I "Heart" David O. Russell
David O. Russell is not a household name. However, this writer-director of Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings, and I Heart Huckabees is a talented filmmaker who creates intense, compelling tragicomedies out of the stressful dynamics in his psyche. The themes in his films reflect the archetypal combinations in his chart.
Russell's first film, Spanking the Monkey, won the audience prize at the Sundance Film Festival. This is no small achievement for an independent film about a college-age male who develops a sexual relationship with his bed-ridden mother. Russell's Sun is conjunct Pluto. When one's self-identity (Sun) combines with the archetype of the underworld (Pluto), one feels compelled to explore and illuminate the taboos of society. The Plutonic elements of sex and death also play out in the placement of Russell's Moon in Scorpio; the Moon is both mother and child, as well as the way one nourishes oneself and feels a sense of security. This dark, compulsive sexual relationship is so disturbing that the son both tries to kill his mother (Moon in Scorpio) and himself (Pluto conjunct Sun). In addition to its placement in Scorpio, the Moon is likely conjunct Neptune. This conjunction relates to the son's responsibility to care for his sick and bed-ridden (Neptune) mother (Moon). It is only because the son is obliged to care for his mother that he is in a situation that leads to such physical intimacy with her.
Pluto drives Russell's search for, or need to put the spotlight on, what is underground, whether in society, literally, or in one's psyche. In addition to exposing society's greatest taboo in Spanking the Monkey, Russell explores the search for one's hereditary (hidden) past in Flirting with Disaster, and the search for hidden gold in Three Kings.
In Russell's hilarious film Flirting with Disaster, Lonnie Schictling (Ben Stiller), who was raised by adoptive parents, feels compelled to find his birth parents after his first child is born. He cannot even name his baby. He, his wife and baby, and a psychology graduate student documenting the process go on an adventure to meet his birth parents. On the way, they meet two federal agents, one of whom was an acquaintance of the wife's in high school. It turns out the agents are a gay couple. Both Lonnie and the younger federal agent "flirt" with having extra-marital affairs; Lonnie with the graduate student, and the gay (bisexual) agent with Lonnie's wife. These hijincks relate to Russell's Uranus-Venus conjunction: unpredictability and the need for excitement (Uranus) in relationships (Venus).
In addition to the sense of being ill and needing to be taken care of, Neptune relates to escape and transcendence through drugs. Lonnie finds that his real parents (Moon) produce and sell LSD (Neptune)! This conjunction also relates to Lonnie's busted illusions (Neptune) about who his real parents are. In an interview on Salon.com, Russell says, "I knew I wanted his mother and father to seem like these wonderful dream [Neptune] parents [Moon] who then had something very narcissistic and criminal [Scorpio relates to the underworld] going on." Lonnie's escapades document the Hero's journey down into the underworld so that he can contact his genetic past and return feeling whole.
Russell's first film, Spanking the Monkey, won the audience prize at the Sundance Film Festival. This is no small achievement for an independent film about a college-age male who develops a sexual relationship with his bed-ridden mother. Russell's Sun is conjunct Pluto. When one's self-identity (Sun) combines with the archetype of the underworld (Pluto), one feels compelled to explore and illuminate the taboos of society. The Plutonic elements of sex and death also play out in the placement of Russell's Moon in Scorpio; the Moon is both mother and child, as well as the way one nourishes oneself and feels a sense of security. This dark, compulsive sexual relationship is so disturbing that the son both tries to kill his mother (Moon in Scorpio) and himself (Pluto conjunct Sun). In addition to its placement in Scorpio, the Moon is likely conjunct Neptune. This conjunction relates to the son's responsibility to care for his sick and bed-ridden (Neptune) mother (Moon). It is only because the son is obliged to care for his mother that he is in a situation that leads to such physical intimacy with her.
Pluto drives Russell's search for, or need to put the spotlight on, what is underground, whether in society, literally, or in one's psyche. In addition to exposing society's greatest taboo in Spanking the Monkey, Russell explores the search for one's hereditary (hidden) past in Flirting with Disaster, and the search for hidden gold in Three Kings.
In Russell's hilarious film Flirting with Disaster, Lonnie Schictling (Ben Stiller), who was raised by adoptive parents, feels compelled to find his birth parents after his first child is born. He cannot even name his baby. He, his wife and baby, and a psychology graduate student documenting the process go on an adventure to meet his birth parents. On the way, they meet two federal agents, one of whom was an acquaintance of the wife's in high school. It turns out the agents are a gay couple. Both Lonnie and the younger federal agent "flirt" with having extra-marital affairs; Lonnie with the graduate student, and the gay (bisexual) agent with Lonnie's wife. These hijincks relate to Russell's Uranus-Venus conjunction: unpredictability and the need for excitement (Uranus) in relationships (Venus).
In addition to the sense of being ill and needing to be taken care of, Neptune relates to escape and transcendence through drugs. Lonnie finds that his real parents (Moon) produce and sell LSD (Neptune)! This conjunction also relates to Lonnie's busted illusions (Neptune) about who his real parents are. In an interview on Salon.com, Russell says, "I knew I wanted his mother and father to seem like these wonderful dream [Neptune] parents [Moon] who then had something very narcissistic and criminal [Scorpio relates to the underworld] going on." Lonnie's escapades document the Hero's journey down into the underworld so that he can contact his genetic past and return feeling whole.
***
In Greek, Pluto means "riches," and was another name for Hades, god of the underworld. In Three Kings, four soldiers, at the end of the Gulf War, attempt to steal Kuwaiti gold from the Iraqui's. When they find that Saddam's army is suppressing a civil uprising, the American soldiers get involved in trying to save the civilians and deliver them to a refugee camp. In addition to its conjunction to Venus, Russell's Uranus is square Mars. This archetypal combination relates to the unpredictability, the sudden unexpected changes (Uranus) that occur in war (Mars), as well as one who fights (Mars) for freedom (Uranus).
In I Heart Huckabees, an environmental activist (Jason Schwartzman) approaches two existential detectives (Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman) to solve the meaning behind a coincidence, in which he ran into a tall African man three times in three different settings. They follow him around, and encounter his anti-thesis, an executive (Jude Law) at Huckabees, a large chain that is about to build a new store on a marsh that Schwartzman wants to save. Two additional characters are a fireman (Mark Wahlberg) who drops everything because he feels life is meaningless, and a model for Huckabees (Naomi Watts), who is Law's fiance.
All in all, the film is about "dismantling of the self" to achieve authenticity. This is ultimately what Pluto-Sun is about: destruction (Pluto) of one's identity (Sun), so that one can be reborn expressing one's self in its purest form. The most notable expression of this experience occurs with Law's character, who is shown by the detectives the nature of his defenses, and asks, "Who am I if not myself?" He breaks down crying, realizing that he has built up such a false charming persona that he does not really know who he is.
DOB: 8/20/1958
Source: imdb.com
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