The Discovery is a 2017 British-American romantic science fiction film, directed by Charlie McDowell from a screenplay by himself and Justin Lader.

It stars Rooney Mara, Jason Segel, Robert Redford, Jesse Plemons, Riley Keough, and Ron Canada.

An interviewer questions Thomas Harbor, the man who scientifically proved the existence of an afterlife, a discovery that led to an extremely high suicide rate.

Will reveals to Isla the reason for his resentment towards his father: his mother killed herself when Thomas was too distracted with his work to notice her.

Immediately the screen shows a video sequence of Pat Phillips driving to a hospital, visiting someone and fighting with a woman there.

They are able to revive Thomas, who concludes the afterlife is an alternate version of their existing life, only with different choices made.

They agree to destroy the machine, as this revelation would provoke millions of suicides by people wanting to improve the lives they have.

It is revealed Will is living in a memory loop trying to prevent Isla's death, restarting on the ferry every time.

A post-credits scene shows Toby playing guitar in the meeting room, all the seats empty.

In October 2015, it was revealed that Rooney Mara and Nicholas Hoult had been cast in the film, with Charlie McDowell directing from the script, co-written with Justin Lader, and Alex Orlovsky and James D. Stern producing under their Verisimilitude and Endgame Entertainment banners, respectively.

The website's critics consensus reads: "The Discovery looks fascinating on paper, but in spite of its thought-provoking premise and starry ensemble, it's a disappointing case of untapped potential.

"[12] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 54 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

[13] Dennis Harvey of Variety gave the film a generally negative review, saying "Though The Discovery starts out with a great premise, its mystery dissipates over a somewhat tepid course as the concept ultimately heads in a direction we've seen many times before" and criticized the chemistry between Segel and Mara.