It's the pursuit that's meaningful...

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2019)

"It's the pursuit that's meaningful."
It took me two viewings (out of three... so far) to figure out what this movie was about. It's subjective, the meaning of this film. Judging from the fact that many didn't see the point to it, that fact's obvious.
I believe the film is about trying. Trying, even when you know no one will notice. Trying, doing your best, giving it your all, whatever you want to call it; This film is about trying. Trying, because, "It's the pursuit that's meaningful."
About midway through the film, our main character Rick Dalton meets his co-star on "Lancer", Trudi, a young girl who prefers to go by her on stage persona because she feels method acting allows her to perform better. And if she can perform better, she will. In her own words. Even if the audience of Lancer never notices her performance, she will give it her all. Because "it's the pursuit that's meaningful."
Rick Dalton is a has-been on his "race to the bottom", a man getting used to the fact that he's "slightly more useless". Yet, despite all of this, he tries. Despite being cast as the "heavy" on Lancer, the bad guy, he gives the performance his all. He tries. He knows no one will even notice it's him under "all this junk", as he calls his makeup and wardrobe, but he gives the performance his all. Because "it's the pursuit that's meaningful." The pursuit of being just a *little* bit better. At the end of the film, Quentin doesn't give Rick his career back. There's no plot-twist where Rick has been dreaming the whole time, his career actually never having diminished. Nope. Rick is still on his downward spiral come the credits. Yet despite this, Sharon Tate and Jay Sebring still notice him. They still love and appreciate his work; two celebrities Rick is being taken over by in terms of popularity, and they still notice him. Love him. Because it was his pursuit that mattered. His pursuit of giving the best performances he could give. Nothing gold can (or will) stay, but if you give it your all, even when you think no one will notice, someone will.
Cliff is no different, his story line following the same premise. He has, as he says himself, "no career to begin with", being only Rick's friend and handyman. But he loves it. He loves helping out around the house, doing whatever he can just to be a good friend. Why? Because "it's the pursuit that's meaningful." Even if no one ever notices his work or who he is, Cliff is still a good friend. He tries. He does anything and everything he can for his friend. He tries. In fact, he sums up the moral of the film himself twice throughout the movie, once at the beginning and once at the end: "I try," he says as Rick calls him a good friend. Because "it's the pursuit that's meaningful." The pursuit of being the best friend he can be. Rick's pursuit of giving the best performance he can give. Sharon's pursuit of being the best person she can be, allowing a woman, a complete stranger, to hitch a ride with her, hugging her and wishing her luck on her journey. Even though no one other than the hitchhiker will ever know what she did for her, she did it anyway. Not for fame, not for attention, but in the pursuit of being the best person she can be.
"It's the pursuit that's meaningul."