‘Men’ Film Theories: Explanations, Themes, and Meaning

Alex Garland had my heart well before I saw his horror masterpiece, Men. But man (men), did this movie solidify that for me.

From scenes that sent my mind all the way back to Audition (IYKYK), to the absolutely, undeniably creepy vibe of the whole thing, this movie worked its way into my list of horror favorites fast.

That’s due in part to all this film has going on under the surface. I tried to bring all that to the forefront here, but there’s probably a lot more to say. Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Screenshot from the “Men” trailer.

Top Theories About the Meaning and Themes of ‘Men’ (2022)

1. Cycle of Patriarchal Trauma

Theory: The film dramatizes how patriarchal violence perpetuates itself across generations—each “man” literally giving birth to the next, passing on the same wounds. Harper is caught in a loop where every male figure inherits James’s toxicity, showing that individual abusers are symptoms of a larger, self‑replicating system.

• Why It Fits:
  • All male characters share the same face; their identical injuries echo James’s fatal fall. The pagan Green Man (rebirth) paired with the Sheela na gig (exposure) suggests that patriarchy continually regenerates until someone breaks the cycle.
• Key Moments:
  • The repeated arm and ankle injuries mirroring James’s death.
  • The childbirth cascade—naked man → boy → vicar → Geoffrey → James—visualizing abuse “birthing” abuse.
  • The vicar’s victim‑blaming accusation that Harper “made” James die.

2. Manifestation of Survivor’s Guilt

Theory: Everything after Harper arrives in Cotson unfolds inside her psyche: the village men are projections of her unresolved guilt over James’s suicide. Each apparition interrogates a different “what‑if” fear (Did I provoke him? Could I have saved him?).

• Why It Fits:
  • The doppelgänger faces collapse external reality into Harper’s mind. Injuries reproducing the balcony fall mark the projections as memory‑tainted. The final demand—“I want your love”—is literally James, but also Harper’s own lingering attachment demanding reconciliation.
• Key Moments:
  • First tunnel encounter: a scream racing toward her, like trauma she cannot outrun.
  • Police release of the naked man: her subconscious refusing to “lock away” guilt.
  • Quiet living‑room confrontation where James materializes asking for love.

3. Pagan Fertility‑Death Myth

Theory: The story restages Britain’s Green Man fertility myth: the masculine earth‑spirit dies and is reborn each spring. Here, rebirth is corrupted by modern male violence, turning a life‑cycle into body‑horror. Harper, whose very name evokes “harp” (music/storytelling) and “marl” (fertile soil), is both witness and unwilling earth‑mother.

• Why It Fits:
  • Statues of the Green Man and Sheela na gig bookend masculine growth versus feminine openness. The grotesque male pregnancies parody natural fertility, stressing imbalance when masculine forces dominate creation. Riley’s healthy human pregnancy contrasts the monstrous births.
• Key Moments:
  • Church font carvings explicitly pairing Green Man with Sheela na gig.
  • The naked man sprouting leaves and birthing successors.
  • Dawn arrival of Riley—sunrise, real fertility, restoration of balance.

4. ‘One Face’ Social Commentary

Theory: By giving every man Geoffrey’s visage, the film claims that micro‑aggressions, institutional indifference, and outright violence are all points on the same spectrum. Whether landlord, priest, cop, or drunk, each role‑mask hides the same entitlement.

• Why It Fits:
  • Each double confronts Harper in a setting where that archetype wields power (home ownership, spiritual counsel, law enforcement). None protect her; responsibility is diffused because “he doesn’t quite look like the last guy,” mimicking real‑world dismissal of patterns.
• Key Moments:
  • Policeman’s casual release of the stalker.
  • Vicar’s theological gaslighting.
  • Geoffrey blaming a crow (nature) for the shattered window—deflecting male culpability.

5. Creation Versus Consumption of the Feminine

Theory: Harper and Riley represent genuine creation (female solidarity and pregnancy), whereas the men “create” only by violently consuming Harper’s space and, in the finale, their own bodies. The film argues that without empathy, male desire twists creation into devouring reproduction.

• Why It Fits:
  • The men’s births destroy themselves; Riley’s unseen fetus is life‑affirming. Harper’s wounds are psychological, theirs physical: she endures, they disintegrate. The Sheela na gig’s exaggerated genitalia, usually a protective fertility symbol, is here perverted by voyeuristic ogling from the boy.
• Key Moments:
  • Boy in plastic mask begging Harper to “play mummy.”
  • Vicar seeking sexual control framed against Sheela na gig carvings.
  • Harper smiling at Riley’s arrival—first genuine human connection after a night of grotesque faux‑births.

Key Themes in ‘Men’

Grief and Personal Guilt

Harper’s retreat is driven by unresolved sorrow and the suspicion that she might have contributed to James’s death. The film repeatedly tests how much responsibility she feels—or is made to feel—for events beyond her control.

Disintegrating Identity

The single, copy‑pasted male face erodes the idea of unique personhood, suggesting that individual identities can blur when power structures treat people as interchangeable archetypes rather than distinct beings.

Folklore as Mirror

Carvings of the Green Man and Sheela na gig externalize ancient anxieties about life, death, and fertility. The story uses these folkloric symbols less as literal mythology and more as a reflective surface for modern fears.

Boundaries and Violation

From the hand pushed through the letter box to the forced entries into Harper’s home and psyche, every breach underscores how easily personal space—physical, emotional, spiritual—can be invaded.

Body Horror and Rebirth

Violent, self‑destructive births invert the comfort of creation into grotesque spectacle, highlighting the fragility of bodies and the terror that true renewal might require painful rupture.

Plot Summary

• Year Released: 2022
• Director: Alex Garland
• Writer: Alex Garland

After her abusive husband James dies by apparent suicide—falling from their London balcony after threatening self‑harm—Harper retreats to a remote English village for solitude. The idyllic break curdles when every man she meets shares the same face, from the bumbling landlord to a leering vicar, a stalking naked stranger, and even the local policeman. These doubles blame, belittle, or pursue her, replaying the manipulation and violence she endured with James. As night falls, the men converge on Harper, each bearing injuries that echo James’s fatal wounds, and—inhabiting the Green Man myth—grotesquely “birth” one another in a chain that ends with James himself demanding her love. Harper survives the night, and her friend Riley, visibly pregnant, arrives at dawn. The experience lays bare a cycle of masculine entitlement and inherited trauma that Harper must confront—and, perhaps, break.

Movies with Similar Themes to ‘Men’

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Antichrist (2009)

Grief‑stricken spouses retreat to the woods, where guilt, misogyny, and pagan symbolism erupt into hallucinatory body horror.

—> Watch Antichrist online.

The Babadook (2014)

A widow’s suppressed sorrow and maternal strain materialize as a storybook monster that invades her home and psyche.

—> Watch The Babadook online.

Midsommar (2019)

A fraught relationship unravels amid a Swedish midsummer festival whose folk rituals turn mourning, rebirth, and male entitlement into daylight terror.

—> Watch Midsommar online.

Hereditary (2018)

Family trauma and inherited guilt invite occult forces, blending stark grief with grotesque transformations of body and fate.

—> Watch Hereditary online.

The Witch (2015)

A Puritan family’s fear of female power, religious guilt, and wilderness folklore drives them toward paranoia and supernatural dread.

—> Watch The Witch online.

Mother! (2017)

A woman’s domestic sanctuary is overrun by increasingly intrusive guests, allegorizing exploitation, cyclical destruction, and forced creation.

—> Watch Mother! online.

The Invisible Man (2020)

A survivor of intimate abuse battles an unseen assailant, exposing gaslighting, bodily vulnerability, and the lingering presence of male control.

—> Watch The Invisible Man online.

Saint Maud (2019)

A devout hospice nurse’s obsession with saving a patient’s soul spirals into mystic self‑punishment, fusing religious guilt, possession, and bodily rupture.

—> Watch Saint Maud online.

Have Your Own ‘Men’ Theory?

Men … am I right? Just kidding. But Men (2022) … am I right?

Loved it. And I’m still turning it over in my mind. But I’m sick of hearing from myself about it. I want to hear from you.

What did you think of Men? Any theories or themes or thoughts? Share them below (please).

😱