‘Angel’s Egg’ Is An Apocalyptic Allegory and Elegy for Faith

Angel’s Egg is a film even its creator, Mamoru Oshii, admits he cannot fully explain.

It is a bronze mirror cast into the abyss, forged in collaboration with Yoshitaka Amano, reflecting the fragility of faith. The story unfolds in a post-apocalyptic wasteland submerged in endless dead water, where time seems to have come to a standstill, a stage utterly forsaken by God.

The pale girl who wanders through the dead city like a ghost is one of the main characters in the film. Cradled in her arms is the large, pristine “angel’s egg” , the core mystery and symbol of the entire story. It carries the full weight of her existence and unspoken devotion. She guards it with her life, hoping it will one day hatch a saviour. It is her only anchor against the void.

Into this world comes a man bearing a cross-shaped weapon.Like a missionary in the apocalypse, he mutters about a bird from the myth of Noah’s Ark, one that never returned. He represents another form of belief, convinced that mankind has brought divine punishment upon itself by abandoning faith.To him, the egg the girl holds so dear is merely an illusion, something that obscures the truth and hinders salvation.

Thus, a fated clash becomes inevitable. The man’s cross-shaped weapon ultimately shatters the pure white egg the girl had so carefully guarded—only to reveal it was empty after all. As if it were nothing more than a hollow symbol, crafted by humankind in despair to deceive itself. In the moment the shell breaks, the girl too sinks into the depths, transformed from guardian to sacrifice, completing a sorrowful transformation.

And yet, the impact of Angel’s Egg extends beyond destruction. As the girl sinks beneath the water, a quiet miracle—perhaps a curse—unfolds: the crumbling city reappears in the water’s reflection, as though time itself were flowing backwards.

The girl, now transformed into a mermaid, glides through the reborn depths. In that moment, the rise and fall of civilisation, the birth and collapse of faith, the flickering of hope and its eventual ruin all form a continuous Möbius loop with no beginning or end.

Mamoru Oshii’s brilliance lies in his refusal to offer any easy answers or false salvation, as even he does not claim to know what this film truly means.

First released in 1985, Angel’s Egg returns to the screen at this year’s Sydney Film Festival. Its philosophical weight and haunting apocalyptic imagery linger like the cold gleam on bronze weaponry, silently illuminating the remnants of human faith.

If this enigmatic work speaks to you, step into the cinema and let yourself sink into the depths of belief, in the quiet darkness of the screen.

You can see Angel’s Egg at the Sydney Film Festival.