Café Society: Some Feelings Never Die
For this reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZFabOuF4Ps
Café Society starts to reveal characters through a phone call. Phil Stern (Steve Carell), the owner of a big agency, gets a call from his sister, whom he doesn’t even recognize. She asks for a favour for her son Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg). Soon, Bobby goes to Hollywood to find something for himself. He never looks for much, just something.
“It was a young man hoping to make a life for himself. This was Robert Jacob Dorfman, Bobby Dorfman from the Bronx, away from home for the first time.”
At the beginning, Bobby’s busy uncle doesn’t pay attention to him. Eventually, Bobby gets tired of not being able to reach out to his uncle Phil. He listens to his gangster brother Ben, who also knows how to convince people very well, and calls a sex worker. A woman named Candy (Anna Camp) comes and throws up all of her ideas in a nervy-funny setting. She shows her unprofessionalism and takes it personally when Bobby changes his mind about sleeping with her. As a failed woman in sex work, Candy leaves the house (more accurately, she gets kicked out) with less self-confidence than five minutes before and tears in her eyes. This gives a warning about Bobby’s decision-making skills and how fickle he is.
When Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), someone who works with Phil, shows up, it all turns out that Bobby doesn’t need to find something for himself anymore. The emptiness in his life can be filled with Vonnie. Right after Vonnie leaves the room, Bobby says, “She seems nice.” with a silly smile on his face. Bobby’s lost soul gets so attracted to Vonnie’s cool and friendly vibe, and she becomes the only thing Bobby is looking forward to seeing, even though he finally starts to work and build a life in Hollywood.
While Bobby’s life starts to get in shape, he also starts to go to Phil’s parties and build a network. As a very sweet person (according to Vonnie), Bobby stands out in the crowd at parties because he doesn’t fit into the flawless parties of elite Hollywood. Everyone other than Bobby wears almost the same clothes and looks like they have the ideal life. Their warm and bright-colored clothes make them look rich, busy, and somehow still boring. Bobby describes his mood at those parties as “half-bored and half-fascinated” just like any other normal human being in such flawless places.
Meanwhile, Bobby and Vonnie continue their friendship; Bobby’s feelings grow over time. He opens his feelings up to Vonnie and gets rejected because Vonnie says she has a boyfriend. It turns out that Vonnie’s boyfriend is Bobby’s uncle, Phil, and they have been having an affair for one year.
At some point, Phil offers to end his marriage to be with Vonnie because he truly loves her. Vonnie turns into a powerful lover when she is around Phil. She wears red to express her unstoppable feelings, which is the opposite of her white-pink-colored dressing style when she is around Bobby. After Phil’s offer, ironically, she gets dumped by Phil on their anniversary. Bobby heals Vonnie’s broken heart, and obviously, they start dating. Even though Vonnie tries different colours (blues, oranges, yellows, greens, and everything else), she never stops wearing white during the whole time she is with Bobby — till she gets back together with Phil.
Phil asks Vonnie to get married at the same time as Bobby. Vonnie faces a hard decision. Despite the fact that she loves both Phil and Bobby, she chooses the logical option, which is Phil. After getting dumped by Vonnie, Bobby goes back to his family’s house and starts to work with his brother in their place, but still can’t escape from the reality of Vonnie and Phil’s marriage. That marriage follows him just like a ghost and stays as a discussion topic in his life, which is even criticized or supported by his family. He turns into a haunted man.
Yet, life goes on, even for haunted men. Bobby gets married because he meets someone named Veronica, falls in love, and she gets pregnant.
Vonnie and Phil show up one day at the place Bobby owns, and Bobby’s face tells the whole story. The same day, as often happens, after a bit of bad news, more bad news follows, so Bobby learns that his brother Ben is in legal trouble. And once again, as often happens, after every piece of bad news, good news comes too. Vonnie comes and offers Bobby to spend some time together, just like in the old days. They arrange endless meetings to spend all the time they have together, at least for a while.
For one of their meetings in Central Park, Vonnie shows up in all white, just like whenever she does when she is under the impact of Bobby’s charm. They look at each other’s faces. They feel the ground slowly disappear under their feet, and they walk on air.
Bobby says, “I never stopped thinking about you, not for one day.”
Vonnie answers, “I still dream about you, but I am Phil’s wife.”
Phil, as a man who has found everything he was looking for, once again notices that the emptiness in his life can still be filled with Vonnie. He says,
“And yet you… uh, you dream about me.”
They kiss. They prove that love is a ghost, heartbreaking moments are ghosts, your ex-girlfriend’s marriage to your uncle is a ghost, and you can never fight with a ghost.
Vonnie leaves Manhattan, but a while later, Bobby goes to Hollywood again, this time to grow his job instead of working for someone who doesn’t even know his name. They meet for the last time. Vonnie tells him not to see each other again because “Dreams are dreams.” Bobby doesn’t resist. He just asks, “I guess some feelings never die. Is that good or bad?”
The movie ends with two different new year parties and one common dream: Vonnie and Bobby’s dream. At Bobby’s party, the intellectual couple, the couple who cheated on each other, the happiest couple, and more, all kiss, hug, and dance. However, at least one of the partners of these couples dreams about someone other than their partner, and no one knows about it.
And, yes, even though dreams continue till eternity, dreams stay as dreams, and ghosts stay as ghosts.
