self-absorption

Having spent the last seven years in a state of self-absorption — or, as his ex-girlfriend Lucy later puts it: “You’ve just been up there pouting?” — his new quest is simply to atone.

It's important to remember that Trump’s self-absorption runs so deep that his grasp on the reality of how others see him is often tenuous at best.

"The self-absorption of the lovers, their descent into a destructive vortex, remains connected to the larger history of East Germany during this period, often meeting history at odd angles."

The “self-absorption of the lovers” — a student and a 50-something novelist — and “their descent into a destructive vortex” tracks the history of East Germany before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, she said.

But Carell steers clear of anything resembling a star turn, preferring instead to be a witness to these theatrical proceedings until the crucial showdown with Alexander, whose titanic self-absorption Molina captures to perfection.