The first one was enjoyable, but the other two were just poorly written, too silly, and dragged out. I found myself just rolling my eyes at the end of them. Also what the hell was the point of the epilogue scene? Kind of ironic the movie ends with a car crash.
shareThe first segment was my favorite too. I don’t know why, but I always find myself enjoying the segments of anthologies less and less as they go. The dynamic between Jesse P and the imposter Mia in the second segment threw me for a loop at first, but with his personal outbursts (that hand lick) and constant, ever subtle abuses of power, I think he’s Lanthimos’ vision of the bad person everyman, especially in relation to American culture and politics (the police stuff is really charged). And that he is validated in the end, at least to us, is such a purposefully morbid bow to put on it - as if to look you (or whoever he’s addressing; police, abusers, those neglecting love) in the face and ask, “Is this really a happy ending?” Of course, it clearly isn’t - that’s the point, to expose the typical happy-ending-delusion; perhaps, to choose a possible allegory of many, that scorning a devoted lover for a ‘true love’ is not romantic, but cruel. Yorgos thinks a happy ending would be a world run by dogs. I wasn’t crazy about the third segment overall, but I really dug the crash. The whole movie is about unpredictability and fragility and lack of control, and when the genuine happy ending does come, it’s followed by, in some ways plagued by the effects of those subjects. But I also think it’s important that we really get to bathe in the happy ending before the crash; it almost feels like the movie has a happy ending still, with a silly gag after. Loss does not sully victory. There are ups and downs, but no real endings.
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