Nobody makes movies like Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos, and his 2024 dark comedy anthology film Kinds of Kindness is something of a Twilight Zone for perverts and sick (in the most complimentary way). Emma Stone leads a cast of talented actors who each appear in a triptych of stories, playing different roles in each story, and the slightly nihilistic fable is the most "Lantimos" film Lanthimos has ever made.

Some Fans Disappointed in Kinds of Kindness after the Oscar-winning psychosexual delights of Stone and Lanthimos' previous collaboration, Poor Things, which featured a script by The Great creator Tony McNamara, Kinds of Kindness is still a fascinating piece of work. Lanthimos co-wrote Kinds of Kindness with his frequent collaborator Efthimis Philippou, who also wrote the director's films The Alps, Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and it's a return to many of his unusual trademarks. The characters sometimes speak as if they are detached from reality, delivering bizarre lines of dialogue with almost monotone clarity, and the humor is absolutely dark. It's strange stuff, and that means sometimes it's easy to get lost and wonder what it all really means.

Each of the stories in Kinds of Kindness has a title: The Death of RMF, RMF Fly, and RMF Eats a Sandwich, so perhaps the best place to start in discovering Kinds of Kindness is to find out which - or what - is "RMF".

In the most literal terms, "RMF" is the initials of a man (played by Giorgos Stefanakos) who serves as the narrative line in each of the stories. (He also has his initials embroidered on his shirt, although Margaret Qualley's Vivian mistakes the "R" for a "B".) In the first story, he is hired by the controlling, twisted businessman Raymond (Willem Dafoe) to be killed by someone otherwise employs the same initials. He is eventually killed by Raymond's obsessive ex-employee Robert (Jesse Plemons) and reappears in the third story, "RMF Eats a Sandwich," as a corpse brought back to life by Ruth (Qualley), a veterinarian with magical powers. In the second story he is a helicopter pilot who rescues two explorers stranded on an island, including Liz (Stone), whose husband Daniel (Plemmons) believes he has returned somehow changed.

- said Lanthimos Diversity that there was no real meaning behind the character or his initials, explaining that they "didn't want the main character to reappear, but a character who had a short time in the film". And while "his presence was key," his real name means nothing. Lanthimos left it up to the audience, saying, "You can apply whatever explanation you want or your own thoughts."

Fans tried to come up with their own explanations and discussion about A subreddit of Lanthimos they came up with some pretty decent ones, including "Random MotherF******", "Random Male Figure", "Redemption, Manipulation, Faith" and more. There are many words that could apply to each of the stories and as many interpretations, and that ambiguity is part of the film's genius. Like many of Lanthimos' films, Kinds of Kindness doesn't try to give the audience any answers: he just wants them to ask questions.

In addition to RMF, there is a central theme throughout Kinds of Kindness that ties the stories together. Each installment follows a character who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. They all yearn for a relationship, though that relationship must be with someone specific: in the first story, Robert only wants the approval of his extremely controlling boss, Raymond; in the second, Daniel only loves his wife Liz and refuses any replacement; and in the third, Emily wants to find her cult's chosen one and be loved by her cult leaders, Omi (Dafoe) and Aka (Hong Chau). Each of these protagonists also ends up separated from the object of their love/desire, as Robert is rejected by Raymond for initially refusing to kill RMF, Liz is lost at sea, and Emily is kicked out of the cult after being raped. from her estranged husband and returns to the cult "tainted".

Everyone goes to extreme lengths to get what they want, and their varying levels of success aren't presented as good or bad, leaving it up to the audience to decide whether or not it was all worth it. It is interesting to note that in all three stories the characters somehow avoid having children, while Robert forces his wife to have an abortion on Raymond's orders, Daniel rejects Liz doppelgänger even though she is fertile (and Liz is assumed not to be ), and Emily left her daughter with her husband despite clearly loving her and left her small gifts. Family and children are easy supports for all kinds of sacrifices people make for their jobs, romantic relationships, and faith, and these characters show they're willing to sacrifice it all. Sacrifice is a theme Lanthimos enjoys playing with (see also: "The Killing of the Sacred Deer"), and Kinds of Kindness takes it to the most absurd lengths.

In the second story, Daniel longs for his wife Liz to return after her research ship is lost at sea, but the woman who eventually returns looks nothing like his wife. Her feet are a little bigger and none of her shoes fit, for starters, and she suddenly likes chocolate despite always hating it. Her sexual appetites have also increased to the point where Daniel is concerned, considering the fact that the pair usually have group sex with their best friends. Everyone around him thinks he's caught up in some kind of ghostly delusion and that Liz is exactly who she says she is, even though the island's only other survivor is in a coma. She came back differentand Daniel starts asking her to sacrifice herself to him. First he asks her to cut off her thumb and cook it, then her liver.

The liver removal kills the fake Liz and it appears that Daniel is some kind of monster when the real Liz shows up at the door and the two are reunited. It's kind of rad, if you ignore the dead doppelganger in the background. A short sequence between stories then shows the Land of Dogs where the doppelganger Liz said she lived, where dogs and people switched places and people were fed chocolate. We'll never know exactly why RMF saved the clones who are obviously a bit off, or even how the real Liz got home, because it's a fable and those parts don't really matter! What matters is that Daniel knew who his wife was and was willing to lose everything to find her and get rid of her cheater.

In the third story, cult members Emily (Stone) and Andrew (Plemmons) search for their cult's messiah, a woman who can bring the dead back to life. There are specific, weird criteria and they travel the country looking for people who just might fit the bill. They only drink water from containers they brought with them, and the water is revealed to come from the home of their leaders, Omi and Aka, who purify it with tears. All cult members have sex with each other and with Omi and Aka, but if they have sex with someone outside the cult it can "contaminate" them. Unfortunately, Emily is found to be contaminated when her ex-husband drugs and rapes her, which kicks her out of the cult. Even a near-fatal, long sit in the sweat lodge doesn't "purify" her. She throws everything away to find the messiah so she can be allowed back into the cult, with dire results.

It's interesting because in the first two segments, the main character ended up being rejected by choice. Robert refused to kill RMF despite being comfortable with everything else he was doing, while Daniel could try to accept that Liz had changed or simply left her instead of looking for her pound of flesh. Emily was only around her ex because she wanted to see her daughter, and because of that she was punished not only by the attack itself, but also by being sent away from the one thing she really cared about. It's a poignant commentary on sexual assault victims blaming their own victimhood, and it makes what happens next all the more tragic.

Emily kidnaps Ruth (Qualley), who has healed a deep cut on a dog's leg as good as new, and takes her to the morgue to see if she is the chosen one. Ruth manages to resurrect RMF, who was dead after being run over by Robert in the first story. (How was he alive as a helicopter pilot in the second story? Maybe that's why Liz was a lover, or maybe they're out of business. Your guess is as good as ours.) Ecstatic that she can now return to the cult, Emily rushes to the property with drugged Ruth in the passenger seat, only to have an accident and send Ruth without a seatbelt. it flies through the windshield, where it dies. It feels like a bit of a nihilistic "all for nothing" Lanthimos sick laugh, but it's also a lesson in recognizing our flaws before it's too late, as Emily drives like a Dukes of Hazzard stunt (even in motel parking lots). .

Sometimes life is just a bad joke, especially if you're in a Yorgos Lanthimos movie.

After Ruth is killed and the end credits start rolling, we get a colorful little mid-credits scene of RMF sitting outside a restaurant called "Baby's Snack Box." He eats that sandwich named after the last chapter and gets ketchup all over his shirt, prompting the waitress to get him more napkins. Despite being in two terrible car accidents and then being run over by the killer Robert, dying and being brought back to life, he's still here among the rest of us crazy, eating sandwiches and getting ketchup on his shirt. He enjoys the little things, I suppose, embracing the mundanity of it all despite the ridiculous circumstances of his existence. It is absurdism at its core, which is what Lanthimos' films are really about.