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The loss of a loved one, the thirst for freedom, the inability to find a soul mate … Loneliness has many reasons. But he also has a lot of questions. Why does solitude scare us? What about intimacy with others? What are we running from by voluntarily choosing seclusion? Several films about it.
1. “She” (2013), dir. Spike Jones
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams.
About what? About the world of the future, in which alienation is growing, and feelings and relationships are increasingly outsourced. About a world where the operating system becomes an ideal life companion – friend, partner, psychoanalyst, and where the question “Can I look into your hard drive?” sounds intimate to obscene.
Why watch? To think about what makes us truly alive – about the world of physical sensations, the nature of emotions. And about the essence of human connections, love relationships, which are unique in each individual case.
Quote: “Are you talking to anyone else right now? And how many of them? – 8316. – Do you love any of them? And how many of them? – 641. – It’s not normal! “I understand everything, but this does not change my attitude towards you at all.”
2. Nobody Loves Me (1994), dir. Doris Derry
Starring: Maria Schrader, Pirre Zanussi-Bliss.
About what? Fanny, a 29-year-old Cologne Airport employee, has too many demands on a potential partner. And even more insecurity and self-claims. She does not seize loneliness and does not get drunk, like her follower Bridget Jones, but she behaves in her own eccentric way: she attends clairvoyant sessions, and sleeps at home in a makeshift coffin.
Why watch? Loneliness, like depression, can develop into a chronic form. Any activity that helps to establish contact with other people is called upon to break the vicious circle, even the courses on the right to choose death that Fanny attends. Communication with those who are even worse awakens the desire to help. You feel that someone needs you – and now you are no longer so alone.
Quote: “You have never sacrificed yourself for someone else. You only think about yourself, only about whether you are loved enough.
3. “In the Wild” (2007), dir. Sean Penn
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrooke.
About what? About the unbridled desire for freedom from attachments, relationships, material wealth, stability and other gains of civilization. Many think about escapism, about the fate of an outcast, a vagabond, but few have the courage (or recklessness?) to do what 21-year-old Chris did. – break with the world of people and completely depend only “on leaves and berries.”
Why watch? Ask a lot of questions about the price and meaning of unlimited freedom. About the appointment of a person. About the pros and cons of voluntary seclusion. And to discover that for someone the acceptance of the simple fact that “happiness exists only when there is someone to share it with” can cost a life.
Quote: “You are mistaken if you think that the joy of life lies only in relationships. See how much the Lord has given us, joy in everything, in any new experience. People just need to look at the world differently.”
4. “The Second Life of Uwe” (2015), dir. Hannes Holm
Starring: Rolf Lassgard, Bahar Pars.
About what? Old man Uwe Lindahl lost his wife, and soon he was fired from his favorite job, offering to “think about personal growth.” The result is depression, extreme despair, and the intention to commit suicide. Such a strong feeling of hopelessness has neither a statute of limitations nor an age, and in order to regain faith in oneself and the desire to live, the help of others is simply needed.
Why watch? To understand that the reason for the irritability, quarrelsomeness and misanthropy of one of our acquaintances is often not in a difficult character, but in their inability to cope with spiritual emptiness and a sense of their own uselessness. And to realize that one step towards you may not be enough, you need a second step and a third …
Quote: “For some reason, you decided that on this planet you are the only one who can do without help. You know, Uwe, no one can stand alone. Nobody, not even you.”
5. Cast Away (2000), dir. Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt.
About what? There are quite a few variations of the plot about Robinson Crusoe, the story of a person’s survival alone in difficult conditions, in the cinema, the most striking of the latter are I Am Legend and The Martian. Here, on a desert island, was an employee of the FedEx delivery service, a prosperous American, Chuck Noland.
Why watch? Unlike the hero of the film “Into the Wild”, he is torn out of everyday life and isolated from the human community not of his own free will, but by necessity. But it is precisely such a radical experience that allows you to completely reevaluate your life, relationships with other people, cut off the insignificant and correctly prioritize.
Quote: “I’d rather take a chance and perish in the ocean than sit on this damned island all my life, communicating with a volleyball!”
6. “Lost in Translation” (2003), dir. Sofia Coppola
Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson.
About what? About the fact that sometimes you need to find yourself in a foreign country, in an unfamiliar space and in absolute disharmony with the outside world in order to meet, perhaps, the closest person in spirit and experience happy moments of complete understanding with him.
Why watch? Deciding on an independent trip to a foreign country – perhaps this is the most harmless and short-term form of loneliness – to renounce everyday life, face your thoughts and desires and try to live at your own pace.
Quote: “Everyone wants to be found.”
7. Plus One (2008), dir. Oksana Bychkova
Starring: Madeleine Dzhabrailova, Jethro Skinner.
About what? Once in childhood, Masha entrusted her most secret to her friend – and she ridiculed her. The fear of opening up to someone, of showing her true emotions, remained in her for the rest of her life. In her 30s, Masha prefers a closed life – alone with a dictionary and English books.
Why watch? Get to know yourself and why not? – look around in search of “your” Tom – cheerful, open, who will “wake up” your inner child, help you relax, return joy and fullness of life. Sometimes psychotherapy helps.
Quote: “As a child, I wanted to dance. I danced, invented dances. I even showed them to a friend once. She said… She said it was clumsy and stupid and that I shouldn’t show it to anyone else…”