Nora is ultimately a meditation on the chaos of the universe and the inevitability of humanity’s surrender to it. Nora’s powers, back story, profession, and even clothing change from scene to scene for no reason because Nora cannot be contained. She is immutable change, and as such remains in constant flux. There can be no definitive plot about Nora because Nora is the ultimate level of abstraction. Any sequence of events that would seem logical to the human mind cannot coexist with Nora, because Nora represents the distortion of those very sequences.
What isn’t apparent, even after multiple viewings, is why such a primal and chaotic force is regarded as the protagonist. In any other film we would likely follow mere mortals trying to resist Nora’s power, vainly attempting to escape the inevitable madness she will bring upon their minds. So why in this film is Nora the protagonist? It is because Nora isn’t meant to be human. While almost every story we create centers on the human experience, Nora is a film of Cosmic proportions. Nora isn’t a protagonist that represents the struggles of humanity, she is a more universal protagonist. Chaos is the ultimate destroyer in this universe, but it is also the ultimate creator. Much of the material that comes within the gravitational field of a black hole is not consumed but shredded down to its barest elements and flung to the far reaches of space to form new and wonderful things. In the same way Nora is a protagonist that obliterates the human mind, leading to near total ego death, aligning us once and for all with our truest selves. Thus, while the film is incomprehensible to most, it is this very incomprehensible nature that makes it worthy of very film award and our eternal praise.
