Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day portrays the evolution of a man's perception while stuck in a seemingly endless time loop. At the start, Phil Connors is egotistical and manipulative; his only concern is to get out of Punxsutawney and, soon enough, out of the time lope he becomes suck in. Connors' first actions in this time loop involve him manipulating the people around him to achieve temporary pleasures, such as robbing the bank truck, seducing women, and endangering others' lives to take a joy ride. Connors lives like this for a while, only doing things to amuse himself. Eventually, he begins to dread the time loop. Everything thing he does is done in efforts to free himself from the time loop. So, though Connors has total control of his free will, his primary reasoning has changed. This the changes the type of actions Connors carries out. Connors is stuck in the time loop and a bout of depression. He continues to try to break the time loop, but several failed attempts leaves Connors depressed. He attempts suicide several times trying to break the loop, but he finds no success. Connors, in his depression, loses his sense of free will when his suicide attempts just end with him waking up again on Groundhog Day. Through out a lot of the movie, Connors tries to woo his co-worker Rita. Connors, after his depression, decides to change how he interacts with the people he encounters. He is nicer to others and uses the knowledge he's learned over the course of his time loop to help others. So, through this time loop, Connors has some fundamental changes in his ideology. This in turn allows him to act on different wants or needs. He makes such a dramatic change from the start of the time loop to the end of it that he is able to break the time loop. His ability to discover new desires and act on things to lead him to that desire show how Connors continued to have free will throughout the time loop, though it seems his actions were limited at times. In the beginning, Connors is acting in things to build himself up to satisfy his self-absorbed perspective. But as the story progresses, he starts to act in a more kind manner to others because he has grown tired of his manipulative and lonely ways. This change in him is eventually what is able to break the time loop.