I don't know about the UK, but where I come from, those kind of medical professionals are very rich people. After doing a five year medical degree, plus two or three years specialist training, you'd v expect to be on a few quid.
But Hector doesn't seem very affluent. He wears tatty cloths, travels economy class, books cheap hotels.
Seems like an anomaly.
They mention a lot that he charges patients far less than he should and hasn't upped his prices in years, so he's going to be poor by psychiatrist standards. He also may have wanted to travel on a shoestring, I did that last year despite having the money to do it more expensive, because it was more of an adventure.
Also I'm not sure how much of a shoestring it was. Some of his flights were cheap yes but he travelled from Africa to America in first class, which must have cost an enormous amount and unless I missed something there was no indication someone else paid for that. Though I could be wrong about that, as I was a bit distracted at that point in the film.
Being from London I can tell you that his flat would be worth about £3 million at least - so he is very rich.
shareI have to disagree about his wealth. For a start, he could afford to take an indeterminate amount of time off work. Then, flying from London to Beijing, to a remote part of sub-saharan Africa to Los Angeles and then back to London isn't exactly cheap, even in economy class (and he was in first class going to L.A.)
I'll grant you that the internal flight in Africa was pretty basic, but I'm guessing the next most expensive option for that leg of the journey involves hiring your own private plane (and he's not that rich) and it's the same with his hotel, there's probably no luxury hotel nearby that he can upgrade to.
In Beijing, he was booked to stay at the Marriott, which might not be top end, luxury, but it's certainly not a shoestring option.
That shirt of his, with all the pockets, removable sleeves, in a durable and quick drying fabric is fairly expensive. He might not look stylish, but he's dressing for practicality and I'm guessing he went out and bought everything new, choosing the most practical options, no matter the price.
He's not poor, so much as sensible.
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And in expensive cities, real estate consumes a significantly larger portion of your income than elsewhere in the world. Having a high enough income to live well doesn't mean you have a ton of liquid assets.
The apartment is probably a joint investment with the girlfriend, who apparently has a prestigious job in the pharmaceutical industry, while Hector basically does family counseling. She's obviously got more money between the two of them.
4th wall break inside a 4th wall break... that's like 16 walls!
affluence is sometimes a lot to do with taste. Knowing a lot of doctors who earn "a good few quid" they would much rather sleep in a barn than a 4-star hotel. Preference is not predominantly linked to wealth.
I think the deal about his wealth is that as a person he is completely stuck in a rut; that is to say, he never changes, and so he still lives the way he always has in a very conventional manner. So despite potentially being able to afford it, his lifestyle is stuck in some sort of boring repetition loop.
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