To fulfill the "guidelines" of IMDb, I will start off by saying that I did not enjoy watching this film. However, I found it to be an incredibly accurate depiction of depression supported by impeccable acting by a knock-out cast; plus, the positivity of the final scene (for some of the characters, at least) was refreshing.
Moving on to my motivation for a review-please post this, IMDb. This segment is still elementarily in regards to the content of the film and I think it will also provide a necessary rebuttal to a polarizing argument which could keep folks from experiencing what is really a great piece of cinema.
I just read a review by Eric Allen. The writing was satisfactory and it made a couple of valid points, but I was displeased with the piece in general.
There was one point in particular with which I took offense. The review expressed utter disgust and disillusionment with the angst in this movie, or, more specifically, with the admittedly large quantity of *sighs* present in the film. It went on to discuss the over-the-top nature of Woolf's (Kidman's) Clarissa's (Streep's), and Laura's (Moore's) respective depressions, making such post-production suggestions as titling the film "Just Kill Yourself Already".
I will offer that I, too, was a bit put off by the overall negative attitude of the film and the constant over-analysis and drama on the part of its characters. However, I recognized that these aspects of the film were accurate to actual depression patients.
And consider this: the film is about parallels between the minds of three women, one of whom is Virginia Woolf, writer of the tragic "Mrs. Dalloway" and eventual suicide case-a victim of her own torturous mind. Entering such a film, is there not an expectation or rather a necessity of the presence of angst? Additionally, the reviewer I mentioned earlier made it seem as though these women are anomalies of the human condition. They are not: According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 14.8 million Americans, or 6.7% of the population ages 18 and older, suffer from Major Depressive Disorder, making it the country's leading cause of disability. Though there are some clues as to the causation of depression, such as chemical in-balance or lack of exercise or proper nutrition, no one knows for sure.
As one can see, these women are not anomalies. They are not freaks to be looked down upon by some ignorant, condescending internet reviewer-these characters provide incredibly accurate representation of the experiences men and women who for centuries have suffered silently with similar symptoms of depression. Depression is real, and it is all too common.
So, as happy as I am that Mr. Eric Allen is ignorant to the realities of depression, I would appreciate it if next time he conducted some research to gather adequate knowledge of his subject before he writes his reviews. That way, he won't sound like an ignorant bigot and we won't have to waste our time on unfounded "pseudo-intellectual" (Allen) scribble.
Moving on to my motivation for a review-please post this, IMDb. This segment is still elementarily in regards to the content of the film and I think it will also provide a necessary rebuttal to a polarizing argument which could keep folks from experiencing what is really a great piece of cinema.
I just read a review by Eric Allen. The writing was satisfactory and it made a couple of valid points, but I was displeased with the piece in general.
There was one point in particular with which I took offense. The review expressed utter disgust and disillusionment with the angst in this movie, or, more specifically, with the admittedly large quantity of *sighs* present in the film. It went on to discuss the over-the-top nature of Woolf's (Kidman's) Clarissa's (Streep's), and Laura's (Moore's) respective depressions, making such post-production suggestions as titling the film "Just Kill Yourself Already".
I will offer that I, too, was a bit put off by the overall negative attitude of the film and the constant over-analysis and drama on the part of its characters. However, I recognized that these aspects of the film were accurate to actual depression patients.
And consider this: the film is about parallels between the minds of three women, one of whom is Virginia Woolf, writer of the tragic "Mrs. Dalloway" and eventual suicide case-a victim of her own torturous mind. Entering such a film, is there not an expectation or rather a necessity of the presence of angst? Additionally, the reviewer I mentioned earlier made it seem as though these women are anomalies of the human condition. They are not: According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 14.8 million Americans, or 6.7% of the population ages 18 and older, suffer from Major Depressive Disorder, making it the country's leading cause of disability. Though there are some clues as to the causation of depression, such as chemical in-balance or lack of exercise or proper nutrition, no one knows for sure.
As one can see, these women are not anomalies. They are not freaks to be looked down upon by some ignorant, condescending internet reviewer-these characters provide incredibly accurate representation of the experiences men and women who for centuries have suffered silently with similar symptoms of depression. Depression is real, and it is all too common.
So, as happy as I am that Mr. Eric Allen is ignorant to the realities of depression, I would appreciate it if next time he conducted some research to gather adequate knowledge of his subject before he writes his reviews. That way, he won't sound like an ignorant bigot and we won't have to waste our time on unfounded "pseudo-intellectual" (Allen) scribble.