Who is R.M.F. in 'Kinds of Kindness'?

The Meaning Behind R.M.F.

The basic structure of Kinds of Kindness follows a core troupe comprised of Jesse Plemons,
Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, and, most importantly, Yorgos Stefanakos as R.M.F. himself, among others.

Each of the three entries follows a different bottle episode of different characters exploring fun themes like emotional dependency, sub/dom relationships, mystic resurrection, escaping a cult, and so on. The only through line outside of strictly theme is in the character of R.M.F., also written within the title of each entry: “The Death of R.M.F.,” “R.M.F. is Flying,” and “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich.”

Let's break down each entry and how R.M.F. plays into it.

Spoilers for Kinds of Kindness follow!

1. “The Death of R.M.F.”: In the first entry to Kinds of Kindness, we're immediately introduced to R.M.F. seemingly hiring Margaret Qualley's first character as an escort. Once he leaves her very fancy estate, we see Jesse Plemons preparing to run into R.M.F. in a car accident, later to be revealed was requested by Willem Dafoe as a power play to test Plemon's loyalty.
2. “R.M.F. is Flying": R.M.F. is a little less prominent in this entry, showing up merely as a helicopter pilot delivering Emma Stone back from Dog Island after being missing for months. The rest of the story, as it doesn't pertain to R.M.F., you'll have to see for yourself.
3. “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich": In this wayward tale of absurdist transactional power, R.M.F. is predominantly a corpse. The central story revolves around Emma Stone attempting to leave a cult lead by Willem Dafoe and Hong Chau, who have asked her to track down a woman who may or may not have the ability to raise the dead. While A lot happens in this entry worth noting, R.M.F. is eventually raised from the dead after all just in time to finish out the credits with a messy sandwich.

So, what really is the true meaning behind R.M.F.?

What may end up as a disappointment ultimately, Yorgos responded at the red carpet New York premiere to who R.M.F. is, exactly (per Variety):

“It felt like a subtle way to connect the three stories other than the fact that the same actors play a different character in each story,” Lanthimos said. “We didn’t want to have a main character reappearing, but a character that had a short time in the film. But at the same time, his presence was pivotal.”

So, maybe not as deep as we would think, but hey—that's fun nonetheless. I don't know about you, but I love an ambiguous through line worthy of projecting different theories on over multiple watches. One thing I can say about every Yorgos movie I've ever seen is that they always get better every watch.