Anomalisa (2015) – Movie Review

Anomalisa is a 2015 stop-motion animated film directed by Charlie Kaufman. It is the story of Michael Stone (David Thewlis), a middle-aged British author who is spending the night in Cincinnati at a hotel to speak at a conference in customer service. However, it is shown that Michael sees everyone around him with the exact same face and male voice (Tom Noonan) and can’t differentiate between anyone, even his wife and son.

Despite his attempts to make a connection, including contacting his ex-girlfriend in an attempt to speak to someone, he can’t seem to find anyone who seems different to him. However while staying at the hotel, he hears a unique female voice belonging to a woman named Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Despite a premise that rings truer of a romantic drama, Anomalisa instead provides a subtle and quiet reflection on isolation and mental illness with a finesse few films on the subject have achieved and it stands out as one of the best films of 2015.

The stop-motion animation and aesthetic used for the film greatly helps in conveying both how human and natural the interactions are between the characters. Despite the animation, the movements and speech patterns between Michael and the people he encounters evoke realism down to the smallest details and the haze of warm colours and hazy lighting almost feel dream-like, especially inside the hotel. At the same time, the stop-motion also works in context of the film and its themes, as the characters themselves are stop-motion puppets and Michael perceives everyone around him as the same, a puppet with the same face and voice.

The hotel Michael stays in is shown and stated to be called The Fregoli, which is a reference to a rare mental disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that different people are all in fact the same person through change of appearance or disguise. As stated before, throughout the film with the exception of Lisa and Michael, everyone in the film speaks with the same voice and has the exact same face. Since the film follows Michael, it is reasonable to assume the story being told is from his perspective. He perceives every person around him as the same, in both voice and face.

However, the film is not an examination of the fregoli syndrome but more of a metaphor for Michael’s isolation from the people around him. Despite having a wife and child, he tries to reconnect with an old girlfriend he left years ago in a desperate attempt to talk with someone, to be able to find someone that interests him. But everyone around him still speaks in the same voice and Michael is left with his loneliness. Even though he is surrounded by people paying attention to him, he still feels alone and isolated.

When Michael meets Lisa however, he immediately takes interest in her because she has a voice that sounds different to him. Because this is from Michael’s perspective, her voice being different can be seen as simply being able to find someone who is different, interesting and makes him feel less alone. He is enchanted by her voice and the fact that she has a different face from everyone else and believes he has finally found someone who can save him from his condition. However, it is short-lived and Michael soon begins to see Lisa is fading into being the same as everybody else in his life. The suffocation of the people around him all blending in to one another has caused Michael to shut down in depression. But when he finally finds someone he sees as special and different, he realises he is still trapped in his never-ending cycle and that Lisa has become just like everyone else to him; a blank slate with no voice of her own. Despite Michael’s best efforts, he has gotten to the point where he may be incapable of forming a meaningful relationship with anyone and is destined to be unhappy because he can’t escape his isolation. It’s both thoughtful and yet extremely sad.

Anomalisa is a mature, sombre and artistic film for an adult audience. It’s slow pace and dream-like atmosphere help to convey its themes of solitude throughout and emphasise the tragic nature being unable to connect with those around you, ending on a conclusion both brilliant and haunting.