Review of My Octopus Teacher (2020) by Jamievineyard — 03 Dec 2020

A wild creature spending most of it’s time in the deep waters, and an octopus. This film talks in depth about a self obsessed grown ass man who falls in love with a few months old female. After feeling of having himself in his work, being discontent and disconnected with the world.

he decides to leave his human family for a year, to spent all his quality time with this younger more flexible, colourful and very smart girl. The girl is shy at first but he manages to crack her shell.

Over time we see the stalking gets more and more obsessive, the man wants to know everything about her, studies every move and want’s to think like her, become one with her. A disturbing codependence grows, long shots of staring in the nothing, show the depths of compulsion, close ups of the eyes display the neurosis inside.

At one point in the story she manages to flee, only to be tracked down by the hunter in a weeks time. She gives in and wrap her arms around him, trying to strangle him, but he is too strong and would have all the evidence captured on camera, he films her every move.

Even when she gets attacked by a shark, he believes her pain might make her more vulnerable and accepting to his affection. The whole film used many of the traits we see in documentary film making, but with a clever twist, we seem to be talking about the octopus, but later on we realise that the subject is really the study of the narcissistic personality disorder of the man.

We hear the voice of the man as the narrator, putting thoughts in the animals head, when the girl finds someone else he gets upset and leaks a sex tape of her. We see the collapse of both characters when after having stalked her for 80% of her life, she finally finds peace in death, he will have to let her go.

At the end he goes to hunt for her kids, and the cycle continues.