New in theaters, Touched With Fire is an indie film starring Katie Holmes and Luke Kirby that tells the story of two bipolar poets in love. The acting isn’t great, and it isn’t horrible. It’s the script that’s the problem.
Bradley Cooper stole my heart — not in The Hangover movies but in Silver Linings Playbook, in which he gave a strikingly accurate portrayal of what it’s like to live with bipolar disorder. But a little known fact about Cooper is that he is a recovering addict. In sobriety, he’s become a master at his craft.
Quirky. Eccentric. Adorable. In Infinitely Polar Bear, the bipolar character Cam Stuart is a super-likable guy. Played by Mark Ruffalo, Cam is a fun-loving father in a family of four just trying to get by. Bipolar characters are few and far between in high-profile pop culture. There’s Pat, the bipolar football fanatic played by Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook, and Carrie Mathison, the bipolar CIA agent played by Claire Danes in the hit Showtime TV show Homeland. And that’s about it. Until now.
When you hear the words “mentally ill,” the first thing that comes to mind is probably “crazy” — and we have the media’s negative depictions to thank for that. The truth is, many of us who are mentally ill manage our symptoms with medication and therapy and are able to lead normal or near-normal lives.
Our culture has come a long way since One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. While the Jack Nicholson film is indeed a great one, it is nowhere near an accurate picture of what mental illness and treatment look like today. The following films get it right.
