WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Remarkably Bright Creatures. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve been warned.

I knew Remarkably Bright Creatures was probably going to make me sad. I just didn’t expect the idea of home to be what stayed with me the most.

Marcellus (Alfred Molina) is a remarkably intelligent giant Pacific octopus living in an aquarium. Yes, Marcellus is injured, and obviously that’s sad. But that wasn’t actually what made his story so heartbreaking to me.

Because before that, Marcellus was fine.

And when I say fine, I don’t mean that nothing bad could have ever happened to him in the ocean. Of course it could have. That’s part of being alive. We get into cars knowing we could get into an accident, but we still drive. There are risks involved in simply living your life, and the ocean comes with risks for the creatures who live there too.

Marcellus had those risks.

But he was living his life.

Instead, he has spent years inside an aquarium, repeatedly trying to escape and get back to the place where his heart longs to be.

That was the part that broke my heart.

Because being somewhere safe isn’t necessarily the same thing as being home.

Then there’s Tova (Sally Field).

Tova has experienced so much loss that she seems to have reached a point where she isn’t really sure where she belongs anymore. And while she’s trying to figure that out, the people around her have plenty of opinions about what she should do next.

There’s a difference between loving someone and wanting what’s best for them and pushing them into the life you have decided they should have.

Tova is grieving. She’s lonely. She’s trying to figure out what the rest of her life is supposed to look like. Other people can love her and advise her, but ultimately that answer has to belong to Tova.

And then there’s Cameron (Lewis Pullman).

He’s lost too, just in a different way.

Cameron is caught in his own cycle of trying to figure out where he came from, where he belongs and what he’s supposed to do with his life.

And somewhere in watching all three of their stories, it hit me that they’re really not as different as they initially seem.

They’re all lost.

Marcellus knows where home is, but can’t get there. Tova isn’t sure where home is anymore. Cameron is still trying to find his.

All three are carrying different kinds of loss. All three feel broken in their own ways.

And somehow, it’s Marcellus who sees what the humans can’t.

He watches. He remembers. He understands far more than anyone realizes. While Tova and Cameron are struggling to see the connections in their own lives, Marcellus sees them.

And that’s where this movie really got me.

Marcellus can’t change what happened to him. He can’t get those years back, and he can’t magically give himself more time.

But he can do something with the time he has left.

He can help them.

This remarkable creature, who has spent so much of his own life longing to return home, uses what becomes his final dying feat to help two other lost souls find where they belong.

And honestly, how is anyone supposed to be okay after that?

The octopus who couldn’t get himself home helped everyone else find theirs.

I think that’s why I found Remarkably Bright Creatures so incredibly sad while also finding it so beautiful.

Because home isn’t always a house.

It isn’t necessarily wherever you’re safest.

And it definitely isn’t wherever somebody else has decided you should be.

Sometimes home is a person. Sometimes it’s family. Sometimes it’s finally getting an answer you’ve spent your entire life looking for. And sometimes it’s simply reaching that point where something inside you finally says, this is where I belong.

Marcellus knew where his heart belonged.

And before his story ended, he helped Tova and Cameron figure out where theirs belonged too.

So yes, Remarkably Bright Creatures made me sad.

But it also made me think about loss, family, belonging and what it really means to find your way home.

Marcellus was remarkable.

The story was remarkably bright.

And it was beautiful.