Mister Lonely is a 2007 Independent Drama written and directed by Harmony Korine. A (comparatively) straightforward outing for the notoriously opaque filmmaker, it tells the story of a lonely Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) living in Paris. Confused, adrift, and terrified of death, he happens to meet the acquaintance of a cheery, idealistic Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton), who invites him back to her castle in the Scottish Highlands, where she and a whole clan of celebrity impersonators live in peace and harmony...mostly.
Meanwhile, a priest (played by Korine-regular Werner Herzog) and a handful of Nuns operating in an unnamed Banana Republic discover a peculiarity that just may be Divine Intervention.
Boasting Korine's largest budget yet, and the first of his movies to feature his wife, Rachel Korine, Mister Lonely bears little resemblance to anything else in the Writer-Director's filmography. Where he would go next, however...
This Film Provides Examples of the Following:
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Buckwheat seems malignly obsessed with chickens...
- Bittersweet Ending: The ending for the main plot. Marilyn dies by suicide, and forces Michael to fully confront his fear of death and dissatisfaction with the life he's chosen to capture the glory of for himself. He chooses to leave the convent and his celebrity impersonation job altogether, with the implication that he's finally deciding to live a life that's actually within his grasp: his own.
- The Cameo: Two of Korine's idols; Werner Herzog, who'd previously appeared in Julien Donkey-Boy, and Leos Carax, who's Les Amants du Pont-Neuf Korine cited as an inspiration. Also cast is Carax's frequent leading man, Denis Lavant.
- Celebrity Impersonator: The main plot centers around an entire convent of celebrity impersonators who are so deep in their work that they effectively are their identities — aside from Michael and Marilyn, there's Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant), Madonna (Melita Morgan), Little Red Riding Hood (Rachel Korine), Abraham Lincoln (Richard Strange), Shirley Temple (Esme Creed-Miles), and others. Thematically, the movie examines obsession over identity, especially celebrity identity in its most literal definition of "people who are celebrated."Michael: I don't know if you know what it is like to want to be someone else, to not want to look like you look, to hate your own face and to go completely unnoticed. I have always wanted to be someone else. I have never felt comfortable the way I am. All I want is to be better than myself, to become less ordinary and to find some purpose in this world. It is easier to see things in others, to see things you admire and then try and become that. To own a different face, to dance a different dance, and sing a different song. It is out there waiting for us, inviting us to change. It is time to become who we are not. To change our face and become who we want to be. I think the world is a better place that way.
- Charlie Chaplin Shout-Out: One of the main impersonators is dressed up like Chaplin, and is married to Marilyn. He's a bit of a piece of work against Michael.
- Crapsaccharine World: The Highlands Commune. Despite everyone there seeking and finding solidarity together, they do so with the knowledge that they're outcasts struggling to celebrate in their potential greatness, resulting in a somewhat melancholy and bittersweet atmosphere. By the end of the film, the despair over failure takes its toll on Marilyn.
- Death by Irony: After all those times jumping out of planes without a parachute, it's a plane crash that kills all the Nuns.
- Deconstruction: The film ends up deconstructing the concept of Celebrity Impersonation to an extent, mostly of the existential heights the concept implies. The characters are wrapped in the pursuit of trying to be people larger than their normal, unsatisfied lives (in this case, celebrities) and even go so far as to abandon their true identities... but it crumbles because despite their efforts, they are not the famous people they want to replicate, and thus the insecurities of their real lives continue to linger. The failure of their show shatters the illusion and sends the group into a depression, and for Marilyn in particular, it's too much to bear.
- Despair Event Horizon: Marilyn spends most of the movie teetering on the edge of this. When the show is a flop, she loses what little motivation to go on she had left and hangs herself.
- Divine Intervention: The subplot regarding the nuns is based around their experiencing of what appears to be a true miracle: after being sent falling out of a plane without a parachute, a nun prays for her God to not let her die... then lands completely unharmed. When the convent discovers that this is replicable, they see it as validation of their faith, but then proceed to die anticlimactically in a mundane plane crash, so it may or may not be the case.
- Downer Ending: The ending of the nun subplot. After being seemingly vindicated about their faith after miraculously surviving an assuredly fatal fall from the sky, the nuns board a plane to the Vatican... and then they die in a crash.
- Driven to Suicide: Marilyn. One of the more shocking examples of the trope, as there's absolutely no warning.
- Four Lines, All Waiting: Unusual in that there are only two parallel storylines, but the A-Plot involving the Celebrity Impersonator commune and the B-Plot involving the Skydiving Nuns are cut-between so evenly there's a bit of waiting for both of them.
- Genki Girl: Marilyn. This is a carefully constructed pose.
- Godwin's Law: "Y'know, Charlie, sometimes when I look at you, you seem more like Adolf Hitler than Charlie Chaplin."
- Hope Spot: All are depressed after the near-disastrous show, and then they all start to burst into song with "Cheek to Cheek". ...And then they find Marilyn's body.
- Let's Put on a Show!: Despite their efforts, almost no one shows up...
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to Korine's previous work, and ESPECIALLY compared to the subsequent Trash Humpers. The subject matter is still based around strange outcasts, but it's not crass or vulgar, and it's presented in a much more straightforward and comprehensible manner compared to Korine's more notoriously obtuse oeuvre.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Marilyn for Michael, to Charlie's jealous consternation.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite donning the images and some general mannerisms of their characters, almost none of the impersonators bother with changing their accents, from Charlie Chaplin's French accent to The Pope's English accent.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: None of the impersonators ever reveal their given names, almost as if they've abandoned them, and are as such exclusively referred to as their subjects.
- Scenery Porn: The Highlands and the unnamed nation the Nuns work in.
- Shoot the Dog: In a literal sense - the impersonators's flock of sheep contracts hoof-and-mouth, and lacking the money for any medicine, they're forced to put all of them down.
- Shirley Template: Marilyn's daughter, who is playing the part of Shirley Temple in the troupe.
- Shout-Out: Unusually for Korine, after the show there is a single shot of the camera spinning around the bitter and annoyed Impersonators that is obviously an homage to This is Spın̈al Tap. Also, Roger Ebert says that there is a shot of a plane taking off "which you will have to be very, very familiar" with the filmography of Werner Herzog to notice.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Abe Fucking Lincoln. Also Charlie.
- Stepford Smiler: Marilyn is doing her best to put on a happy face, but behind it she's a slowly collapsing wreck. The failure of the show finishes the collapse.
- Title Card: All of Michael's episodes are titled after a particular Michael Jackson song ("Man in the Mirror", "Thriller", etc.)
- To Soon-To-Be Absent Friends: "And so, tonight, my friends, I propose that we should get drunk on behalf of our fallen comrades in the pastures, whose lives shall soon cease". Bear in mind they are, in fact, talking about their sheep.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: As you might expect, Charlie and Marilyn. This causes some tension when Marilyn begins to get attracted to Michael.
- Unusual Euphemism: To "Do it to" women, Father Umbrillo's term for sex.
- We All Die Someday: A major theme of the film. At the beginning Michael is performing at a Retirement Home, telling them all that they can live forever if they really believe they can, as if trying to convince himself. Later all the Impersonators react with such horror at the prospect of their entire flock of sheep having to be put down, it's likely it reminds them of their own mortality. And finally, Marilyn's suicide eventually forces Michael to deal with his fear of death head-on, allowing him to overcome it.
- Wham Shot: As the gang decides to wander out into the night and sing "Cheek to Cheek" together, a light shines in the darkness, revealing Marilyn hanging from a tree.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: The rest of the Impersonators, after Marilyn commits suicide and Michael leaves.
- You Are Not Alone: The name of the last Title Card, after the Michael Jackson song of the same name. Arguably the other major theme of the film.
