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Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in an unusual love story Silver Linings Playbook |
Director: David O. Russell
Cast: Bradley Cooper (Pat Solitano Jnr), Jennifer Lawrence
(Tiffany Maxwell), Robert De Niro (Pat Solitano Snr), Jacki Weaver (Dolores
Solitano), Anupam Kher (Dr Cliff Patel), Chris Tucker (Danny McDaniels), Julia
Stiles (Veronica), Shea Whigham (Jake Solitano), John Ortiz (Ronnie)
David O. Russell is a director it’s easier to admire than
fall in love with. I can see why actors come back to work with him time and
again – he’s clearly an actors’ director who crafts stories that give them
chances to shine. But his films often have an archness about them, while I find
too many of them settle for a sort of middle-of-the-road quirky cool. I’ve
never really, truly, loved any of them – even if I have enjoyed them while
watching them. The closest I think I’ve got is Silver Linings Playbook.
Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) is released from psychiatric
hospital, after being confined for assaulting his ex-wife’s lover, into the
care of his parents Pat Snr (Robert De Niro), unemployed now making a living as
an underground bookmaker, and Dolores (Jacki Weaver). Suffering from a host of
compulsions connected to his bipolar disorder, Pat is fixated on winning back
his wife. To do so, he enlists the help of Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), the widow
of a policeman who died in a road traffic accident, who has her own borderline
personality disorder and has been dealing with her grief through a parade of
casual sexual encounters. Together they enter a dance competition – Tiffany
because she always wanted to, Pat because Tiffany has offered to take Pat’s
letters to his wife if he says yes and because Pat wants to prove to his wife
that he has changed. But is there more than mutual convenience between the two?
Silver Linings
Playbook is an unusual romance, that also explores themes of mental health
and compulsions and how thin the lines can be between what we consider healthy
and not healthy. When does obsession tip over into something that should be
treated? Pat is the sort of guy who wakes his parents up to furiously denounce
the Hemingway book he has just finished reading in one sitting (a scene played
exuberantly for laughs – including Pat smashing a window by throwing the book
out of it) but it quickly tips into danger when in a similar mania he awakens
the entire neighbourhood at 3am tearing the house apart for his wedding video,
accidentally hits his mother, and ends in a tear filled scuffle with his dad.
Similarly, Tiffany’s tendencies towards aggression and self-destruction
frequently put her in situations both funny and dreadfully damaging.
But just as close to this, we have Pat Snr’s addiction not
only to gambling, but also to a raft of superstitions designed to better his
chances of winning (and which dominate large parts of his life). Dolores seems
obsessed with maintaining peace and order in the family. Pat’s brother has an
almost savant tendency to speak his mind, causing more harm than good. Every
character in this seems to have their own psychological hang-ups, with resulting
problems.
But the film marries this up with an actually quite sweet
romantic story between two damaged souls, both very well played by Cooper and
Lawrence. This was the film where Cooper repositioned himself as a major actor
of note. His performance here is a perfect mixture of charm, pain, confusion,
frustration, insight and self-destructive monomania. He’s both funny and deeply
moving, sweet and also slappable, gentle but with a capacity for unpredictability.
He’s a terrific performance, deeply affecting. It also helps he has fabulous
chemistry with an Oscar-winning Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence’s Tiffany is a
vulnerable soul, desperate to appear as tough and impossible to harm as
possible and not caring about any of the collateral damage. She’s as brittle as
she seems rigid, and as desperate for affection as she pretends to be uncaring
about it.
The film throws these two together with an obvious spark
from the start, and brilliantly uses their preparation for a dancing contest to
show them growing closer together physically and emotionally, as well as adding
a purpose to their lives and giving them a common goal to work towards. There is
a rather nice gentleness, amongst all the chaos of this film, that something as
simple as taking up a new hobby can help to ground two people.
The film builds the romance gently, carefully showing it
developing organically and leaving us to guess at what point the bond between
these two enrichens and deepens from an instant connection to something more
profound. It’s sure got a lot to overcome, with Pat’s obsessive focus on his
wife and Tiffany’s compulsion for meaningless sex and her own desire to destroy
promising relationships (she almost immediately alienates the surprisingly
gentlemanly Pat with an offer of casual sex on their first meeting). With a
gentle slow-burn, the film builds towards something that ends up being rather
moving.
Russell’s adaptation of the original novel is
well-structured and entertaining and his unfussy, stylish direction brilliantly
creates an enjoyable mode. De Niro (in what many people called a joyous return
to form) and Weaver are both very good as the parents (both were Oscar
nominated – this is one of the few films to be nominated in each acting
category) and there is hardly a weak beat in the cast. After several quirky,
indie-cool, rather distant films, this is possibly the most fun and the most
heart-warming Russell has ever been. It’s a career high. Heck even Chris Tucker
is really good. And I’d never thought I’d say that.
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