There’s a lot going on in Francis Ford Coppola’s latest film, Megalopolis, from the control of time to drug-induced hallucinations to political intrigue. No one can blame you if you get a little lost, and we’re here to help you get it sorted out.

Now in theaters, the fable is a modern Roman epic that literally brings stories of the Roman Empire to New York. Throughout the film, we follow Cesar Catiline’s (Adam Driver) efforts to transform the city of New Rome into a utopian megalopolis for its residents.

He plans to do this with Megalon, a new element he discovered – which also allows him to start and stop time – and for which he won a Nobel Prize. He believes in radical changes and improvements. But Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) doesn’t share this love of change; He holds on to tradition and status quo and definitely class systems.

When Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, begins to work with Cesar and falls in love with him, his dislike for the architect only increases and exposes him to the public eye.

Eventually the couple becomes pregnant and the mayor offers Cesar a bribe: leave Julia and her unborn child behind, and Cicero will not only publicly support Cesar’s megalopolis plans, but also confess to wrongfully prosecuting Cesar for the death of Cesar’s wife to have.

However, in the end we see Cesar and Julia marry privately and give birth to a baby girl. This baby is the key to the end of the film. More on that in a moment.

While Cicero fights back against Cesar, Cesar’s cousin Clodio (Shia LaBeouf) also works against him and hopes to take over New Rome himself. Clodio teams up with Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza), who married Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight). Crassus runs the largest bank in the city.

Still confused?

The thing is, Wow always loved Cesar, but when he couldn’t love her the way she wanted, she married Crassus for his money. Together, she and Clodio hatch a plan to force Crassus out of his company and freeze Cesar’s assets.

Crassus sees through her plan and manages to surprise her – literally – by feigning frailty after a stroke. Crassus kills his wife with a small bow and arrow.

He also manages to fire a few arrows at Clodio – right into his, er, butt – but Clodio escapes. Unfortunately for Clodio, he only makes it back to a group of his followers who turn against him for reneging on his promises of power and control and beat him to death themselves.

Crassus decides that he wants to be remembered as a good man, whether he was one or not, and signs over his fortune to Cesar so that the Megalopolis can be built. Mayor Cicero reluctantly accepts this development and, with his wife’s encouragement, welcomes some changes.

In the final minutes of the film we see Cicero, his wife, Julia and Cesar celebrating the New Year in the heart of Megalopolis and being showered with great adoration from the citizens.

Cesar encourages Julia to stop time as soon as the ball falls, which she does, leaving the couple and Cicero and his wife in mid-kiss. Everyone around us is frozen – except Cesar and Julia’s little girl.

What does it all mean? Well, broadly speaking, it is a very physical manifestation of Francis Ford Coppola’s central message, which is that we must create and leave a better society for our children. Children are the hope of the future, and now Julia and Cesar’s baby determines what’s to come.

On a practical level, we also worry about the baby. She’s still a toddler, can she control time yet? Does she have any idea of ​​time? Who will take care of them in this frozen world? The mind amazes!

“Megalopolis” is now showing in cinemas everywhere.