The theme is expanded upon (and arguably muddled a bit) in the center chapter, “R.M.F. is Flying.” Plemons returns in a different register as Daniel, a man who first appears to be drowning in grief after the disappearance of his wife (Emma Stone), presumed lost at sea after a helicopter accident. His obsession with finding her damages his work as a police officer and his friendships. Yet he doesn’t seem happy when she suddenly returns, convincing himself rather quickly that this woman at his door is not actually the missing partner. Daniel keeps pushing her to prove her identity and loyalty to him, leading to increasingly extreme, horrific behavior. “R.M.F. is Flying” feels the least thematically rich and narratively complete of the three films, but Plemons delivers again.
Finally, there’s the rich “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich,” which fans of the film will argue ties everything together under a banner of destruction of autonomy—the controlling boss in the first, the imposter in the second, and now a cult that is attempting to reverse death in the final chapter. Emily (Stone) and Andrew (Plemons) work for that cult run by the mysterious Omi (Dafoe) and his partner Aka (Chau), trying to find an unknown woman who can resurrect the dead. When Emily stumbles onto a person she’s seen in her dreams named Rebecca (Margaret Qualley), she becomes obsessed with proving she’s the one. Even so, she’s drawn back to the home she left behind, including a daughter and a horrifically abusive husband (Joe Alwyn). Again, cults are about control by their very nature, and it’s a playground for Lanthimos to get as weird and disturbing as ever.
While the text of “Kinds of Kindness” is rich enough to unpack in thinkpieces and coffee house conversations, there is a sense that there hasn’t been as much careful consideration of how it all ties together as in some of his best films. Plemons giving not just one but at least two and maybe three of the year’s best performances goes a long way to holding “Kinds of Kindness” together. Still, I wondered if there wasn’t a version of this film from before Lanthimos became a renowned master and Oscar nominee that might have been tighter, more refined by the nature of having a little less complete creative freedom. He’s earned no one having control over him. But maybe that’s not always a good thing.
With the Oscars for his last two movies and a likely return to that kind of prestige filmmaking in the future, “Kinds of Kindness” may ultimately be seen as a diversion in what I suspect will be a long career of acclaimed projects. Even if it does end up as a footnote in his career, it’s a reminder that Lanthimos completely lacks in desperation, confident enough in his voice to explore what interests him, whether or not anyone else is along for the ride.