Time loops in accordance to bed scenes
The movie’s runs are broken up by scenes of Manni and Lola in bed together. These scenes are in accordance with both Lola’s and Manni’s deaths. After the first run, we see Lola as Manni, “What if you never met me?” She is questioning their bond as a product of circumstance, while Manni brushes the question off. This reflects Lola’s choice to go with Manni into crime, and losing her life for it. In the second bed scene, after Manni’s death, he asks her “what would you do if I died?” She claims she would let him die, but she fails to really answer the question, highlighting her emotional reliance on him, and her need to save him.
Objects
The breadcrumbs in this movie consist of objects that emphasize the weight of Lola’s choices and their consequences. Most notably would be guns. Everytime Lola or Manni chose to use guns they failed to be saved. However, when Lola decides to go to the casino and make the money legally, and Manni gives his gun to the homeless man in exchange for his money, they are rewarded with life and the money needed.
Interactions with strangers and influence on their lives
Throughout the movie Lola encounters many strangers, with each different run having a different outcome for the stranger. This emphasizes the role of the butterfly effect in a person’s life. The most notable of these strangers is the woman with the baby, who in the first run loses her child and becomes poor, in the second run, becomes deeply religious joining a community, and in the third run, wins the lottery and lives a life of relaxation. These outcomes align with how she responds to Lola bumping into her, overreacting, or handling with grace, this could be interpreted as our prospective shapes our relationships and story. Another example of this would be the ambulance. In the first run it is insignificant, nearly misses Lola on the street. In the second run Lola delays the ambulance by distracting the driver, causing it to hit Manni before she can reach him. In the third run Lola hitches a ride with the ambulance, comforting the security guard from the bank, who had a heart attack, choosing agency over action. The ambulance represents the importance of timing, as well as her redemption by not hurting others as she tries to save Manni. The ambulance also shows us that Lola is learning from her past runs, becoming more sure of herself and relying less on others.
Lola’s Dad
In the first runs, he claims he is not her real father and ruins her perception of family. She becomes emotionally unstable from this point on, destroying her ability to make good choices. This makes her see Manni in a new light. He becomes a stability in her life that her father cannot be. This encourages her decision to join him in the robbery of the supermarket. This leads to her being shot by the police. In the second run Lola overhears her Father and his mistress, exposing his character sooner than the first run, instead of begging she pulls a gun on him deciding to rob the bank instead, changing the power dynamic from the first run. In the third run she skips her father as an option entirely, taking matters into her own hands and going to the casino. Lola’s dad represents her growth throughout the movie, no longer relying on a distant, emotionally conflicting, authority figure, but instead on herself.
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