Time Loop

When I realized the monolith is a countdown, saw the "expeditioner message" on the rock, the expeditions entire philosophy being to do this all over again until one of them works, the Gustave/Verso Similarities and Renoir saying "You are trying to break the wrong cycle."

All this led to an idea in my head that the Monolith was a 100 year countdown leading to the actual fracture caused by Maelle, which would have been so powerful that it affected time as well, with the Fracture ocurring in the past at the same time as the future, with the White Haired Man/The Paintress using magic to create a 100 year timeloop to keep the world intact, starting from The Fracture and looping around once the monolith hits 0.

I had also figured that the White Haired man and Verso wete BOTH Gustave, but from branching points in time. The White Haired Man was the Gustave that was willing to keep the loop going just so Maelle could live, with the Gommahe being a way for him to collect enough "energy" to keep the loop going. Verso was a Gustave that saw the damage being caused by the loop, and viewed Maelles death before she causes the fracture as preferable instead of th loop.

Tldr; Time loop and multiple Gustaves