Just watched for second time…Lisa talks about languages she wants to learn….Italian. French, not German, and before Portuguese she says "OBVIOUSLY JAPANESE"…what's so "obvious?" …hmmm. I noticed the similarity of the mark on the doll and Lisa's face; something more important going on?
shareIf I recall correctly, Lisa had just finished reciting the few Japanese words she knew, so it was obvious that she wanted to know Japanese. Lisa also strikes me as the kind of person who might say offensive things unintentionally. I know I'd be a bit miffed if somebody told me something was obvious that wasn't to me.
Maybe the matching scars show that Lisa shares the same traits as the doll in that both seem unique and extraordinary at first but are later found to be commonplace and even ugly.
EDIT: After reading some other threads on this board, there is some compelling evidence that Lisa is not real but Michael's fantasy while using the Japanese sex doll! I'm going to do some more research, but my gut says this is correct.
I'm not good at film analysis but I know Kauffman would NOT put ONE WORD in the script if it wasn't important
I just re-watched and can confirm No mention of anything Japanese by Lisa before this point.
Also think its interesting that the guy is charmed by Lisa having a dictionary nearby when she reads books. And in the very end sequence Lisa mentions her Japanese/English Dictionary (where she discovers what Anomalisa means in Japanese) but, does it really mean this in real life?…I checked and can't say for sure, maybe another fantasy?
So I agree with others that anything voice by JJL is a fantasy, except for the end where the doll sings in JJL's voice in Japanese
And I also noticed as others have said when he's giving his speech we clearly see Lisa and her friend but she looks different
If I could re-watch I'd check the first bar scene when guy tries to talk to ex-girlfriend…is Lisa subtly shown in that scene? I noticed that previously the guy looked outside and is embarrassed to see someone whacking off…maybe this set him up, he goes to the bar to hook up, his ex-girlfriend walks out, he see's a girl in the bar…and then goes at it with the doll with her in mind, creating her in his own image
If I'm wrong than mea culpa
also noticed that there are at least two times when he says he thrashes around when he sleeps. When he's trying to get dressed after the shower (before all the good stuff with Lisa happens) he's also just thrashing about trying to get his pants on…maybe he's asleep and this is the beginning of the dream ?
and maybe the weird "obvious" dream sequence is there just to get us to think of dreaming so we could decipher that some of the reality is just his imagination?
….and what with Lisa stumbling and falling (two times! once before the hookup in bedroom and one in dream sequence)
You really shouldn't sell yourself short in saying that you're not good at film analysis! I'm particularly intrigued by this idea that MAYBE Michael is asleep and starts dreaming when he's thrashing while trying to put his pants on.
I think the theory that Michael's sexual relationship with Lisa isn't real holds a lot more water if we could pinpoint exactly when the dream/fantasy starts and when it ends. If it is a dream/fantasy, Lisa still is a real person and I wonder if Michael had any interactions with her in reality or just glanced at her at the bar as you suggest.
However, I do tend to believe that if Michael's relationship with Lisa isn't real, it's a sexual fantasy he's imagining with the sex doll rather than a dream. At the end semen seeps out of the sex doll (grotesque as it is) so that would seem to indicate "interaction" with the doll rather than a dream.
As for Lisa stumbling and falling, well, the sex doll doesn't have legs. If Michael is having a sexual fantasy with the doll, maybe in reality he's dropped it a couple times.
In another thread I was interested to read that somebody asked writer Charlie Kaufman why the same actress (JJL) voices both Lisa and the Japanese sex doll, to which he kind of chuckled and didn't give a straight answer. It makes me think Kaufman might want to keep Lisa's identity ambivalent, and that the film doesn't really offer any proof one way or another.
So I just watched this movie for the second time. I looked for Lisa and her friend in the bar scene, or anywhere else before the first meeting with her, but she's nowhere.
In my last post I suggested pinpointing when Michael's fantasy/dream started and ended. I thought looking at himself in the mirror after his shower when his face twitched may have indicated the beginning of the fantasy. Shortly after that he thrashes putting on his clothes. Either of these moments could indicate the beginning of a dream/fantasy. However, there's no hint of the fantasy/dream coming to an end. There's just absolutely no indication of a shift back to reality.
My conclusion is that there is no dream/fantasy, that Lisa is real, and people who have suggested such here are reading too much into the movie. It's still strange that Lisa says she "obviously" likes Japanese. Maybe it's just "obvious" that Japanese is a beautiful language in Lisa's opinion, and the sex doll merely symbolizes Lisa.
I think you're over-analyzing it. The doll evokes something in him that is reflected in Lisa, but both 'exist' inasmuch as any of the elements of the story do.
shareItalian and Japanese words generally end on vowel sounds, in contrast to words in German, which often end with consonant sounds. It makes sense that someone who likes the sound of Italian would also like the sound of Japanese. Maybe this connection seemed obvious to Lisa, but not so much for the rest of us.
shareIt was also weird when she said that the fact of Portuguese being Brazil's language was an anomaly. In Guyana they speak English, in French Guiana they speak (guess what?) French and on Suriname, Dutch... She probably thought that all South America was colonized by the Spanish.
share