My Last Five Girlfiends is a 2009 romantic dramedy starring Brendan Patricks and Naomie Harris.
The film opens with Duncan (Patricks) committing suicide, having had loved and lost five girlfriends in four years. The film goes back over these four years as Duncan narrates his love affairs and how they ended. The film is a Deconstruction of the traditional Romantic Comedy that became popular in Britan.
The film contains examples of:
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Rhona and Natalie, Duncan’s third and fourth girlfriends. While Rhona was too difficult and an argument ended things, Natalie was too easy and didn’t mind when Duncan shifted his interest to Gemma.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Duncan’s romanticism takes a toll as his relationships start and fall apart over time.
- "Dear John" Letter: Duncan gets one from Gemma.
- Death by Despair: Duncan. He gets over it. The trope is also played with, as he discusses whether he was truly desperate or just being melodramatic.
- Drivento Suicide: Duncan. He survives.
- Flat Character: The first four girlfriends don’t do much beyond fulfilling a trope or its deconstruction. Gemma is the last one, and has the most character depth and the most impact on Duncan.
- Foregone Conclusion: The film opens with Duncan poisoning himself over having failed five romances. The romances are doomed, but Duncan himself is not.
- Fun with Acronyms: Duncan’s five girlfriend are named Wendy, Olive, Rhona, Natalie, and Gemma: all five initials spell out WORNG, or WRONG spelt wrongly.
- Hard Truth Aesop: Love is difficult and doesn’t always work out, no matter how hard you try. If you can’t be happy with other people, then it’s okay to be happy with just yourself.
- Here We Go Again!: Duncan survives his suicideand decides to live for himself, having found romance to be too hard. The film ends with him buying and enjoying a new TV, only for his neighbour to call on him to complain about the racket... his attractive neighbour Angela.
- How We Got Here: The film is a flashback that chronicles how Duncan failedlove five times.
- Imagine Spot: Duncan has a conversation with Natalie’s doll Guppy over how easy Natalie is to bed.
- Insecure Love Interest: Duncan serves as this, as he does his best to gauge his partners’ wishes but keeps failing. Gemma turns out to be this too: she explains that Duncan was too forgiving and nice to her, and she couldn’t bear the guilt of cheating on him.
- Le Film Artistique: The film is partly set within Duncan’s mindscape, and it takes the form of an amusement park where he imagines his relationships as theme rides. At his last breakup, he is seen tearing down the park in tears.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Duncan takes Gemma on an expensive holiday to Paris, to smooth over his belief that she cheated on him and his guilt at thinking this about her. But she ‘‘did’’ cheat on him, and it increases her guilt over her infidelity and ultimately leads to her ending the relationship..
- Onthe Rebound: Duncan’s relationship with Wendy was this: it turns out she had separated from her ex Paul but never got over him and was too willing to end things with Duncan and return to him.
- Opposites Attract: Invoked and deconstructed. Duncan’s relationship with Rhona was founded on their contrasts, but it breaks them up too: neither of them can compromise nor settle a dispute over a pair of shoes and how pretty/ugly they are.
- Plot Allergy: Duncan has an allergy to pudding. He eats some on his date with Olive, and retches it all over her, ending things definitely.
- Romantic False Lead: He was this on his relationship with Wendy, though it took him some time to realize it.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In Rhona’s case, just because two people are attracted by being polar opposites doesn’t mean they can stay together.
