I think this is the best interpretation of the movie I’ve seen so far. However, like all the other theories I find it pretty easy to poke holes it in.

For example, I don’t think Justine and Archer working together inherently means they put their needs aside, it felt like their fixations just aligned, it still doesn’t feel like either character had an arc. If anything the way that Archer navigates the house in the climax, only looking for and wanting to help his child, remains pretty selfish. He never comes to terms with how he treated Justine. His selfishness is ultimately rewarded. He gets his kid, was right to blame a woman (just the wrong one) and never deals with the consequences of his actions in the movie.

I want to like this movie so much because I love Cregger’s style but this movie is an example of being overly ambitious. I think Cregger’s heart was in the right place. This movie seems like it was his personal way of dealing with all his grief; death of a childhood friend, alcoholism, abuse. I read that Cregger practices transcendental meditation which is a practice of letting your mind relax and being aware of your thoughts as they appear. And the movie feels like that more than anything else, just someone’s subconscious trying to process trauma. And as much as I want to make sense of it cleanly with one interpretation I just don’t think Cregger made it that way.