“In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”
Waymond says it to Evelyn in the Star universe. Everything Everywhere All At Once (EEAAO) is a multiverse film. Now, I’m not a fan of superhero movies/superhero quotes/superhero multiverses, but this movie was something else.
This one sentence, consisting of just 15 words, is so simple and so profound in its proclamation of love. The full line goes – “So even though you have broken my heart yet again, I wanted to say… In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”
The line, from the end scenes of the EEAAO, prompted many memes on social media. People shared their versions of this line with Bollywood movie plots. Such as this one from Masaan.
In another life, I would've really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you pic.twitter.com/sRWRZuiQ8r
Movies, like any form of media, are open for people to interpret the way they want them. For many, the idea of doing “laundry and taxes” came across as dull.
While for some “laundry and taxes” was a loathsome idea. Who would want to do these domestic chores for life?
I understand why that laundry and taxes line is so beloved, but I loathe it so much. Invoking the doing of chores as some laborious metaphor for love … okay well, enjoy doing the laundry and taxes yourself, I want no part of this forced domesticity in the name of romance.
But look at it from the movie’s point of view. In this life, Evelyn and Waymond are struggling to keep a laundromat running right below their home. A literal laundry. The multiverse popped when it was time for them to file the taxes at the IRS office. It is an allegorical reference that Evelyn and Waymond share in the Star universe and in this universe, where even their marriage is on the rocks.
However, let’s look at Waymond for once. In this life, Waymond has signed the divorce papers because he wants Evelyn to be happy, even if that means being without him. In the Star universe, they have a scripted romance. Here, when they are together they have slowly drifted apart. And honestly, you cannot blame anyone. Because love is not a noun. Rather it is a verb where people make efforts to stay together despite whatever the universe (or, the bagel, in this case) throws at them. And Waymond is the epitome of this.
Despite whatever comes the way, he says:
“Sometimes, it’s hard. But I try to remember that everyone’s fighting their own battle. And maybe, just maybe, if I choose kindness, that’ll make someone else’s battle a little bit easier. That’s how I fight. That’s all any of us can do.”
That is primarily what the movie is all about. Kindness and empathy as tools for navigating the countless lemons life throws at us.
The ‘laundry and taxes’ line has transformed into a very deep expression of love. Sure, laundry and taxes sound boring, literally. But we are adults and a lot of life is boring for most of us. Sure, we do make moments and have experiences that we will remember for a lifetime, but having someone you love to be with you in not just these happy moments, but also during the mundane ones (the ‘laundry and taxes’ ones), is lovely. Oftentimes, it’s not the person you choose to share things with at 3 AM. It is the person whom you tell the menial details at 3 PM.
imagine thinking that the point of that scene is that “laundry and taxes are the most romantic things you could do as a couple and that’s sad” instead of being able to cherish the mundanities of life because you’re with the person you love
And love doesn’t always have to be grandiose. Of course, we love an SRK moment once in a while. Even my socially awkward self would readily sign up for that. But sometimes love resides in the tiny acts of kindness– your father getting a gajra for your mother on his way back home, you waiting for your partner to finish an episode so that you can watch the finale together, or your partner holding your hand while you are writhing in pain at a pathology centre, or even just cleaning up the place together after a party.
The ‘laundry and taxes’ is a metaphor for all things ordinary and mundane you wouldn’t even spare a second thought on. Love comes with a shared responsibility. Waymond always chooses to be with her. It takes Evelyn some time. But she hugs him towards the end and she realizes that she wants to be there with him too. Waymond is overwrought with emotions and he drops the broom and the dustpan (ordinary things, perhaps).
Adulthood is boring, tedious, and repetitive. Even in a relationship, anyone can have bad days. You know it’s a bad day and your day is brightened by just seeing the face of the person you love. And you go back to doing the good ol’ laundry and taxes. Love doesn’t always have to be chaotic. Sometimes it can be simple and comforting, feeling like home. Evelyn and Waymond are that.
for me, the line from EEAAO about laundry and taxes is more of a statement about how tedious, repetitive and frustrating adulthood can be, but true love is finding someone who you can see your life being brightened by even during these kinds of chores and responsibilities
Everything Everywhere All At Once has won seven awards at the Oscars, including Best Picture. Michelle Yeoh, who played Evelyn Quan Wang, went on to become the first Asian woman to win the award for Best Actress.
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“In another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.” 💫
In case, you still haven’t watched the movie, watch this scene where Screenplayed does a fantastic job of showing the script and the scene. Get some tissues handy!
