Anomalisa

Anomalisa is a 2015 American stop-motion adult animated psychological comedy-drama film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, who co-directed with Duke Johnson. Based on Kaufman's 2005 audio play of the same name, Anomalisa follows British middle-aged customer service expert Michael Stone, who perceives everyone as identical but Lisa Hesselman, whom he meets in a Cincinnati hotel.
==Plot==
In 2005, middle-aged English-born lonely customer service expert and motivational speaker Michael Stone travels to Cincinnati, Ohio to promote his latest book at a convention in a hotel. He feels distant from everyone around him, whom he perceives as having an identical face and voice, including his wife and son. Michael practices his talk in his hotel room, but is haunted by the memory of an angry letter from an old flame, Bella, whom he abruptly left years ago without an explanation. He arranges to meet her in the hotel bar; still upset, she is outraged by his invitation to his room and storms out. Going for a walk, Michael mistakes an adult toy store for a children's toy store. Wanting to buy his son a present, he goes in and discovers his mistake, but is fascinated by a Japanese animatronic doll behind the counter.
After taking a shower, Michael hears a unique female voice. He rushes from his room to find its owner: Lisa, an insecure young woman attending the convention with her friend Emily. Enraptured by her unique appearance and voice, he invites both women for drinks at the bar. Afterward, to Lisa's surprise, Michael invites her to his room. Captivated, he encourages her to sing (she chooses Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun") and tell him about her life. After she calls herself an "anomaly", he nicknames her Anomalisa. They become intimate and have sex.
Michael has a nightmare in which the lower half of his face falls off and the identical people of the world pursue him, claiming that they love him and insisting that he and Lisa cannot be together. The dream inspires Michael to propose that he and Lisa start a new life together. She agrees, but her eating habits during breakfast annoy him, and her voice and face begin to transform into those of everyone else. During his convention talk, Michael suffers a breakdown, saying that he has no one to talk to and ranting about the American government, alienating the audience.
Michael returns to his home in Los Angeles, California. He gives the Japanese animatronic woman to his son, who is nonplussed. Michael's wife has arranged a surprise party, but he does not recognize any of the attendees, angering her. Michael sits alone on the stairs as the animatronic woman sings "Momotarō's Song", a Japanese children's song.
In the final scene, Lisa writes Michael a letter, saying she hopes they will meet again. Lisa's friend Emily, sitting beside her in the car, has her own unique face.
==Cast==
*David Thewlis as Michael Stone, a middle-aged British English-born motivational speaker and customer service expert.
*Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lisa Hesselman, a sweet but insecure woman.
*Tom Noonan as Everyone else.
==Production==
The first version of Anomalisa was written and performed in 2005 for the Los Angeles run of "Theater of the New Ear", described as "a concert for music and text, or a set of 'sound plays'" by Carter Burwell, who commissioned and scored them. It was a double bill with Kaufman's Hope Leaves the Theater, and replaced Sawbones, by the Coen Brothers, from the earlier New York run, after that play's actors were unavailable. This Anomalisa was credited to the pen name Francis Fregoli, a reference to the Fregoli delusion, a disorder centered around the belief that different people are in fact a single person who changes appearance or is in disguise. The 2005 performance had Thewlis and Leigh sitting on opposite sides of the stage, with Noonan in the middle; Burwell conducted the Parabola Ensemble, and there was a foley artist.
===Animation===
==Release==
The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 4, 2015. The film went on to screen at the Venice Film Festival on September 8 and the Toronto International Film Festival on September 15. Shortly after, Paramount Pictures acquired its worldwide distribution rights. The film had a limited release on December 30, 2015 and a wider release in January.
The film's DVD and Blu-ray packs were released on June 7, 2016. The Blu-ray Combo Pack with Digital HD includes an in-depth look at the filmmaking process with Kaufman and Johnson and three behind-the-scenes features, including an extended look at the production process and deeper themes of the story. Looks at the sound design and the ground-breaking techniques used to create one of the film's most intricate and intimate scenes are also shown. In the Blu-ray pack, thanks to the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 used in the film's production, ambient sound effects such as the hotel bar background can be perfectly heard and combined with the dialogue.
===Critical response===
===Top ten lists===
==External links==
*Anomalisa Offical page
*Anomalisa at IMDb
*Anomalisa at Box Office Mojo
*Anomalisa at Rotten Tomatoes
*Anomalisa at Metacritic
*Anomalisa at American Film Institute
==References==
Category:2015
Category:2015 films
Category:2015 American comedy-drama films
Category:American independent films
Category:American films
Category:American comedy-drama films
Category:English-language films
Category:Academy Award nominated films
Category:Paramount Animation
Category:Paramount Animation films
Category:Paramount Pictures
Category:Paramount Pictures films
Category:Films about writers
Category:Films about depression
Category:Films set in hotels
Category:Films set in Cincinnati
Category:Films set in Los Angeles
Category:Films set in 2005
Category:Adult animated films
Category:Adultery in films
Category:American films based on plays
Category:Kickstarter-funded films
Category:2010s stop-motion animated films
Category:HanWay Films films
Category:2015 independent films
Category:Venice Grand Jury Prize winners
Category:American adult animated films
Category:Psychological drama films
Category:Psychological comedy films
Category:2010s psychological drama films
Category:Films directed by Charlie Kaufman
Category:Films with screenplays by Charlie Kaufman
Category:Films directed by Duke Johnson
Category:American psychological drama films
Category:Pages containing Mature Content