Hello Friends,
The Oscars are fast approaching, and in my push to see as many Best Picture Nominees as possible, I found myself hoofing it over to Williamsburg Cinemas, a few weeks ago, in order to catch one of the very few showings of Silver Linings Playbook that I could find anywhere below 100th St. I rushed to the M from Queens (that’s a long story), and bustled myself up into the open and might I add, frigid air. I had read no synopsis, I had no idea who would be in the film, and I had no idea where I was going. There was a lot I didn’t know that day, including how much I would enjoy this delightful love story that has been nominated for a staggering 8 Academy Awards. SLP was so wonderful, in fact, that it has been nominated in all four acting categories, a feat which hasn’t occurred since Reds in 1981.
Silver Linings Playbook is, in essence, a romantic dram-edy about two crazy people trying to figure things out. When I say they’re crazy, I don’t mean wacky, I mean struggling with mental illness. Former teacher Pat Solitano, played by Bradley Cooper, has just finished a stint in a mental institution after committing a crime of passion against his ex-wife’s lover. Pat suffers from bipolar disorder, Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” is a dangerous trigger for him, and he is generally regarded by all in the film to be unstable. Tiffany Maxwell, played by the delightful Jennifer Lawrence, is a young widow who also happens to be a depressed sex addict who has just lost her job. Tiffany, though on the surface is “less troubled” than Pat, is struggling just as much with mental illness, though Pat is the one being medicated. Pat and Tiffany meet at a dinner hosted by Pat’s friend Ronnie, and suddenly Pat, who is singularly focused on getting back together with his ex-wife, finds himself with another woman in his life, whether he likes it or not.
If watching Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence wasn’t awesome enough, we also get to enjoy performances by Robert De Niro as Pat’s Eagles obsessed father, Jacki Weaver who plays Pat’s long-suffering mother, Chris Tucker, as Danny, Pat’s best friend from the mental health facility, and a surprising cameo by Julia Stiles. This delightful cast works together to tell a glorious and heartfelt story about two people who are just a little bit (or a lot) messed up, and trying to get themselves back on track.
I will say that Silver Linings Playbook is, in some ways, predictable. What makes this movie extraordinary and award winning isn’t some reinvention of the romantic comedy form. Instead, it’s the performances of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, who have managed to create incredibly complex and human characters that are living with and struggling against the stigma attached to mental illness. Pat returns home to his old neighborhood to find himself stared at and judged everywhere he goes. There is even a young boy, (played by David Russell’s son, who battles bipolar disorder in his real life), who comes to Robert De Niro’s doorstep in an attempt to interview the “crazy man” for a school project. Pat has a police officer following him around trying to catch him in some act of violation of the restraining order against him. When he goes to the school where he used to work, his former principal and employer screams, and attempts to run into the building.
Tiffany is having a hard time dealing with her family, especially her sister, who is very judgmental of her condition, and her parents, who strongly disapprove of the men she brings to her house and seem to take up the opinion that she’s merely being promiscuous, rather than struggling with a problem. We watch Tiffany attempt to self-medicate using all the means she can get her hands on, and in one moment is a caring person and the next, is a screaming banshee crying “sexual assault!” in order to get Pat away from her when she is angry with him. But Jennifer Lawrence gives depth to the stereotypes that are associated with mental illness, playing a woman who is struggling against an illness, a fully fleshed-out person rather than a stereotype of what we think “crazy” looks like. Bradley Cooper goes above and beyond in his honest portrayal of bipolar disorder, and his performance made me rethink the way all of society makes assumptions about people who have committed violent crimes. Over and over again, I was blown away by the specific and compassionate choices made by the director, David O. Russell, and the members of the cast.
I hesitate to predict which films will win this year, because there are just so many wonderful nominees, but I know Silver Linings Playbook is a must-see, and adds to the canon of great films about mental illness, and perhaps the canon of great love stories as well.
Go and check out this film; I think you’ll regret missing it!
Live, Love, Learn,