ultimately come crashing down . As Jean-Paul Sartre says in Existentialism and Human Emotions , “ The existentialist . . . thinks it very distressing that God does not exist because all possibility of finding values in a heaven of ideas disappears along with Him . . . and as a result man is forlorn , because neither within him nor without does he find anything to cling to ” ( 22 ). Each of the characters ultimately hits rock bottom and the nadir of their lives is typically manifested by these forlorn feelings of rejection , loneliness , and despair . In Bottle Rocket , Dignan ’ s plan of a life of crime falls apart when Bob leaves with the car , Anthony gives the last of their money away , and he breaks with his one remaining friend . The failure of the crime spree hits Dignan all the harder because he was hoping to use it to impress Mr . Henry and gain re-admission to the small-time crime syndicate that had been his only real family . The next time we see Dignan , he is humiliated by Futureman and admits in a small , defeated voice : “ I ’ m not always as confident as I look .” Herman Blume in Rushmore reaches his nadir standing in the street in front of Mr . Fisher ’ s barber shop . He has lost his wife , his family , his friends , and his girlfriend , and as he stands there , of course a passing car splashes him with water . His disheveled appearance bespeaks his pathetic existence and is also characterized by an acute loneliness : “ I ’ m a little bit lonely these days ” he tells Max . In fact the need to stave off existential isolation is achingly apparent in all of Anderson ’ s films . In The Royal Tenebaums , Raleigh St . Clair says that he wants to die , and Richie Tenenbaum comes to the same conclusion as he slashes his own wrists . Royal gets caught in his lies and kicked out on the street , broke and estranged from his family . Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic falls down the stairs , literally and metaphorically a low moment for him as he describes
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