Comet (2014) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The narrative unfolds across three major cities: Los Angeles, where Dell and Kimberly first meet during a meteor shower at a cemetery; Paris, where key romantic and conflict moments occur including a hotel room scene during a friend's wedding; and New York, which serves as the location for pivotal phone exchanges that highlight the characters' cross-continental distance and longing for connection.

• los angeles
• paris
• new york
• setting
• locations

The story takes place in the 2010s and spans six years, using a non-linear structure that interweaves past and present memories. Modern technology like mobile phones, trains, and air travel ground the romance in contemporary life, emphasizing how people maintain connections across distances in the modern era.

• 2010s
• time period
• six years
• modern era

Dell is a nervous, suit-clad man who works at a pharmaceutical company and fixates on Kimberly. He is characterized by a narcissistic need for validation and obsessive attention to social cues, which often masks emotional distance. Throughout the story, he grapples with his mother's terminal illness and the fear of losing romantic connection, revealing both his charming moments and his tendency toward self-absorption.

• dell
• justin long
• character
• pharmaceutical

Kimberly is a vibrant, independent woman who seeks real-time connection and desires a relationship that grows over time. She pushes Dell to commit and evolve while maintaining her own boundaries when his emotional unavailability creates distance. Her warmth and vulnerability are tested by other romantic interests and by Dell's tendency toward discordant honesty, making her both a catalyst for his growth and a guardian of her own emotional wellbeing.

• kimberly
• emmy rossum
• character
• independent

The Love and Obsession theme explores how Dell's fixation on Kimberly reveals the thin line between deep love and narcissistic self-absorption. His attempts to control moments and shape outcomes highlight a push-pull dynamic between genuine desire and possessive ownership, ultimately showing how love can slip into unhealthy patterns when one person seeks validation rather than authentic connection.

• love
• obsession
• narcissism
• control
• desire

The Time and Memory theme examines how the film's non-linear structure uses six years of fragmented memories to shape the present. By blurring past and present through flashbacks and phone exchanges, the narrative shows how dreams and recollections influence choices even when the future remains uncertain, reflecting the film's exploration of how memory constructs our understanding of love and relationships.

• time
• memory
• non-linear
• flashbacks
• past

Dell's mother battles liver cancer and eventually dies, anchoring the romance in the finite nature of life. This thread reframes desire and vulnerability, highlighting how love endures despite time, distance, and heartbreak. The theme suggests that mortality adds urgency to connection while also creating emotional weight that the characters must navigate alongside their romantic struggles.

• mortality
• loss
• death
• cancer
• grief

The film jumps across a six-year timeline, piecing together the relationship like a puzzle through fragmented memories and present-day scenes. This structure requires active viewer engagement, as the chronological order is deliberately obscured to reflect how people actually experience relationships, through selective recollections, regrets, and moments that gain meaning only in hindsight.

• non-linear
• narrative
• structure
• timeline
• memories

Their relationship is defined by tension between Dell's self-absorption and genuine longing for connection, set against personal loss and the fragility of modern romance. The dynamic involves push-pull moments, Kimberly pushing for commitment while Dell struggles with emotional availability, creating a romance that explores both the beauty and challenges of human connection across time and distance.

• relationship
• dell
• kimberly
• connection
• romance

The film carries a dominant melancholic tone focused on fleeting moments and missed connections. It balances grief and flawed relationships with the beauty of romantic encounters, maintaining a medium emotional weight that avoids being overwhelming. The ambiguous ending leaves their future unresolved, capturing love as a series of potent, fragile moments rather than a fixed destination.

• emotional tone
• melancholic
• mood
• ambiguous ending