Rarely do films depicting mental illness manage to do
justice to real life situations that a mentally unstable person would go
through. The norm in films when it comes to portraying a mentally challenged
individual is to show them constantly upset, overreacting to simple situations
with anger and attempts to show what the character is going through by use of graphic
visuals which are meant to represent disorientation. Few films really fair well
when it comes to handling characters with mental stability problems.
After spending eight months in a mental asylum to be treated
for his bipolar disorder, Pat Solitano is released under condition that his
parents will tend to his every need and keep him out of harm’s way. Having
dedicated the better part of the eight months on losing weight and shaping up,
Pat decides to carry on his workout routine outside the asylum in the hope that
his wife would take him back on his release. Unfortunately, a violent incident
prior to his hospitalisation resulted in his wife getting a restraining order
against him and moving away from the neighbourhood in his absence. He
reconciles with his best friend Ronnie and is invited over for dinner where he
meets Tiffany. The widow of a recently deceased cop, Tiffany has some mental
problems of her own which forms the basis of her friendship with Pat. They soon
strike up a deal where Pat will partner Tiffany in a dance competition for her
help in communicating with his wife in the hope that she will take him back.
Silver Linings Playbook was adapted from a novel titled The
Silver Linings Playbook which draws its name from the protagonist mentioning
the silver lining on every dark cloud every time he is faced with a challenging
situation and his discussions with his therapist who insists he start making a
playbook by which to live his life. It was written for screen as well as
directed by David O. Russell. The film is mostly a drama which borders on the
edges of a romantic-comedy.
The protagonist is established as a mentally ill person from
the beginning. Unfortunately this paves the way for recurring aggressive
behaviour throughout the film on his part. Although he is shown to have bipolar
disorder he shows very few traits of the disorder itself; he does not seem to
have constant mood swings between depression and happiness. Instead he seems to
have violent outbreaks when things don’t go his way. Another unnecessary
feature is the love interest of the protagonist also having a mental condition.
The film seems to propagate a belief that mentally unstable people can only get
along with other mentally disturbed people.
The story is easy to predict from the first instance that
protagonist Pat meets his future love interest Tiffany. Unfortunately the story
doesn’t gradually progress in the direction of the obvious. Pat is seen to be
deeply in love with his wife the entire time that he is rehearsing for a dance
competition with Tiffany. At the end of the film we suddenly find that Pat, who
has been obsessing over his wife the whole film, realises that he isn’t really
in love with her in a convenient climax.
The film doesn’t have too many ebbs and surges in the plot.
It is mostly a drama with very few instances of dry wit humour. The only
refreshing point of the film is the humour which is sparse unfortunately. That
aside, the film is quite dry and depicts mentally unstable people far too
stereotypically.
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