Ode to Joy is an American romantic comedy about Charlie an Enneagram 1 (Martin Freeman) and Francesca an Enneagram 7 ( Morena Baccarin).
The Story
Charlie is a middle-aged man who works at the library and cannot be in a relationship. You see, Charlie suffers from cataplexy, an apparently actual condition that causes people to faint when they experience strong emotions. In this story, Charlie is particularly susceptible to happiness. When Charlie walks to work, he walks with a pair of giant headphones that play heavy opera music. Whenever he sees a baby, a cute dog, or anything good and beautiful, Charlie has to stop and look away.
So when Charlie meets Francesca, this beautiful, passionate, and fun girl who likes him, Charlie almost has no chance at staying awake.
Almost immediately upon meeting Francesca, we see that she is a naturally happy, fun, and spontaneous person. Charlie, being egged on by his colleagues and swept off his feet, asks Francesca out.
In an attempt to maintain composure and avoid fainting mid-date, Charlie devises a plan. He puts a tack in his shoe to stab himself in the toe if any feelings of happiness come on too strong.
After a terribly boring viewing of a one-person play in the early afternoon, Charlie walks Francesca home. Outside her home, Francesca invites Charlie up to her place for a drink. Charlie responds like a good Enneagram One, “But it’s only 3:30 pm.”
Francesca explains to him, “It’s not about the drink Charlie.”
Sensing the romantic if not outright sexual overtones, Charlie stabs himself gently in the foot. After a moment, he smiles/winces and says, “Sure, why not.”
However, 3 steps up the stairs to Francesca’s door, she says, “You know, I see now why you insisted on a matinee. We have more energy for messing around.”
Charlie immediately faints and wakes up in a hospital.
After this experience, Charlie decides that it is for the best that he and Francesca do not see each other. After her experience with Charlie, Francesca has a moment of extreme clarity. She realizes that she has sex with guys too soon to avoid feelings of intimacy, vulnerability and ultimately having to deal with her emotions and own problems.
Enneagram Analysis
Charlie the One
Charlie in this film is the archetypal One. He is highly organized, lives by a routine, and most of all repress his feelings. At an early age, Ones learned that “following your heart” or giving in to their emotions can lead to undesirable and negative outcomes. They, therefore, learned to consciously and unconsciously repress their emotions be it anger, sadness, or even happiness.
Francesca the Seven
Francesca is the archetypal Seven. She is fun, spontaneous, and most of all, she uses sex to avoid vulnerability and pain. Traditionally, the main vice or sin of the Seven is “gluttony.” Although this term is generally about food, in the Enneagram, it applies to all forms of pleasure, including sex.
Ones and Sevens
In most romcoms, the two love protagonists are almost always one another’s Rich or Relaxed Type. In other words, their opposite, as indicated by the lines or arrows in the Enneagram. What this means at the simplest is that they are “opposites” in many ways and can benefit from learning from, leaning into, and at times, living like the other.
Ones are reserved, repressed, and regimented. They have a challenge owning and expressing their feelings.
Sevens are happy, hasty, and hungry. They have a challenge curbing and controlling their appetite.
See how Ode to Joy makes for an easy and interesting story?
Charlie and other Ones can learn from Francesca and other Sevens to let go of his repression (not entirely) and learn to embrace and experience happiness.
Francesca and other Sevens can learn from Charlie and other Ones to curb or control their appetites so they may sit in and process their emotions.
Conclusion
Although Ode to Joy is a fictional romantic comedy, all of us can learn from it through the lens of the Enneagram.
As all of us have a One and Seven within us. This is why it is so important to know not only our Enneagram or primary type but also our other top types. Most of us all struggle at times with owning and expressing our emotions. And most of us at one time or another struggle with curbing and controlling our appetites.
Click here to take my 5-minute Enneagram assessment to find your type 3 types.
Like a One, maybe you do not feel satisfied at work but are repressing your emotions of dissatisfaction and displeasure. Maybe you are unhappy with your life but choosing to listen to opera music every day and live by your routine, afraid of what would happen if you chose to take a risk on happiness.
Like a Seven, maybe something is going on in your life that you are not dealing with. For Francesca, her only living family member, her aunt, is dying from cancer. Maybe you are using food, sex, work, or some other pleasurable experience to avoid vulnerability, intimacy, and painful emotions. Maybe you are plunging yourself into your work (albeit good work) to avoid a difficult conversation with a colleague.
Questions for reflection
For Ones: Where in your work, relationships, or life do you need to let go of control and structure? How might greater flourishing, productivity, or happiness be found in this?
For Sevens: What pleasurable experience might you be either overindulging on or strategically consuming to avoid intimacy, vulnerability, and/or feelings of discomfort or pain? How might greater flourishing, productivity, or happiness be found in resisting these cravings or desires?
For everyone else: Which of the two (One or Seven) is higher in you? Whichever one is higher, reflect on the question(s) for that type.
