The Insurance Man
Inspired by True Stories
Written & Directed by:
Alex Lage
PLOT SYNOPSIS
The film takes place over the course of a day in the life of Carlo Miranda. A middle-aged man, from Barcelona, who works as an insurance salesperson at The Great American Road Insurance Company in the Hudson Valley, Upstate NY. A loving and compassionate man, he is a seller of insurance policies by necessity, while his life (for a long time) has become a series of unfulfilled dreams. Every day, Carlo has to deal with the clash of his obligation to provide for his ex-wife Alix and their two children, and the pursuit of his passion.
During the morning meetings at the company’s office, Carlo meets his colleagues, gets briefed for the day and receives the leads for his sales calls from the boss, Agnes Conte: A businesswoman of Italian descent, dealing with the stigma of coming from a powerful, patriarchal family and fighting for her autonomy as an independent woman. This particular morning is the last day of the month, and every salesperson has underperformed with Carlo having made only one sale in the entire month.
As Carlo starts out on his day, his first appointment is with Mrs. Ada Taylor: A widow, who lives alone, and at a distance from her children and grandchildren. Ada longs for her family to be together and to keep the family history and legacy intact. Carlo feels the void of his own mother living so far away and shows interest in learning more about Ada and how she met Mr. Taylor. Ada happily tells the story of meeting her husband to be when they were teenagers on Coney Island, Brooklyn. Carlo, wrapped up in Ada’s story, forgets he’s there to sell her a policy and doesn’t realize until he gets back in his car to leave.
At his second call of the day, Carlo meets Lena and Noah Moss. Lena Moss is a single mother of an adopted son. She adopted Noah when he was two years old and he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was three. Despite his young age, Lena is educating Noah on how to live more independently. She is also coping with the shock of her recent breast cancer diagnosis. Lena feels additionally burdened by their financial instability and because Noah needs constant care, she sees herself struggling to catch a break. Carlo finds himself being challenged by Noah to be thankful for the good fortune he has that his owns sons, and estranged wife, are not having to deal with such challenging circumstances. Despite his intensity, Noah means well, and shows great maturity by counting his own blessings of having Lena in his life. Because it has been a tough day for Lena and Noah, and they need to rest, Carlo feels unable to push his policies. As he drives away, however, their story resonates and reminds him of his children and estranged wife.
Carlo drives on to meet his next client, Melinda Walls. He finds Melinda, the wife of a powerful man, living in a luxurious modern house made of glass, being waited on by a maid. She has been drinking and it quickly becomes apparent that she is living a frustrated and unhappy life. She lets slip that no amount of wealth now available to her is sufficient to make up for the freedom she once had. Carlo becomes frustrated with Melinda, believing that rather than incarcerate her, it’s her wealth that can set her free. This is the very freedom he is chasing, and he can’t help but think that in Melinda’s position, he would have been happier, and it would be a way to bring his family back together.
It soon becomes apparent that Melinda is not only not interested in buying an insurance policy, but that she doesn’t even decide the business side of the household and couldn’t purchase a policy even if she wanted to. All of which makes Carlo question why he is there. Feeling increasingly intoxicated with ire, he pushes back, trying to find answers that don’t exist, for this missed opportunity. Once more he leaves his client empty handed.
Carlo moves on to meet his fourth client of the day, Monica Stone and husband Julius Stone, who own a small coffee shop (Stones Coffee Shop) in an affluent upstate village. Late for this meeting, Carlo only interacts with Monica as Julius leaves for a business meeting. Monica, a meticulous young pastry chef, has dreamed her entire life about owning a coffee shop. She is in need of a number of policies, which could help Carlo immensely, but despite being anxious to close the deal, Carlo becomes side-tracked once more. Monica, burdened by the reality of her dream, sees that it is costly to the health of her marriage. Carlo finds himself, again, engaged with another client's problems. Increasingly anxious to make this easy sale, and aware of the approaching end of the day, Carlo once more is incapable of detaching business and altruism. He leaves the shop with no sale.
As Carlo is heading across a bridge towards his last visit of the day, he receives a call from Agnes, who demands to know his day's performance. Agnes' response to the revelation that he hasn't sold anything, turns out to be Carlo’s wake up call.
Carlo continues on to his last visit, Mr. Eugene Parker an elderly man who lives alone. Despite his failing eyesight, Eugene greets Carlo at the door and welcomes him in without being able to officially identify him. Still impacted by the effects of his wake-up call, Carlo is pleasantly surprised to find with Eugene the friendly shoulder he always is for others. As they settle down to chat, it’s clear that Carlo is finally at peace with himself and his life.
