I usually don’t review movies never having seen the real need to do so when so many more articulated articles can be found online. It is also not very frequent that I watch a movie and am so taken I continue to think about it for days after. Silver Linings Playbook is perhaps one of a minute amount which has actually compelled me to out pen to paper, or rather type to screen.
I am not going to ramble on about the storyline here nor the wonderful acting skills of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. No doubt you have already heard much about these aspects as the build up to the Oscars commences. If not, you can just click on the link above. What made the film so special for me is the delicate and beautiful way the still taboo subject of mental health was approached.
What surprised me the most was how the film could almost be classed as a comedy, but not in the usual laugh out loud kind of way. Cooper’s character had a fearless way of voicing what most people are thinking, yet I did not feel myself pitying his outbursts and defining them as a result of his illness. Likewise, I appreciated how Lawrence’s character could make fun of Cooper’s illness without being insulting. These aspects are also found amongst other members of the cast allowing us to see the various ways in which people deal with mental illness as either sufferers or a supportive family member/friend. We are also opened to the realisation that mental illness can affect anyone from your mother to your best friend to your postman.
Perhaps some will argue that the film does not fully depict mental illness and this may certainly be the case. Nevertheless, what this movie does for the greater good of human kind is bring to the forefront an issue which globally widespread but which many attempt to hide away. I tip Silver Linings Playbook to sweep the Oscars helping to clear the stigma we sometimes attach so strongly.
Joyful Antidotes 