I didn’t see Silver Linings Playbook when it came out. I’m a month older than Jennifer Lawrence, and Bradley Cooper is pushing 40. Watching the two in a romantic comedy wasn’t my idea of entertainment.
But then it got nominated for a bunch of Oscars. I’m a sucker. Now I’ve got to see the bipolar-boy-meets-sex-addict-girl love story.
If not for the romance, at least I’d better watch it for the commentary on mental health. Because when Hollywood is willing to associate a famous and good-looking cast with serious topics of neurosis and depression, it’s probably worth a watch.
McMaster’s Student Wellness Centre ran Stop Out the Stigma events last fall. They sought to acknowledge how common problems of student mental illness were on campus.
Along with Silver Linings Playbook, it asserted that helping people first means making it okay to admit that they’re in need of support.
Other efforts, particularly out of the MSU, have tried to help students going through a tough time.
The Student Health Education Centre (more than free condoms) launched a campaign this week to promote their peer-to-peer counselling services. The student-run MSU service asks, “Want to talk? We want to listen.”
Also running is the new, and only somewhat redundant, Peer Support Line, whose members are also “here to talk” to students.
Meanwhile, the Student Wellness Centre is offering counselling services and online resources to students.
But there’s an important piece missing. Someone can talk to their peers or try to self-help all they want. But, for a lot of people, recovery won’t start until they get one very meaningful thing: a diagnosis.
And it’s not just about treatment. It’s about attitude.
Maybe your girlfriend/boyfriend broke up with you. Maybe school’s a lot of work. Maybe you’re homesick. Or maybe life’s fine, but for some reason, you’re not happy in it.
Getting anxious or depressed as a result doesn’t mean you’re weak. But it might mean that you’re sick. That’s a meaningful distinction to give someone.
Yet professional, medical approaches to student mental health are lacking on campus. Wait times are too long at the Student Wellness Centre, and the office doesn’t have the resources to do much other than refer students to other doctors when the going really gets tough.
The will to help is obviously present at McMaster. And SHEC and the Peer Support Line are offering necessary services.
But for every service that’s “here to talk,” there needs to be one that’s “here to treat.” Someone needs to be able to respond quickly and completely when a student’s mental state turns to illness. Students aren’t going to be the first ones to admit, or even realize, that what they’re going through requires more than a talk from a peer.
Anyway, I hear Silver Linings Playbook is still playing at Westdale Theatre. Anyone want to go?
I did not expect that an actor resembling the stereotypical homecoming king would’ve won me over with a killer performance. Bradley Cooper does all that and more in David O. Russel’s adaption of Matthew Quick’s breakout novel. Famous for hits like The Fighter, Russel was able to lure industry heavyweights like Robert De Nero and Jennifer Lawrence to a production bursting with Oscar potential. Silver Linings Playbook is a heartbreakingly realistic drama with enough comedic relief — or silver linings — to keep things optimistic.
Cooper plays Pat Solitano, a man who has just moved back into his parents’ suburban Philadelphia home after a stint in a mental institution. To put it lightly, Pat has a lot going on. His ex-wife Nikki has a restraining order filed against him for beating up the schlub she was having an affair with (seems fair, right?).
Pat struggles with a bipolar disorder and it’s questionable if he’d be better off back in rehab. Even reading his ex’s high school teaching syllabus gets to Pat, with Hemingway’s propensity for unhappy endings directly contradicting his “Excelsior” motto - ever upwards.
Lured to a friend’s dinner, Pat meets Tiffany (played by Jennifer Lawrence), a promiscuous widow who he bonds with after discussing the virtues of Xanax and Klonopin. Still delusional with thoughts of resurrecting his failed marriage, he agrees to join Tiffany in a dance competition under the impression that it will demonstrate to Nikki how well he is doing.
What transpires is a heartwarming tale of having the courage to confront one’s inner demons, as horrifying as they may seem. Russel expertly avoids cheesy, melodramatic indulgences —ahem, Perks, I’m looking at you —and gets Pat and his father (Robert De Niro) to click on a personal level.
I’m not going to apologize for this gushing review, but I will apologize on behalf of Ernest Hemingway, who would have probably preferred a darker ending.
By: Tomi Milos
