The Completeness is the story of two lovers that struggle with commitment and communication.

  • The Completeness is the story of two lovers that compliment each other in both their careers and relationship, but suffer from deeper issues that keep them struggling with commitment.
    • The Completeness is the story of two graduate students recently overcoming a breakup, who find themselves drawn to each other on campus. They initially come together over a project where he becomes the perfect programming complement to her complex biology research, until soon they realize they want more than a work relationship.  Their project may have bridged two otherwise unconnected departments at the university but it isn’t enough to push away their deeply manifested issues and struggles with commitment.

 

Looking at The Completeness as its own world, as Fuchs describes, shows initially the space to be indoors, and industrial, with the scenes primarily taking place in an office, computer room, lab and apartments. The landscape seems warm and dry but the focus is all on interior, industrial space. I imagine the furniture is bland, grey, industrial 1990s office style.

Time passes in a linear fashion and crosses long periods of time within a scene change. Its a very linear transition but jumps. Time is also reflected in memory and past memory can experienced in the current field of time.

The tone and mood seem to be jumpy. No one finishes sentences so there is this air of nervousness to the place.  Lots of “um, like, well, you know, uh, you go, no I …. well” style interactions. It shows a level of discomfort to this world.

Hidden places might exist within the spaces that are given. For example, Molly goes to the bathroom quite often, and it seems like she may be in there for other reasons than to use the toilet. There is something secretive about the bathroom, as if it is a hidden space or house a hidden space. I imagine there is a lot of dark space in this “planet” such as corners of rooms or labs. Since coding and computers are a big part of this as well as internal neuroses, I imagine the mind as a hidden place that these researchers go to find solace .

The music and sound of this planet seems to be on the quiet, silent side. The silence and awkward pauses really create that nervous tone. I imagine also soft elevator type music on very low, almost like a whisper that is barely heard, enough to not interrupt the awkward silence. I also imagine water dripping slowly a common sound, as well as byte-like computer noises filtering through almost as if in a heart-beat rhythm, setting the pace and tone of the scenes.

This is a very private planet. And because of this there does exist a hierarchy of sorts. There is a clear division of Professor, Graduate Student, Undergraduate. Your career level plays a key role in your status and relationship to others. Also your department and what career you have also plays a role in the hierarchy. There are clear groups – computer sciences vs. biology and then within those groups the undergrad, grad prof structure.

There is the classic guy who can’t commit (and girl as well). There is the rebound scenario. There is also the trope of the secretive inter-office or colleague relationship. And of course the crossing paths of exes, that seems to be something obvious that was working itself out in this world. It was bound to happen, that cyclical flow of relationships.

The dress is very boring and simple, industrial. Khakis and a blue short sleeve button down. A lab coat. A dark blue collared shirt. Jeans and a print t.  Very simple, more reflective of the early 90s to early 2000s look when there really wasn’t necessarily a style and more like an industrial or preppy grunge look.

The interactions are just very awkward and uncomfortable. No one is ever sure want to say or if they can say what they want to say. It’s stuck in this loop of, “You go no you go no you go” like in the case of two people arriving at a door at the same time. The interactions are just jumpy and not fully formed. The response can go either as one-word, confused answers or be long fully formed thoughts of feelings expressed in a stoic, PC way. The language is not direct. No one ever says exactly how they feel until deep into a conversation. It is all guess work and a culture of knowing what to infer from what the other is saying.

3 Key Frames:
1) Molly and Elliot working together at his apartment for the first time.
2)Molly and Franklin, Elliot and Nell together
3) The last moment when Molly and Elliot are together again and seemingly back together

Although the first and final key frames show the characters together, they needed to go through coming to terms individually and together, to get back together and understand that it is okay for them to be together. They had to fall for each other, open up to each other, then screw it up, then be apart only to remember the feelings and accept them.

Months had passed and the mood and tone between them went from caring to mean and then back to the normal awkward scattered, unclear sentence structure. The language didn’t change, but how they used it did in that middle part. The project changed. Over time the algorithm went from being a solution in great condition, and just like their relationship, it too did not work out. The algorithm was almost a mirror of their relationship. What did not change is their jobs, their personal trajectories in terms of career and work. The structure of the people around them at work didn’t change. They were still graduate students. Their hierarchy and group structure stayed the same.

I, personally, was made to feel aggravated and annoyed with the main characters in this world. The language is irritating, no one is able to say a full sentence and they make stupid mistakes. As an audience I want to reach out and shake or slap them.

The worlds that they research in seem pulled in from the outside. The coding language and the bio language and the research happening in them – the Traveling Salesman Theory and the protein research are all connections to outside worlds.

The characters have their patterns. Break up, new person, honeymoon period, screw up period, run away. They try to break this pattern this time around, but until the end it was the same as usual.  In the grand scheme of things the pattern is things are good and working, then life is bad and things aren’t working. Commitment is a pattern. The characters can’t commit to each other and the sentences can’t even be committed to being full. The rules of language are to not necessarily have full or complete sentences. Using “like” and “um” are a big part of speech patterns along with ‘”…”Even the stage directions can’t commit. They are less directions and more like questions. “Maybe she starts to cry. “Perhaps we see a…” The computer lab scenes are are pattern. When one is leaving they end up staying. “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave…” the computer lab.

A FEW OTHER REMARKS

The Completeness reminds me of a pre-teen soap opera. Or more like watching the Days of Our Lives version of Big Bang Theory with slightly more bearable characters with Elliot played by Michael Cera.

Why are Don/Clark/Franklin and Lauren/Katie/Nell all played by the same two actors? Was that the original intention of Moses or just how it worked out in these cases? Was it to consolidate actors because they were small parts or was this trying to show deeper meaning?

The language was so colloquial and easy to read, I started missing iambic pentameter. Then I thought well am I missing what a good script is or what I think a good script should be.

Featured Image Photo Credit:
 http://www.reviewingthedrama.com/2011/09/completeness.html