In this article, you will find a psychological examination of the character Virgil Oldman in ”The Best Offer”. Psychological disorders such as obsession, narcissistic personality, and agoraphobia are noteworthy. This is one of the most successful cinema films about psychological disorders.
Psychological Analysis
The Best Offer Characters
Claire Ibbetson
Claire is precisely the ideal lover of Virgil Oldman’s subconscious. But Virgil is actually creating an agoraphobic girlfriend in an imagination. Just like the portraits of women she’s hiding in his room.
Even though Claire is agoraphobic, she sometimes talks about her lover in Prague, perhaps referring to Virgil’s first and only love during her time. Virgil may have put Claire on a whole new story.
Robert
Virgil’s almost opposite character. This character is so young and flirtatious. It is almost like the youth that Virgil never had. Of course, it also carries its qualities (being a genius in the field, dining in luxury restaurants, having a professional interest in automaton).
The answer to the question of how Virgil would be if a different he lived a different youth had lived. It’s kind of an alter-ego.
Billy Whistler
Billy is a weak character he is an unsuccessful painter. He earns money by being fraudulent.
These three characters represent the fantasy or qualities that Virgil rejects. In fact, Virgil is fighting with each in turn;
He says he’s done with Claire, but he’s going back to her. Virgil argues with Robert (Robert is a lecherous man). But Virgil is reconciling with Robert.
Virgil argues with Billy but then he will get along with Billy.
All these fights symbolize the rejection and reinstatement of these psychological aspects of Virgil.
Virgil is rigorous and obsessive.
He doesn’t touch anything without gloves.
Virgil is obsessed with his work. His ego is very high. For example, he usually eats alone and doesn’t like non-elite environments. Wants to drink tea, but he doesn’t like tea. He chastises the waitress. He doesn’t care about anybody. He’s is always trying to keep things hidden.
However, with the love affair with Claire, he begins to face the situation.
His obsession is completely over. He is no longer a workaholic. He does not go to other countries for business. Now he ceases wearing the gloves, gives up dyeing his hair, joins dinners with his lover and his friends.
So he stops being a perfectionist.
Now Virgil is starting to make peace with himself. As a matter of fact, he chooses a retirement from the world of art, which is the center of his life and at the top. But what he finds back is an empty warehouse. In short, under a brilliant career, he actually has an empty character.
Virgil, after confronting this situation, also collapses psychologically.
Detail
The dwarf in the café symbolizes automaton as it sounds like a robot and knows everything. Indeed, at the start of the film, Virgil said that he wrote his thesis about automatons and that although the robot was a mechanical being he could be a dwarf who knew everything.
Virgil Oldman doesn’t look in the face (eyes) of a woman who doesn’t talk directly to him in the film. When he has to take care of a woman, he smuggles his eyes as quickly as possible.
Last Updated on December 3, 2021 by Lucas Berg
