When we meet Sam, also in his mid-40s, he's spiralling out of control after his marriage to a shrewd, successful career woman has exploded. He comes from a big, boisterous family centred round the family business. Unlike Anna, he feels inescapably bonded to (and responsible for) his billowing family; the ex-wife, two adolescent children, and an equally flawed father (who he works for as a salesman at a bathroom store). Sam is very much not from the same cultural milieu as Anna, in fact he has never particularly found culture of any sort particularly engaging (just contrast his sparse, undecorated flat to hers). He's a victim to his sex drive, and now that he's out of his marriage he is unapologetic about avoiding monogamy and romantic commitment in his future. He's childlike – some would say infantile (!) – and neurotic, but he wears his heart on his sleeve which makes him funny and engaging... and an id-like foil to Anna, who is often paralysed by choice.
