiler:John's]] life had to be fouled up so [[spoiler: he]] had nothing to go back to. [[spoiler: He]] had to want this."
33	* CatFight: Twice. First Jane fights another girl at the orphanage, then again a colleague at Space Corp. The latter event causes her to be suspended from the program. [[spoiler:Or so she thinks; really it was her hermaphroditism that got her kicked out.]]
34	* CelibateHero: Jane promised herself to stay away from sex, but it's {{subverted}} when she meets ''him''.
35	--> '''Jane''': I made a solemn vow that any kid of mine would have both a mom and a pop. A real family. It kept me pure. Away from temptation.
36	* ChangedMyJumper: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Temporal agents make sure to have a stash of period appropriate clothing waiting for them in the time period they jump to in order to blend in.
37	* CityNoir: Shady characters with hats and [[TrenchcoatBrigade trenchcoats]], a mysterious organization and [[SmokingIsCool cool smoking]]. Similar in style to the Spierig brothers' previous work ''Film/{{Daybreakers}}''.
38	* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: {{Invoked\|Trope}} by Robertson and the organization who arranged for Jane to be caught in an [[spoiler:[[ParentalIncest incestuous]] time loop where she was her own parents and offspring]], all to become a well-functioning Temporal Agent with no ties to the past or the future.
39	--> You're a gift given to the world through a [[spoiler:[[StableTimeLoop predestination paradox]]]]. You're the only one free from history, ancestry.
40	* CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: Space Corp is a recruiting front end for the secret time travel agency.
41	* CradleToGraveCharacter: The story begins [[InMediasRes when the main character is an adult]] and then follows that character through flashbacks and TimeTravel to their birth and to when they're killed by the Bartender.
42	* CrossCastRole: [[spoiler:Creator/SarahSnook is a non-intersex woman playing an intersex character who was raised as a girl but transitions to a man as an adult.]]
43	* TheCynic: John is one due to the absolute hell he's gone through.
44	* DarkAndTroubledPast: [[spoiler:Jane/John suffered a lot in the early years. She grew up in an orphanage where she was not accepted. She was forced to change her gender against her will due to complications during her childbirth, meanwhile her baby is kidnapped from the nursery, leaving her in utter despair.]]
45	* DeadHatShot: A non-lethal version. After the BombDisposal goes awry, there is a close-up on [[spoiler:John]]'s burning hat on the floor while [[spoiler:John himself]] rolls around in pain.
46	* DoorstopBaby: Jane. [[spoiler:After the Barkeeper snatches her as a newborn from the nursery, he travels back in time, delivers her to the doorsteps of the City of Cleveland Orphanage and subsequently calls in to make sure the box is noticed.]]
47	* EmergencyTemporalShift: Very early in the film, the Temporal Agent is sent to the 1970s to stop the Fizzle Bomber's reign of terror, only for the latest explosive to go off in his face before he can completely contain it. Near-fatally burned, he only survives because a good samaritan pushes his Field Kit back into his hands, allowing the Agent to transport himself back to Bureau headquarters in the 1990s and receive medical attention. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that the samaritan is none other than the Temporal Agent's [[HelpYourselfInTheFuture future self]], left practically unrecognizable thanks to all the reconstructive surgery.]]
48	* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler: The revelation that John, the Barkeeper and the Fizzle Bomber (with Robertson an unconfirmed possibility) are one and the same effectively turns the film into a ProtagonistJourneyToVillain.]]
49	* EnemiesEqualsGreatness: Robertson says that it's their hunt to stop the Fizzle Bomber--having to constantly learn from their mistakes--that caused the TimePolice to grow into the elite agency it's become. [[spoiler:Subverted when the Fizzle Bomber is revealed to be a future John, who implies that Robertson is still manipulating his life to bring about this outcome.]]
50	* {{Flashback}}: The scenes of Jane's upbringing and adolescence are presented as flashbacks.
51	* FlashbackMontageRealization: A version of this is seen at the end, flashing back to the earlier scene where [[spoiler:the Barkeeper implies to John that he is him from a different point in time, and soon after this is a series of snapshots (all shots from previous scenes) of the character throughout his/[[{{Hermaphrodite}} her]] life, from infancy to the present day, showing the character's entire personal history in chronological order for the first time.]]
52	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Several.
53	** After [[spoiler:John]] gets his face reconstructed, he comments that his own mother wouldn't recognize him before chuckling.
54	** The Bartender's attempted joke about "What comes first, the chicken or the egg?". It foreshadows the relationship between [[spoiler:himself, John, and Jane]].
55	** In the early bar scenes when the Barkeeper is talking to John, each time the camera looks at him, the angle changes slightly. Sometimes [[spoiler:the "Gentlemen" restroom sign is over his head and sometimes it's "Ladies"]], foreshadowing the final plot twist.
56	** When Jane's baby is snatched, John describes the snatcher having a "face-shaped face like yours and mine" which is foreshadowing [[spoiler:that they are one and the same person]].
57	** When the Barkeeper and John decide to work with one another, one of the bar's patrons plays "[[spoiler:I'm My Own Grandpa]]" on the jukebox.
58	** The Barkeeper and John accuse one another of being the Fizzle Bomber.
59	** When John calls the Barkeeper a "son of a bitch", the Barkeeper replies "Son of a bitch? That's funny." This foreshadows [[spoiler:the fact that John is actually his own mother, the reason the Barkeeper finds it funny]].
60	* FutureMeScaresMe: The Barkeep is horrified when he realizes that [[spoiler: the Fizzle Bomber is him in the future, stating [[MadnessMantra over and over again]] "I will ''never'' become you," before shooting him dead.]]
61	* FutureSelfReveal:
62	** [[spoiler:Jane recalls being seduced by a handsome young man who ultimately abandoned her, kicking off a chain of misfortunes that ended with Jane changing sex and renaming herself John. In the present, the Temporal Agent offers him a chance to go back in time and kill Jane's lover before he can ruin her life... but when John gets there, he finds himself bumping into Jane and unwittingly repeating the words that [[ScrewYourself sparked their relationship in the first place]].]]
63	** [[spoiler:Early in the film, the Temporal Agent is badly burned by one of the [[BigBad Fizzle Bomber]]'s explosives and is only saved when a mysterious stranger pushes his Field Kit into his hands, allowing him to send himself to the future for emergency surgery. It eventually turns out that the stranger was actually the agent's future self, left unrecognizable after reconstructive surgery.]]
64	** [[spoiler:Jane was originally abandoned on the doorstep of an orphanage, her parentage left unknown. However, prior to the sex change, Jane successfully gives birth to John's daughter and decides to name her Jane as well; a few days later, the Temporal Agent sneaks into the maternity ward and kidnaps baby Jane, [[MyOwnGrandpa depositing her on the doorstep of the orphanage]].]]
65	** [[spoiler:The Temporal Agent eventually shows up to recruit John for the Bureau, becoming the direct cause of John's "abandoning" Jane. John is furious enough to put a gun to the Agent's head... only for the Agent to effortlessly disarm him by admitting, "[[WhamLine You see, I love her too]]." Later shots confirm that the Agent still sports the marks from Jane's sex change and a caesarean scar across his stomach.]]
66	** [[spoiler:In the finale, the Temporal Agent finally manages to corner the Fizzle Bomber... only to find that the terrorist is none other than his future self, suffering from TemporalSickness-induced psychosis and convinced that he's saving history. He warns the Agent that killing him will mean that he'll go on to become the Fizzle Bomber just as he did, and the only way to stop it is [[WeCanRuleTogether for the two of them to be together]]. The Agent refuses and shoots him dead... only for the final seconds of the movie to show him in the midst of a devastating case of SanitySlippage.]]
67	* GilliganCut: Doubles as a FalseReassurance. When the Space Corp counselor assures Jane that her colleagues will "come 'round", the scene cuts to Jane getting her face punched by one of the other girls.
68	* HelpYourselfInTheFuture: Or past. The problem of the paradox is that Jane wasn't created, she was managed. At three points of her life, [[spoiler:three versions of her future self conspire to manage the loop. John, the Barkeep, and possibly Robertson are in fact messing with their own life, that is their past self, because if it hadn't happened that way they wouldn't exist]].
69	* {{Hermaphrodite}}: [[spoiler:Jane is revealed to be an intersex woman. She had internal male genitalia discovered during a cesarean section, and complications forced the doctors to supersede her external female genitalia with them.]]
70	* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The Fizzle Bomber explains that he prevented bigger crimes from happening, but he made a monster of himself in the process.
71	* HiddenPurposeTest: Space Corp officially tested women for space escorts but in reality the tests were designed to find suitable Temporal Agents.
72	* HiredToHuntYourself: Of TheReveal kind. [[spoiler: The Barkeep discovers that the notorious Fizzle Bomber, the terrorist he's been hunting for years, is the older version of himself.]]
73	* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: The Fizzle Bomber explains that if the Bartender shoots him, [[spoiler:he will eventually become the Fizzle Bomber]]. If he wants to break the chain, he has to not kill him. [[spoiler:Too bad, this situation is [[YouCantFightFate predestined]]]].
74	* InMediasRes: The plot starts somewhere in the middle of the time axis right before the protagonist [[spoiler:transforms from John into the Barkeeper]] and follows the character from thereon forward in his life which also means going back into the past.
75	* IronicEcho: The line "What if I could put him in front of you? The man that ruined your life?" was originally addressed at John by the Barkeeper, but he uses the line again when finally facing his own nemesis, the Fizzle Bomber,[[spoiler: his older self.]]
76	* {{Irony}}:
77	** [[spoiler: At the beginning of the movie when he sees his new face for the first time he says "I've changed so much. I doubt my own mother would recognize me." and laughs, since he/she is his/her own mother.]]
78	** Similarly, [[spoiler: John calls the Barkeeper a son of a bitch, to which he laughs and says that's funny.]] Also doubles as an InsultBackfire.
79	** [[spoiler: The Barkeeper's line "We were born into this job." hints at the irony of his own birth which he personally helped to arrange using time travel.]]
80	* KillingYourAlternateSelf: In the final scenes of the film, the Barkeeper finally [[spoiler: finds the Fizzle Bomber, only to discover that it was his older self. After arguing he shoots the bomber multiple times]]. Given the way the film twists his life through time travel and paradox, this is almost the most normal aspect of the plot.
81	* LoveMakesYouDumb: Lampshaded.
82	-->'''John''': I was young and in love.\
83	'''Barkeep''': Famous last words.\
84	'''John''': What, haven't you ever done anything stupid for love?\
85	'''Barkeep''': Once.
86	* MagicPlasticSurgery: [[spoiler: John gets plastic surgery where his face is being completely replaced after getting severely burned, and his character goes from being played by Sarah Snook to being played by Creator/EthanHawke. There are no scars or oddities visible after the surgical wounds have healed.]]
87	* TheMenInBlack: The Barkeeper encounters two of them when being briefed for his OneLastJob.
88	* MostWritersAreWriters: The Unmarried Mother writes short stories for magazines.
89	* MrSmith: The doorstop baby is dubbed "Jane" for lack of any other name. [[spoiler:As per this trope, Jane changes her name to "John", which is appropriate for someone who's an UnPerson because they exist outside time.]]
90	* MultipleGunshotDeath: [[spoiler:The Barkeeper empties a revolver into the Fizzle Bomber]].
91	* MyFutureSelfAndMe: {{Averted}}. The future versions never introduce themselves as what they are.
92	* MyOwnGrampa: In possibly the most convoluted, mind screwing way possible. {{Lampshaded}} at the end when the Barkeeper goes back to the bar. When he says, "I quit", the song playing is "I'm my own grandpa". This song is also referenced in the short story.
93	* NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer: When the Barkeeper offers John to try his job, the latter asks what his job was but the Barkeeper refuses to explain straight away.
94	--> '''John''': What is it?
95	--> '''Barkeeper''': I'll show you. (moving towards the backdoor)
96	--> '''John''': No. Fuck that, no. [[LampshadeHanging Stop playing games. Just tell me right now.]]
97	* NeverTrustATrailer: Big time. The trailer makes this film look like an action-packed sci-fi adventure when there are only two action scenes in the film, and it's really more of a sci-fi drama.
98	* NobodyCallsMeChicken: {{Downplayed}}. There is a short scene in which young Jane gets into a CatFight with another girl from the orphanage over some name-calling.
99	* NoNameGiven: The Barkeeper is never addressed by name. [[spoiler:This is to hide that he's actually John/Jane from the future.]]
100	* OnceMoreWithClarity: A couple of scenes are shown a second time from a different perspective which changes the meaning of the scene.
101	** The opening BombDisposal sequence is revisited later when we see that [[spoiler:the Barkeeper]] was the mysterious man pushing the violin case towards the man on the ground who turns out to be [[spoiler:John]].
102	** Both the kidnapping of baby Jane and the following DoorstopBaby dropping scenes are shown twice. The second time it is revealed that the MysteriousStranger who snatched the baby was [[spoiler:the Barkeeper]].
103	** The park bench scene where Jane's lover disappears from her life is shown again later where we learn that the mysterious lover was [[spoiler:John]], who then vanishes back to the future.
104	* OneDegreeOfSeparation: The various characters are connected by [[MyOwnGrampa zero]] degrees of separation.
105	* OneLastJob: The recruiting of John is the Barkeeper's last job before being decommissioned. Subverted when the Barkeeper's Field Kit fails to decommission, allowing him to continue time travel unsupervised.
106	* OneWordTitle: ''Predestination''.
107	* {{Ouroboros}}: The barkeeper refers to this concept as a parallel with how his life played out.
108	* OurTimeTravelIsDifferent: As the Barkeeper explains, time travel is only possible 53 years in either direction of the creation of time travel in 1981 (so either 1928 or 2024). The Field Kit basically transports them to a safe location in whatever era they travel to, with it being shown that this does affect the environment around them to a degree (for example, time travelling in a car causes the windows to shatter). However TemporalSickness is a real danger, with Robertson explaining how bits of matter are left behind with each time jump that are difficult to fix and can result in mental issues.
109	* ParentalAbandonment: Jane states that she missed having parents and envied other children who did.
110	* PragmaticAdaptation: [[spoiler: The short story doesn't have an event of John's face being burnt and reconstructed to look like the Barkeep. Barkeep is merely an older version of John. The movie, being visual, had to introduce that face change else it would have given away the plot]]
111	* PredestinationParadox: The barman remembers all the parts of the story from when they happened [[spoiler: to him in his]] original timeline. He's just acting out his part now to complete the loop.
112	** Also, John gets to [[spoiler: relive the ultimate romance he once had as Jane, but this time]] filling in the role he remembers.
113	* ScreamingBirth: Jane is shown screaming like hell before the delivery of her baby.
114	* ScrewYourself: [[spoiler:Jane is made pregnant by a future version of herself who went through a sex change and came back through time.]]
115	* SenselessViolins: Violins (called Field Kits) function as TimeTravel devices.
116	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The Temporal Bureau's stated goal is to prevent crimes before they happen due to their knowledge of the future, and John is stated to have saved thousands of lives, but the only case we actually see them working on is [[MyGreatestFailure their greatest failure]]: the Fizzle Bomber's 1975 attack in New York City. [[spoiler:Ironically the Fizzle bomber himself is doing this, claiming that his attacks forestall far greater casualties in alternate futures.]]
117	* SobriquetSexSwitch: [[spoiler: Jane changes her name to John once she transitions to a man.]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by the Barkeep, who says that it's "not terribly original."
118	* SoftGlass: Young Jane breaks the glass of a car's headlight with her bare fist.
119	* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: [[spoiler: Jane/John is intersex, and her transition from living as a woman to living as a man is a major plot point.]]
120	* StableTimeLoop: We cannot say where the looping events have their beginning, foreshadowed by the chicken-and-egg and the [[{{Ouroboros}} snake-biting-its-tail]] talk between various characters. This also implies, as the movie title suggests, events are not possible to change for the time travelers. In its simplest form, however, it can be described that [[spoiler:John/Jane is the agent of their own conception and death]].
121	* TemporalParadox: [[spoiler: John was taken back in time by his older self and [[ScrewYourself impregnated his younger female self, Jane, with him/herself]], making him/herself both [[MyOwnGrampa his/her own parents]] and child. So where did his/her DNA come from?]] See the trope page for more information.
122	* TemporalSickness: People unused to time jumping feel ill, and John has to be hospitalized when the Bartender takes him on a particularly long jump to the future. Temporal agents are warned that making too many jumps can lead to psychosis. [[spoiler:When the Bartender finally catches the Fizzle Bomber, he's revealed to be an insane future version of himself who claims to be working to avoid greater disasters, but the audience is left to wonder if that's true or just his delusion.]]
123	* TemptingFate: Jane promises to herself that her baby won't have to go through the suffering of growing up in an orphanage. Guess where her newborn winds up.
124	* ThereAreNoTherapists: Jane is left alone with her mental disorder.
125	* TimeMachine: The violin cases are powerful time travel devices with combination locks that encode the destination time.
126	* TimePolice: The purpose of the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction secret government organization]] the Barkeeper works for is to prevent crimes before they can happen. Or as Robertson puts it, the agency is "reshaping wrongdoings".
127	** Partly a subversion since we never really get to see what the agency does or what the agents accomplice. The only case we see them working on is a distinct failure.
128	* TimeTravelRomance: John goes back in time and falls in requited love with [[spoiler: his younger female self, Jane, ultimately impregnating her with him/herself.]]
129	* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: Written notes early on read "Never Do Yesterday What Should Be Done Tomorrow." and "If at Last You Do Succeed, Never Try Again."
130	* TitleDrop: Of the original short story "All You Zombies" in a scene towards the end where the Barkeeper has an inner monologue.
131	--> '''Barkeeper''': I know where I come from. But where do all you zombies come from?
132	** Also one for the movie itself, delivered by Robertson:
133	--> "You are a gift given to the world through a [[StableTimeLoop predestination]] paradox."
134	* TitleOnlyOpening: There are no opening credits, only the title is shown.
135	* TragicTimeTraveler: The Temporal Agent, 'nuff said. To make a very long story short, he suffers from brain damage as a result of their time travel, [[spoiler:fails to stop the Fizzle Bomber, who turns out to be an alternate version of himself, and just trying to disarm one of his bombs leaves him so badly scarred that even with reconstructive surgery, his parents don't recognize him]].
136	* TrulySingleParent: Thanks to a StableTimeLoop and being a {{hermaphrodite}}, [[spoiler:the female protagonist]] was impregnated by a sex-changed future version of herself.
137	* UnproblematicProstitution: Space Corps recruits physically fit, intelligent women to provide sexual and emotional comfort for astronauts on long term missions, and the recruiters interest in Jane's aptitude for mathematics and physics implies they work as BridgeBunnies when not performing this function. Rather than prostitutes (who are often psychologically unsuitable for space work anyway) the recruiters prefer virgins because they can be [[SchoolOfSeduction trained from scratch]]. Jane mentions that the recruits are [[MRSDegree guaranteed to end up with a husband]] as such women are the [[CommonalityConnection only kind astronauts can relate to]] by the end of their own careers.
138	* TheWatson: John, when being introduced to time travelling. He constantly asks questions about the concept and the Barkeeper is more than happy to play MrExposition.
139	* WeCanRuleTogether: The Fizzle Bomber suggests this to the Barkeeper, who refuses the offer [[MultipleGunshotDeath quite assertively]].
140	* WhamLine: To John from the Barkeeper, after John realizes [[spoiler: he is the man who ruined Jane's life.]]
141	-->'''The Barkeeper''': You know who she is, and you understand who you are, and now maybe you're ready to understand who I am. [[spoiler:You see, I love her too.]]
142	* WhamShot: Immediately after the WhamLine, [[spoiler: the film cuts to the Barkeeper with his shirt open, revealing the exact same scars as John.]]
143	* WriteBackToTheFuture: The Bartender is shown leaving tape recorded messages for his future self. [[spoiler:Actually his past self whom he brought to the future to set up the TimePolice.]]
144	* YouCantFightFate: Due to the StableTimeLoop.

Context Film / Predestination