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I don't want to talk about it.
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~ Lisa
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Lisa is the main antagonist of the infamous 2003 independent cult drama film The Room. She is the unhinged, manipulative, dishonest and unfaithful fiancé of Johnny who cheats on him with his dimwitted friend Mark.
She was portrayed by Juliette Danielle, who was portrayed by Ari Graynor in The Disaster Artist. In the remake, she was portrayed by Bella Heathcote.
Biography[]
Prior to the events of the film, Lisa apparently met Johnny when he first moved to San Francisco, working odd jobs to cover his living. He worked as a busboy at a hotel, where he met Lisa, and, when he introduced himself to her, the two got together. After the two become engaged, Lisa describes her boring, lonely life to her cynical mother, Claudette (who is suffering from breast cancer), and how she inexplicably no longer loves Johnny. Lisa has few friends and has no job because, according to her, "the computer business is too competitive". With Johnny always away at his job, she finds companionship in Johnny's best friend, Mark. Over the course of the film, she cheats on Johnny by sleeping with Mark, and, although Mark desperately wants to break it off, Lisa continues to seduce him, leaving him moody and angry at himself. Lisa has convinced herself that she "loves" Mark, (although it only gives a sense of brief excitement) confiding in her mother and friend, Michelle.
Both disapprove, and Claudette claims that she should marry Johnny, as it would be "good for her", when actually, she only wants Lisa to marry him to fill a void in her own life. Lisa does no longer feel a connection, however, but decides to stay with Johnny, so she can mooch off his successful lifestyle, and continue sleeping with Mark, as well as making false accusations of domestic abuse against Johnny, which slowly begins to destroy his life. At Johnny's birthday party, Lisa is caught making out with Mark, when she shows no remorse for this and instead announces that she is pregnant, which concerns Mark, as it may be his baby. She reveals to Michelle that there is no baby, and that she only said so to "make it interesting". Johnny knows that something is up, so he confronts Lisa and Mark, confirming his suspicion of an affair.
Johnny and Mark get into a brief fight, and he declares that he is "fed up with this world" before leaving the party. He records a phone conversation between the two lovers, when he decides to kick Lisa out and trash his apartment, before a devastated Johnny, who thought Lisa really loved him, cannot live with this anymore and decides to shoot himself in the mouth with a pistol. Upon hearing the gunshot, Denny, Johnny's young college friend, (who Johnny thought of as a son and who had a crush on Lisa), Mark, and Lisa come upstairs to discover Johnny lying dead in his trashed apartment. After Lisa attempts to kiss Mark, he breaks up with her, finally deciding that she really can't love anybody. All of them start crying, wondering what will become of their lives now, as the police sirens in the distance become louder. It's possible she's arrested for causing Johnny's suicide, but the movie ends before.
Personality[]
In the film, Johnny's friend, Peter, who is a psychologist, calls Lisa a "sociopath", (a psychological disorder where a person can feel no emotions, including love) much to the chagrin of Mark, who can only rationalize the affair by believing it is love. Mark's confused emotions lead to him almost killing Peter after a brief fight, when he discovers the affair, but stopping before he can do so. Lisa seems to meet the criteria of a sociopath, likely because of her mother's influence on how she sees men as objects for her own satisfaction. Lisa is portrayed as selfish, manipulative, greedy, and having no capacity for love, which would fit a sociopath's description. However, she is still shown to have a caring side to her, as she tried to comfort Denny after he was nearly killed by Chris-R. After Johnny committed suicide, Lisa still stayed with Denny to comfort him.
Another culprit is that Lisa seems to have Borderline Personality Disorder, meeting six of the nine criteria for the mental illness, as according to the National Institute of Mental Health. These include rocky and short-lived relationships, often veering from extreme closeness and love (idealization) to extreme dislike or anger (devaluation), impulsive and dangerous behaviors, mood swings, inappropriate anger, paranoia and feeling empty or bored.
Based on Lisa's behavior, it is entirely possible (if not even plausible) that she has both sociopathy (using others for her own amusement and not being able to feel empathy) and a Borderline personality (being without a sense of self and being prone to rapidly changing opinions about the people in her life). This better explains Lisa's actions, as it is apparent that she not even understands why she does what she does.
Motivation[]
Lisa's exact motivation for what she does has confused viewers for a long time. Even Juliette Danielle, the actress who played her, has stated that Tommy Wiseau, the director, writer, producer, and lead actor of the film, never actually gave her any motivation or direction, instead telling her to watch Stanley Kubrick's 1999 film, Eyes Wide Shut. The confused actress stated that this did not do anything, and she decided to simply wing it and play a villain in the best way she knew how, often cracking up in-between scenes because of the awkward dialogue. Other people involved with the film's production (including Greg Sestero, who portrays Mark and authored a book about the film's production called 'The Disaster Artist', later made into a film by James Franco) have questioned Lisa's bizarre motives and personality. Sestero has argued that even for a sociopath, Lisa's actions do not make any sense, attributing this to a seemingly poor understanding of psychology on Tommy Wiseau's part. However, Lisa's actions can be better understood if you assume Lisa has multiple mental illnesses.
Quotes[]
Gallery[]
Johnny buys Lisa a red dress.
Lisa sleeping, the day after her and Johnny have intercourse.
Lisa speaking with her mother.
Lisa calling Mark, starting her affair with her fiancé's best friend.
Mark and Lisa getting drunk.
Mark and Lisa making out in the open, during Johnny's birthday party.
Lisa, Denny and Mark crowding around Johnny's corpse, overwhelmed with grief.
