Scientists invent a way to shrink people to about 5 inches tall, and Paul and Audrey Safranek decide to move to a miniature luxury community. Audrey backs out at the last minute, and Paul learns how little the new life fixes. Watch how a funny premise turns into a story about the end of the world.
Downsizing is a 2017 science fiction, comedy and drama film directed by Alexander Payne. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (3 narrative, 1 cinematography and 1 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Triangle of Sadness uses several of the same techniques.
Mocking a specific world, such as an industry, an institution or consumer culture, by exaggerating what is already there. A sci-fi future built from present trends can do this with no direct argument.
How this film uses it
The film mocks a world that sells shrinking as a lifestyle upgrade, with luxury homes for a few inches of height. The joke works because it exaggerates what you already see in real estate and wellness marketing.
Where to see it
Leisureland: Paul and Audrey choose to downsize and move to Leisureland, a luxury community in New Mexico.
Switching to a clearly different look and mood from one part to the next, either between chapters of 1 film or between a film and its sequel.
How this film uses it
The film opens as a light comedy about shrinking and ends as a story about human extinction. The look and the mood change with each section, so you feel the stakes rise.
Where to see it
The fjord: Paul, Ngoc Lan and Dusan travel to Norway, where the scientist who created downsizing explains that Arctic methane emissions will end humanity.
Pairing characters from opposite social worlds who find each other strange. Their friction produces the comedy, and what they learn from each other produces the emotion.
How this film uses it
Paul is a comfortable middle-class man, and Ngoc Lan Tran is a Vietnamese activist who was shrunk against her will and now lives in the slums. They find each other strange, and what they learn from each other becomes the real story.
Where to see it
Slum visit: Paul sees the poverty outside Leisureland and starts helping Ngoc Lan hand out food.
Placing the camera low or shrinking a character so ordinary objects become huge. Furniture, vents and hands turn into looming landscapes and obstacles.
How this film uses it
Once Paul shrinks, ordinary objects loom over him. The small characters were mostly filmed as greenscreen elements and composited into separate background plates, with models and forced perspective for some shots, so the world feels like a giant version of daily life.
Where to see it
Shrinking: Paul goes through the procedure and wakes up about 5 inches tall in a world of ordinary-sized things.
Showing a character coming to recognize their own worth or voice, often through contact with someone who contrasts with them. The change is internal before it is visible.
How this film uses it
Paul starts the film wanting a bigger house, and he ends it choosing other people over his own safety. The change shows up in one small physical decision at the vault entrance.
Where to see it
The vault: Paul starts to enter the underground vault, changes his mind, steps back outside and stays to help the slum residents.
Questions
Downsizing: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Downsizing use?
CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in Downsizing (2017): Environmental Satire, Tonal Succession, Odd Couple Class Structure, Miniature Scale Perspective and Personal Awakening Arc.
Who directed Downsizing?
Alexander Payne directed Downsizing, released in 2017. CineCode also covers The Holdovers (2023).
What films are similar to Downsizing?
Films that share techniques with Downsizing include Triangle of Sadness (2022), The Holdovers (2023), The Lego Movie (2014), 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026).
