Finding Love in a Digital World: A Breakdown of Neo and Trinity's Romance in MATRIX RESURRECTIONS (MAJOR SPOILERS!)
The divisive, meta sequel serves as a truly moving and utterly badass love story.
A generation of wanting so much, yet not being able to go out and get it due to the comfort of staying still. A comfort that is further perpetuated by a cyberspace that provides each of us with the dopamine hit of notifications and impersonal messages through social media. So much of our lives happen through our phones, tablets, and laptops that the real world is almost on its way to becoming a distraction, itself. The process of going out and finding real love is becoming replaced with less formal media interaction. The desire to be seen–truly seen–by another human being is not being satiated by so many, especially after a virus has ravaged our planet for the past two years.
What a perfect time for a new Matrix movie.
Released in 1999, The Matrix made the fear that all of humanity is living in a simulation mainstream. Only about six years after the world wide web went public, it was a mind bending and challenging piece of work, wrapped up in all the bells and whistles of the greatest of ‘90s action movie filmmaking. In 1999, nothing was scarier to director Lana Wachowski than the idea that our world might be a simulation. In 2021, what seems to have scared her even more is the realization that some people just might not care if that was the case.
At the center of this saga of machine paranoia were two warriors. One, a female computer hacker known only to the audience as Trinity. Played by Carrie-Anne Moss, Trinity has been “awakened” to the fact that she is living in a computer simulation known as The Matrix, and soon she is joined by our protagonist of the original trilogy, Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves). You may also know him by his “real world” name, Neo. While the battle to awaken humanity in order to rise against the nefarious machines is the goal of the three Matrix films, the real heart of the trilogy soon reveals itself to be the love story between Neo and Trinity.
Here’s the rub, though, when it comes to making a film after the initial three; both Neo and Trinity die before the credits roll on 2003’s The Matrix Revolutions. Trinity is killed when the aircraft she is piloting with Neo suffers a crash landing. Despite having prevented Trinity’s death multiple times before (even after seeing countless visions of her demise), Neo–the One–is not able to stop her from tragically dying in his arms before the climax of the film. As for Neo, he sacrifices himself temporarily defeating the Agent Smith program (the main antagonist of the films, portrayed by the great Hugo Weaving), which results in a not so subtle, visual Christ allegory. His Matrix self becomes practically incinerated, while his real body in the machine city is drained of its life force and carried away to a then unknown location. While it is a truly uplifting ending for humanity–with the implications that humans can now choose to leave the Matrix if they so wish to and the hope of a more peaceful version of the Matrix, altogether–it comes at the cost of our beloved, hacking, and ass-kicking power couple.
So how and why are they allowed to return in The Matrix Resurrections?
Cut to Thomas Anderson sitting in a cafe. A successful video game programmer, Thomas has made quite the fortune with his popular computer game from decades prior. It’s title; The Matrix. Yet, he looks unfulfilled. A life full of nothing but sitting at a desktop and speaking computer jargon with those who continue to regurgitate how much they loved the success of his early work, especially with the news that the studio–and its parent company, Warner Brothers–is forcing Thomas to make a fourth Matrix game. Meta enough, for you?
Then a girl walks in. Thomas is transfixed. She seems oh, so familiar and yet to him she’s just an attractive stranger who orders from the same cafe. While very shy, one of his coworkers pushes him over to introduce himself. He shakes her hand and as if a small firework goes off in her brain as her skin meets his.
“Have we met?”, she asks.
Before Thomas can try to express what he felt, he is introduced to this woman’s children and her husband–who calls her Tiffany. Seeing that the possibilities to further this relationship have been closed off, Thomas says his goodbyes and locks eyes one last time with her as she exits the cafe. Silently and stagnantly yearning for a love he believes to be unattainable, while not knowing that Tiffany herself feels the exact same way.
As is explained by Neil Patrick Harris’ villainous character later in the film, this new Matrix now feeds off of fear and desire of Neo and Trinity (who is Tiffany, if you haven’t guessed) as a sort of battery that powers an entire generation of humans who escape to their own fictional oasis as a way of settling with lives that are just below their expectations. The power that Neo and Trinity’s bodies exude in the real world due to their shared history and love is so powerful that when they come together, they create the ability to destroy and recreate all within the Matrix. So as a contingency plan, their bodies are kept just separate enough (beautifully illustrated by the image of their two sleeping pods in the same chamber just a few feet apart from each other) and unbeknownst to those who live within the Matrix, it keeps humanity full of desire to go out and reach for what they love, but keeps them stagnant with the fear of losing what they have in doing so.
So humanity stands still, looking at Netflix and tiktok as their only form of comfort. The lonely individuals use it to try and fill a void that they are too anxious to try and fill by stepping out of their comfort zone.
But then, something happens. Neo is reawakened and after he rediscovers himself, he becomes intent on bringing Trinity back as well. He decides to go back into the Matrix in order to see if she can recollect their real selves and the love that they once shared. Furthermore, it is her choice to decide whether or not she will join Neo or stay in the simulated reality, in which she is now a wife and mother to three. After arriving back in the Matrix, Neo sits down with Tiffany/Trinity to try and reach out to her. As they reconnect, it becomes clearer and clearer that what is keeping Tiffany from realizing her true self is the fear of losing everything she has in the simulated world. As if almost on queue, her husband walks in with her children to pull her away from Neo. All at once, she looks at her past life’s beloved and the memories begin to flood back, just as her husband calls her, “Tiffany”. She stops.
“I wish you fucking stop calling me that name,” she defiantly responds. “My name is Trinity.”
What ensues is one of the most cathartic, exciting, and surprisingly romantic fight scenes I’ve witnessed since Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s now iconic throne room duel. Neo and Trinity work together to fight off all of the villainous programs that are coming to try and keep them separate (including Tiffany’s “husband”). It all culminates in what is one of the most beautiful and fist-pumping moments in a film I’ve experienced all year; Neo and Trinity are being held back by mountains of adversaries. Each pushing their way through the crowds of enemies, screaming each other’s names with their arms outstretched, the music swells as we see flashes of the embraces they’ve shared over the course of the past three films. The music crescendos, their screams become more defiant, and finally their hands touch, the power emanating from them produces a shockwave that leaves all the enemies scattered across the floor. Surrounded by broken glass and the unconscious bodies of their foes, they finally embrace.
While The Matrix series has always revolved around the love story of Neo and Trinity, in the end its primary focus was on Neo fulfilling the prophecy as the One. In this Matrix, however, the power of the One really becomes the power of the Two. As the film reaches its conclusion, Trinity’s acceptance of who she is allows her to achieve the powers Neo attained at the end of the first Matrix film.
Much has been written and spoken about the trans reading of Matrix Resurrections just in the few days since its initial release, especially since director Lana Wachowski has transitioned only a decade prior. One moment in particular– beautifully acted by Carrie-Anne Moss–has been broken down as a beautiful allegory for the transgender experience. When talking about seeing herself as Trinity–the video game character in Thomas’ Matrix–she mentions the reaction of her husband.
“He laughed,” she says. “And I laughed too, like it was a joke. But I hated myself for laughing.”
The concept of being laughed at for not being seen as how you want to be seen is something I can imagine is so powerfully potent for many in the LGBTQI+ community. As a straight, white, cisgendered male, I don’t believe it is my place to speak any further about what this might mean to that community. Yet, as someone who has found love, I think the emphasis on being seen by another person (how Neo actually sees Trinity or eventually, vice versa) is so deeply romantic.
As the world around us starts to willingly devolve into the fictional world of The Matrix–with corporate focus groups breaking down art as if it were a statistical equation and social media moguls preying on the biases of others –it’s more important than ever for one to use their voice and fight back. Yet, who says you have to do it alone?
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