Film Director David Cronenberg has a new film called Maps to the Stars which explores the narcissistic behavior in the Hollywood film industry. All the characters are unlikeable caricatures. The film is dark, violent, and occasionally funny. It could have a serious message about American values gone astray, especially the Hollywood variety. (His last movie was also in this tune: Cosmopolis, made during the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, is a dark movie about a rich, narcissistic New York trader seeing his world fall part as he drives across Manhattan to get a hair cut.) But Maps to the Stars could also be dismissed as an entertaining parody (with requisite amounts of violence and sex). In a Q & A after the movie Cronenberg sat on the fence about his intentions.

One reason I was interested in the film was that I have done a documentary about narcissistic behavior in finance (The Banking Brain) and had to think about how to depict this state of mind effectively. I’m still not sure – watching Cronenberg’s unpleasant cardboard characters was neither interesting nor illuminating.