Nowadays, phone addiction has become a common issue. With apps constantly demanding our attention through push notifications, staying away from our phones has become more challenging. This compulsive habit can be just as destructive as any other addiction. We can see the result of this in kids becoming increasingly dependent on their devices. However, “I Can’t Live Without You” (No puedo vivir sin ti, 2024) explores the issue of phone addiction through the eyes of a middle-aged man. It ruins his real-life relationships and makes him reevaluate what matters in his life. It’s your standard mid-life crisis character arc with technology being the villain.
Spoilers Ahead
I Can’t Live Without You (No puedo vivir sin ti, 2024) ‘Netflix’ Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“I Can’t Live Without You” on Netflix follows Carlos, a corporate employee who is addicted to his phone. Eventually, he must choose between his phone and his wife.
What happens in ‘I Can’t Live Without You’ on Netflix?
“I Can’t Live Without You” follows Carlos (Adrián Suar), a corporate employee who lives with his wife, Adela (Paz Vega), and their two teenage kids. He is a workaholic who is almost always hooked to his screen. It interferes with many parts of his life. But he is so consumed by his phone to realize its impact on his personal life. One day, while driving to his office, he picks up a call with a colleague. He can’t hear the person on the other side properly in the middle of the conversation. He realizes that it is because of an issue with his charger. Still, he keeps trying to speak while driving. So, a cop stops him.
Later, Carlos manages to return to his work. There, his colleague reveals the root of his problem. Around the same time, Carlos learns about an offer on a brand-new phone model. He decides to exchange his old phone with a new model. Carlos walks out of the store with his new phone. A thief steals it and runs away. So, Carlos asks the store employee for his old phone. However, the employee agrees to give it at a higher price as per their policy. It frustrates Carlos. Later, he attends a wedding ceremony with Adela and their friends & family. There, he realizes he needs to get on a work call. He asks Adela for her phone.
Carlos’ Phone Addiction
The bride asks Adela to click their photo. But Adela can’t do it because Carlos refuses to return the phone. So, she gets angry and throws it in the water. He jumps in the water and gets it back since he cannot live without a phone. Because of this, Adela decides to leave him. He doesn’t realize how the situation got this bad. Then, he decides to meet with other people who are phone-dependent to solve this issue. But he cannot get past his phone obsession. So, he leaves and arrives at the hospital where Adela works as a doctor. There, he asks for her forgiveness over a speaker and embarrasses her. She stays stubborn and asks him for a divorce.
I Can’t Live Without You (No puedo vivir sin ti, 2024) ‘Netflix’ Movie Ending Explained:
Does Carlos get over his phone addiction?
Since Adela decides to end their marriage, Carlos returns to the group counseling sessions. He hears why other people are compulsive phone users and how it affects their lives. It slowly changes his perspective. Later, he becomes concerned about the radiation on his mobile phone. He tries to make it up to Adela and their kids. So, he joins them for a family vacation. However, he pretends to be injured and returns to a work call. Later, while they sit down for a meal, he keeps running inside the house to take a work call. Shortly after, Adela learns the truth and leaves him for good.
Do Carlos & Adela get back together?
Once Adela leaves him, Carlos receives the latest mobile phone model. He uses it as usual to get help from its artificial intelligence chatbot. But it makes him feel even more lonely. He also avoids a meeting with other phone addicts because of his new phone. They realize that he may have fallen back into his old patterns. So, they show up at his house to learn the truth. He opens up about his marriage woes. They motivate him to apologize to Adela and get her back. He arrives at the hospital and realizes she is leaving on a plane with a friend. So, Carlos drives to the airport and meets her. He apologizes and tries to resolve their differences. At the end of the film, Carlos and Adela get back together.
I Can’t Live Without You (No puedo vivir sin ti, 2024) ‘Netflix’ Movie Review:
The official synopsis for “I Can’t Live Without You” on Netflix claims it is about a man’s relationship with his wife that gets ruined because he is obsessed with his phone. The film briefly addresses how our emotional needs, fears, and insecurities make us compulsive phone users. But it never takes effort to dig deeper into these psychological affairs. Isn’t that the point of the film? Understanding the root of your problem to solve it? But the film doesn’t seem concerned about its central concern. Instead, it shows some phone addicts chanting, ‘I’ll not depend on you (a phone)’ while exercising with other addicts.
Firstly, such group activities can only offer a sense of community and not solve the problem. It can make us feel we are cured and not provide any long-term, concrete solutions unless we understand our behavioral patterns to truly ‘heal’ ourselves. Then, the film briefly alludes to workaholism being the issue. But the script never says or does things about work-life balance on the screen that we haven’t seen before. The film remains just a surface-level exploration of a man’s compulsive habits that result in personal troubles.
I Can’t Live Without You (No puedo vivir sin ti, 2024) ‘Netflix’ Movie – The Final Word:
For some reason, the film keeps bringing ‘phone’ as the be-all and end-all for the man’s problems. In 2024, are phones not a necessity for most of our work? Somehow, the film confuses phone use with obsession and seems stuck in a time decades ago when phones were only a hindrance. So, you have a hard time buying into its premise. As a ‘lighthearted comedy-drama,’ it still provides a usual level of Netflix-standard passive entertainment that you can watch while scrolling through your phones.
You know what? The writers could have gone on a meta-route to address this theme! But no. They just went the usual route of shallow, predictable entertainment with cliches. Also, can we please retire the ‘running to the airport to save your relationship’ cliche?
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