Background
I wanted to find a way to talk about the post-Covid trend of increased isolation and the effects we’re seeing in society- not only with what happens when we lose community and see everyone around us as “strangers”- but also how some of us grew accustomed to our own loneliness and have trouble breaking out of it.
I also find the trend of companies forcing employees back into offices (generally once the company is unable to get out of a lease they previously signed) very interesting, and I wanted to explore how both of these issues could interact with the story of Marianne.
Ultimately this is a heartwarming comedy about the one person who actually might benefit when the rest of us are forced back into offices, (although she doesn’t realize it right away).
“I thought it was our thing. He makes his pornos when his roommates are away, and I watch. I was his cheerleader. It was our secret.”
— Marianne
Characters:
Marianne - Our main protagonist is an imaginative, aloof, lonely woman who craves connection but often misunderstood, so she finds herself tethered in a one-way connection with her neighbor via their open windows. She has projected a caring friendship onto him, but he does not know she exists.
After the passing of her Grandma who she lived with, Marianne is more alone than ever. She passes time the way many lonely people do - she drinks, she watches tv, she aims to numb her pain rather than fix it. She also has a pet snail that she talks to, believing it to be her reincarnated Nana.
When Marianne’s company axes the work-from-home mandate, forcing her to return to the office full time and her pleas are ignored, Marianne resorts to the only tactic she can think of to get out it: using hypnosis on her boss.
Yet in spending more time in the office, Marianne is exposed to other people - real people - that she must interact with for better and worse.
Katy - Marianne’s boss. A very corporate go-getter on the outside but jaded on the inside. Katy wants to do the right thing, although sometimes with Marianne it can be confusing to know how to respond.
Nana - Marianne’s grandmother. Nana appears briefly in human form in flashbacks, but currently she is in Marianne’s life in her reincarnated form, a snail. At least, Marianne believes it is her Nana. She needs to believe this is her Nana.
Alexis - The hypnosis teacher Marianne seeks out. He’s a master of hypnosis, yet he insists on meeting in the park and being referred to as “Sensei” despite being not at all Asian and very Colombian. He becomes Marianne’s first real human connection.
The Neighbor - We never learn his name or much about him except that he makes pornos on Thursdays when his roomates are all out of the apartment. He represents the idea of intimacy for Marianne, who has no real intimacy with anyone in her life.