Nothing

Year: 2003

Runtime: 90 mins

Language: English

Director: Vincenzo Natali

FantasyComedy

Two close friends share a cramped apartment: Andrew, an agoraphobic travel agent who works from home, and Dave, a mistreated office worker treated with contempt. Their mundane lives plunge into the surreal when the entire world outside vanishes, replaced by an endless white void surrounding their house.

Nothing (2003) – Spoiler-Free Movie Summary & Plot Overview

Get a spoiler-free look at Nothing (2003) with a clear plot overview that covers the setting, main characters, and story premise—without revealing key twists or the ending. Perfect for deciding if this film is your next watch.

In a cramped, dimly lit apartment tucked away in an anonymous city, two longtime friends navigate the ordinary pressures of modern adulthood. Andrew is a travel‑agent who has never felt comfortable beyond his front door, his agoraphobia turning the world outside into a distant, intimidating blur. Across the thin wall, Dave endures the grind of an office job that seems to crush his spirit, his days marked by petty humiliations and a yearning for something beyond the monotonous routine. Their bond, forged over countless evenings of shared meals and sardonic jokes, is both a refuge and a source of gentle friction, each trying to compensate for the other’s shortcomings while masking their own insecurities.

One unremarkable morning, the familiar hum of the city fades away, leaving the duo staring at an impossible sight: the entire world beyond their building has dissolved into an endless, featureless white void. The void stretches in every direction, a silent, pristine expanse that seems to swallow sound and sense alike. The apartment remains, a solitary island of clutter and memory, now surrounded by an alien horizon that offers no landmarks, no direction, and no escape. The sudden shift transforms the familiar into the uncanny, turning their modest home into the last known point of reference in an otherwise blank universe.

The film settles into a tone that balances eerie surrealism with a dry, introspective humor, inviting viewers to contemplate the weight of personal anxieties when stripped of the usual distractions of everyday life. As the friends stare into the boundless whiteness, the story hints at a quiet contest of wills and perspectives, each character’s inner world pressing against the stark external emptiness. Their relationship, already layered with affection and rivalry, becomes the lens through which the audience experiences a meditation on fear, control, and the strange possibility that what once felt limiting might now be the very thing that holds them together.

Last Updated: October 23, 2025 at 16:14

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Surreal Claustrophobic Thrillers like Nothing

Stories where characters are trapped in a mind-bending reality, forced to confront their inner demons.If you liked the intense, confined surrealism of Nothing, explore more movies where characters are trapped in mind-bending realities. These films use psychological pressure and bizarre settings to unravel deep-seated trauma, creating a tense and heavy viewing experience similar to Nothing.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative typically begins with a familiar reality that gradually or suddenly becomes distorted or confined. Characters are isolated in a surreal landscape—be it a physical space or an altered reality—that acts as a pressure cooker for their psychological issues. The plot revolves around their struggle to survive, understand, or escape this environment, which directly challenges their sanity and relationships.

Why These Movies?

Movies are grouped here for their shared core experience: using surrealism and confinement as a direct catalyst for psychological exploration. They blend high emotional intensity with a tense, often steady pacing, creating a uniquely unsettling vibe where the boundaries between internal and external worlds dissolve.

Movies about Absurdist Friendships like in Nothing

Bleakly humorous stories of friendships tested by surreal or catastrophic events.For viewers who enjoyed the complex friendship at the heart of Nothing, this section finds similar movies where relationships are tested by surreal events. These stories focus on the darkly humorous and emotionally charged dynamics between characters facing existential threats together.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative focuses on a duo or small group whose relationship is already complex, often flawed or codependent. An absurd, high-stakes event—a disappearing world, an apocalypse, a bizarre phenomenon—serves as the ultimate test of their bond. The story explores how shared trauma, dark humor, and visceral conflict either forge a deeper connection or lead to a tragic dissolution.

Why These Movies?

These films are united by their central focus on a fraught relationship dynamic placed under surreal pressure. They mix heavy emotional themes with elements of absurdist or dark comedy, creating a specific tone where the intensity of the friendship's evolution is as important as the external plot.

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Nothing Summary

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Nothing Timeline

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Characters, Settings & Themes in Nothing

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More About Nothing

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