After hearing that I would love Silver Lingings Playbook multiple times, I finally let go of my hesitancy and sat down to give it a watch. I knew that it was one of the few movies representing BD and I was reluctant to give it a shot because, well let’s be honest, how often do movies do an accurate portrayal of a real life experience? Everyday I wake up with an illness that I am unable to control on my own and this reduces me to the title that I bear and subjects me to the stigma that comes along with it.

Of course I didn’t want to sit down for 2 hours and watch the worst part of my illness be extracted and acted out by people who don’t know much about it. I didn’t expect much thought to be given to the actual illness. I expected the “crazy” to be played on as the catchy, interesting, and exciting part of the movie.

Now, I don’t know if it was because I struggle with the disorder or not, but I was right about one thing: the movie played on the illness big time. However, unlike I expected, it did it in a way that really captured what it feels like to be in the throws of an unmedicated bipolar episode.

More importantly, though, I felt like there were some parts of the movie that gave a lot of credit to those that suffer without victimizing or shaming them. In short, I thought that the movie humanized those that suffer from mental illness in a way that still acknowledged how real the illness is.

The movie really seemed to expand on the limited awareness that a person has of their disorder when they are unmedicated, but it was done in a nice way. The effects of not being medicated are brilliantly displayed throughout the movie. It seems like a lot of the time when I am unmedicated I will be quick to say, “yes yes I know I need to take my medication,” but in the same breath say, “but I don’t want to lose this part of me.” When I am manic, in particular, I am capable of waking up early, not eating or sleeping, getting a ton of homework done, and still being able to socialize at the end of the day. I feel like this is the “best me” the beautiful, charismatic, artistic me. Likewise, in Silver Linings, the characters are portrayed as having an intrinsic knowledge and desire to be well, but as also not wanting to lose a part of who they are.

Symptoms shown throughout

As well as establishing the humanity of the characters, the film does a great job of showing the dangers of not taking medication the way it is prescribed. Mood swings and mania are prevalent throughout the movie.

For example:

Pat believes there is nothing wrong with him following his stint in a mental health unit where he learned self help-techniques he believed were stronger than his medication

Pat wakes up his parents in the middle of the night multiple times for various ridiculous reason (ex. to rant about a book he just finished in two seconds) MANIA MANIA MANIA.

Pat experiences extreme agitation and anger to the point of hitting his mom and beating up his dad

Tiffany (I don’t believe she is manic throughout the movie, but was at one point, or she potentially suffers from another illness that is not mentioned) admits to hypersexual behavior by admitting that she slept with everyone in the office following her husband’s death. Tiffany also experiences violent mood swings and anger throughout the movie ranging from what appears to be normal to manic and depressed. Some articles have suggested that Tiffany might have BPD, or borderline personality disorder, which in a lot of ways greatly resembles bipolar disorder. However, I think it is unclear and unfair to try and label Tiffany. Maybe the movie is trying to make you think more about the person and less about the illness with Tiffany; I truly believe it is Tiffany that humanizes illness in this movie in a lot of ways.

Ultimately, I love that Silver Linings Playbook acknowledges that TRAUMA often triggers the onset of a mental illness; both Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) and Pat (Bradley Cooper) experienced some major trauma before experiencing unbridled symptoms of their illnesses (which they may have been genetically predisposed to..).

I wasn’t so crazy about the fact that it seemed like, upon their commitment to one another, both Tiffany and Pat appear to have “gotten better,” but I enjoyed the romantic twist of their love story as it showed personal growth and exemplified the necessity for social support.

Finally, I think that movie does an absolutely wonderful job capturing the chaos and beauty that stem from knowing somebody or being somebody that lives with a mental illness. In particular, the movie also does a great job of acknowledging how the lives of family members are disrupted by illness. With that being said, however, it hints at interpersonal troubles between family members and even, potentially, a genetic link between Pat and his father relating to the illness.

By no means do I mean to romanticize mental illness and I truly believe that the movie does not do this either. Instead, it offers an insight into what it feels like to be a PERSON with an ILLNESS. The movie is not just a screenplay that markets off of the interesting facets of an illness that is severely debilitating to everybody involved with it.

So, if you haven’t seen this movie and you want to know more about bipolar disorder I would DEFINITELY recommend this movie as a means of entertainment and getting to see how it feels in BP person’s shoes for a few hours.

🙂