Silver Lining Playbook | media-criticism

A Critical Examination of “Silver Linings Playbook”

by Jesse C. Robinson, '17

Major: Communication, Media Production & Criticism

Introduction: My Cherie Amour, Lovely As A Summer Day

Several films in the recent past have gained fame and notoriety for their various underlying themes and symbolisms that are scattered throughout the collections of celluloid, but rarely does a film deliver raw, real meaning to the story. In David O. Russell’s 2012 edgy romantic dramedy, Silver Linings Playbook, the real effects and situations surrounding mental illness are brought to life, relating strongly with the storyline of American simplicity. The film follows former Philadelphia high school teacher Pat Solitano, portrayed by Bradley Cooper (Limitless, The Hangover) as he adjusts back in to normal society, living with his parents, after spending eight months in a Baltimore mental institution for nearly killing a man he found sleeping with his wife. Pat’s undiagnosed bipolar issues, coupled with severe aggression, come out during various trigger moments in the film, most notably when Stevie Wonder’s hit song “My Cherie Amour” (Pat and his wife Nicki’s wedding song) plays in the therapist’s waiting room. The song was playing when Pat found Nicki and the tenured history teacher together in the Solitano’s shower.

Pat is struggling to adjust back in to everyday life with his parents, Patricio and Dolores Solitano (played respectfully by Robert DeNiro and Jackie Weaver). His father, Pat Senior, is a die-hard Philadelphia Eagles fan, who bets heavily on NFL games in order to fund his new cheesesteak restaurant. He is seen several times in the film as an example of OCD, or obsessive compulsive disorder, where he will move the remotes to the television in a certain direction so that the Eagles will score a touchdown, or rub a lucky handkerchief over and over with the idea that it will give the football team good vibes or “juju”. This sense of mental disorder gives viewers a full picture of a family suffering from mental illness, displayed and demonstrated in very realistic ways. With Nicki’s restraining order and eventual departure from his life, Pat meets Tiffany Maxwell, another sufferer of mental illness (in the form of depression). They do a dance competition together and over time, become lovers. Pat Solitano’s journey to actualization and mental stability comes with exercise, interesting activities and proper medication, and in the end he is seen as a stable, humbled individual. The films simplistic relatability to an everyday human process is a driving factor of what made the picture a success and a delight to watch on screen, coupled with Porter’s age old idea of telling a realistic story through film (Hanson, 2014).

Examining Pat Senior: Robert DeNiro’s Portrayal

The heart and soul given to the performance and portrayal of Patricio Solitano by actor Robert DeNiro is astounding in the sense of creating a character who lives mental illness internally and externally through himself and others on a daily basis. When Bradley Cooper’s character brings up the fact that DeNiro cannot come to the Eagles game because he is banned for fighting so many times, following up with “I guess we’re not so different after all, eh Dad?” (Cooper, Russell, 2012), we can see how Pat Sr. has his own mental anger issues in the film. In a 2013 interview with Katie Couric, Robert DeNiro breaks down in tears when asked about his relation to the topic of mental illness and involvement with the Oscar-nominated motion picture. Through the tears he muttered: “I don’t like to get emotional, but I know exactly what he (David O. Russell and his son with mental illness) goes through” (DeNiro, 2013).

DeNiro was able to bring his emotions about his own son’s actual mental illness to fuel Pat Sr.’s emotions about the Eagles and Pat’s mental issues in the film. At one point in the film, Pat Sr. is talking to Pat at his bed, telling him that he wished the two would spend more time together watching the Eagles, talking about the Eagles and more. As Pat Sr. does this, he begins to cry when explaining these details to Pat. DeNiro was not scripted to cry in that scene, but he brought his own emotional experiences from his life and tied it in with this father character to create real-life atmosphere in the film, hitting the topics of familial relations and mental illnesses home, and hard.

When I was younger, my father Jesse Sr. was eerily similar to Pat Sr. when it came to professional football and mental effects, the only difference being the specific team in the NFC East. The Solitanos would’ve hated us, as we were, and are still today, a huge Redskins “fanmily”. There would be anger and “juju” flowing all over the living room during and after games, mainly because it was the Redskins and most games ended with a big, fat “L” in the statistics column. The film and DeNiro’s portrayal of mental effects of a professional football team’s success/failure is exemplified perfectly in Silver Lining’s Playbook, which is a big reason my father and I immediately related with, and enjoyed the hell out of this award-winning piece of cinematography. The relatability of the scenarios and the effectiveness of the actors’ portrayals throughout the film are the two driving factors that bring a real, hard light on to mental illness and how individuals in high pressure situations interact with one another.

Tiffany Maxwell and “The Birds”: Telling a Realistic Story through Film

A driving force behind the receptiveness of a given film audience is oftentimes relatability. Sure sometimes people will go to the movies for specific reasons like getting scared by a horror flick, but it would appear that folks enjoy a picture that they can either relate to directly or relate to in their peripheral worlds of view. Silver Linings Playbook exemplifies several relatable topics that audiences can feed in to, and in doing so, enjoy the film to a higher degree. As previously mentioned, the film relates very strongly with individuals and families struggling with mental illnesses by portraying scenes of what an actual bi-polar episode might look like, but there are other areas of relatability than just the more serious main point, which gives with film an extra edge over the competition.

The film’s writer and director, David O. Russell, doesn’t just make a film relatable to mental illness; he also incorporates aspects of everyday American society including relationship problems, love and professional football icons. Pat Solitano’s mental issues are fueled by romantic relationships, mainly his dwindling relationship with wife Nicki at the beginning of the film. Romance drives the film on, though, as Pat meets and eventually falls in love with Tiffany Maxwell. Through the scenes of them practicing their dance routine, the audience can see the forming of a new intimate relationship, a factor that keeps the audience on their toes as well as something that addresses/solves the character’s main problem. Russell then goes a step further in to the plot of the film by adding a factor that will affect the process of love and temporarily halt it: professional football. As the beer flows and the Eagle wings fly outside of Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia,

Pat remembers that he was supposed to rehearse the dance number with Tiffany that day, which leads to a temporary conflict in their developing relationship. Russell’s addition of a new factor which goes beyond the typical love story, fuels the up’s and down’s of the film’s story and keeps the audience interested and entertained. The aspect of professional football team the Philadelphia Eagles is also a very well-known entity among sports fans and most likely the typical “man on the street”, which makes the film relatable to everyday American culture and makes the viewer believe that this is a realistic scenario that could play out in modern day. The simplistic beauty of the film, and how it is so relevant in today’s society, really fuels the emotional connections that are made by audiences around the world.

Cold, Hard Facts to Success: Looking Beyond the Actors and Script

Silver Linings Playbook was a successful film because of its masterful, yet simplistic screenplay as well as it its performances by such veteran actors as Robert Deniro, however, there are more technical aspects that can be seen when examining the success and enjoyment of this film. The picture features a full picture as far as character incorporation. The film is neither predominantly male nor female, as the film features strong leads with both Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, who both contribute tremendous emotional performances throughout the course of the film. The film encapsulates a much broader area for enjoyment, covering topics from professional dancing to professional football to professional psychiatry, creating a larger audience interest all around. With the examples given it is clear to see how Silver Linings Playbook achieves emotion, familial relation and the harsh realities of mental illness, all through an edgy, yet heartwarming, realistic motion picture.

Bibliography

Hanson, R. (2014). Mass Communication Effects. In Mass Communication:

Living in a Media World (4th ed., pp. 183). London: SAGE.

DeNiro, R. Interview 5 February, 2013. Katie. ABC.

Silver linings playbook [Motion picture on DVD]. (2012). United States.