The IMDB description "A married writer has an affair with his secretary" is about as accurate as saying the "Mona Lisa is a painting of some woman". I mean it's not wrong, but it is completely misinterpreting what the film Charlie Bubbles is about. Charlie does have an affair with his secretary, but it is just one scene to emphasize a plot point. The film is about trying to find meaning in life.
My interpretation is that it is about unrequited desire to escape. To escape one's past, to escape from people judging you (the meeting of an old flame and her family in a café), to escape from guilt, to escape from people wanting money from you. To escape, but not having the will power to achieve it, resulting in little or no satisfaction with anything.
Charlie Bubbles has achieved the sort of lifestyle all his friends and fans aspire to. He is rich but the money does not afford him happiness. He gets into funny japes with an old friend but that affords him little respite. Right at the start of the film his accountant suggests he moves abroad for a year to pay less tax, but Charlie asks why can't his company, instead of himself, register abroad? Charlie wants to get away but is bogged down by his inability to do it. He has a housekeeper who treats him more like she is his mother than an employee. Instead of just firing her he fantasies about shooting her. He cannot get rid of her because he fears the guilt that will come from it.
There is a scene when he goes to a football match with his son. The excitement turns to boredom as neither father or son engage with each other or the game. They are just there because it's something to do. Similarly with the sex scene. He is having sex with a beautiful young carefree woman, but it affords him little satisfaction. Later, we can see he still has huge affection for his ex-wife but cannot muster the energy to win her back or become a full-time dad. Money is not a problem. It is inclination, the lack in the meaning in life, that is the issue.
There was a telling scene when his old school friend is also stuck in the past, unwilling to move out of the town that is slowing dying economically speaking, but unlike Charlie Bubbles, he feels content. He knows his own mind and is happy with his lot. When he criticises the hedonistic lifestyle of London, Charlie does not defend it. He says nothing. He simply does not care enough to argue.
At the end when Charlie is floating away in the balloon, that is the conclusion to his desire. He wants to just escape to anywhere, it does not matter where. Like his namesake he just wants to float free like a bubble, but he knows he cannot. He will sooner or later land, back to a past, back to a state of mind he cannot escape.
I think is brilliant, it said so much with so little. Then again it could be a film about a rich man having an affair with his secretary. Keep up the good work IMDB person.
My interpretation is that it is about unrequited desire to escape. To escape one's past, to escape from people judging you (the meeting of an old flame and her family in a café), to escape from guilt, to escape from people wanting money from you. To escape, but not having the will power to achieve it, resulting in little or no satisfaction with anything.
Charlie Bubbles has achieved the sort of lifestyle all his friends and fans aspire to. He is rich but the money does not afford him happiness. He gets into funny japes with an old friend but that affords him little respite. Right at the start of the film his accountant suggests he moves abroad for a year to pay less tax, but Charlie asks why can't his company, instead of himself, register abroad? Charlie wants to get away but is bogged down by his inability to do it. He has a housekeeper who treats him more like she is his mother than an employee. Instead of just firing her he fantasies about shooting her. He cannot get rid of her because he fears the guilt that will come from it.
There is a scene when he goes to a football match with his son. The excitement turns to boredom as neither father or son engage with each other or the game. They are just there because it's something to do. Similarly with the sex scene. He is having sex with a beautiful young carefree woman, but it affords him little satisfaction. Later, we can see he still has huge affection for his ex-wife but cannot muster the energy to win her back or become a full-time dad. Money is not a problem. It is inclination, the lack in the meaning in life, that is the issue.
There was a telling scene when his old school friend is also stuck in the past, unwilling to move out of the town that is slowing dying economically speaking, but unlike Charlie Bubbles, he feels content. He knows his own mind and is happy with his lot. When he criticises the hedonistic lifestyle of London, Charlie does not defend it. He says nothing. He simply does not care enough to argue.
At the end when Charlie is floating away in the balloon, that is the conclusion to his desire. He wants to just escape to anywhere, it does not matter where. Like his namesake he just wants to float free like a bubble, but he knows he cannot. He will sooner or later land, back to a past, back to a state of mind he cannot escape.
I think is brilliant, it said so much with so little. Then again it could be a film about a rich man having an affair with his secretary. Keep up the good work IMDB person.