Sysiphus (Interpretation + Spoilers)

First of all this movie is great. I watched it the other night and haven't stopped thinking about it. A really well done piece of film.

What I came on here to say, or ask, though, is that I've been reading a few interpretations on here - as obviously there are a lot of questions left unanswered and I'm interested to see other people's interpretations.

Something I've noticed in people's interpretations is a complete omission of Sysiphus. To me, this movie is analogous to the Sysiphus myth. If you recall, the boat is named after Sisyphus' father and, as Heather's friend explains, Sysiphus cheated death and was condemned to roll a boulder up a mountain, only to watch it fall back down once he reached the top and he had to start again.

This seems to be exactly what is happening here. Somehow Jess cheats death (she escapes the car crash unharmed) and is then condemned to struggle (escape the ship / roll the rock up the mountain), achieve what she was struggling for (save her son / reach the top of the mountain) and watch everything restart (her son dies and she returns to the harbour / the boulder falls down the mountain and Sysiphus walks down the mountain to begin pushing the rock up it again).

Obviously there's a lot more going on. This movie seems pretty complex and well thought through. But I think this is kind of the underlying theme - that it's a retelling of the Sisyphus myth.

(Also it's probably worth noting that the philosopher Albert Camus' main, or most often cited, work is an essay entitled The Myth of Sysiphus, in which he argues whether one should kill themselves or continue to live in the face of absurd suffering - just like Sysiphus chooses to do).