Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa Released on DVD

The animated film Anomalisa, co-written and co-directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, is being released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 22. The film, which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, uses stop-motion animation to tell the story of Michael Stone, a customer service guru who perceives everyone around him as having the same face and voice. His alienation is disrupted by meeting Lisa, an 'anomaly' who is unique. The animation style, with minimalistic and adult content including explicit sex scenes, serves the narrative of existential crisis and the tragedy of human inability to embrace imperfection. Kaufman, known for Synecdoche, New York and screenplays for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (for which he won an Oscar), here presents a more linear plot. The film's title references the Fregoli delusion, a psychiatric condition where a patient believes different people are a single person in disguise.