Much of the negative criticism I’ve found on Elling centers around its treatment of mental illness. For one thing, it is unclear what is wrong with these two guys. In a sense, it seems like they have some unrealistic made-for-film mental illness.
On the other hand, much of the positive criticism of the movie is due to what it says about mental illness. Some reviewers thought it did a good job of using abnormal characters to show things about normal life. Other reviewers (ones who are perhaps skeptical of psychology and psychiatry) say that it says does a good job of teaching that the mentally ill “need a friendly kick in the pants.” (Yes, that’s an actual quote from a review by Ty Burr of the Boston Globe.)
What do you think of the film’s treatment of mental illness? Does it bother you that the film portrays it as inherently funny?
5 comments:
I felt OK with it. Maybe because they didn't seem mentally ill to me so much as just socially retarded. I'm not sure what the filmmaker's intent was in that regard.
It seems to me that they were supposed to be mentally ill. After all, they were institutionalized, and they were told they would be sent back against their will if they didn't succeed at living in the apartment.
I assumed Elling had OCD or perhaps a mild form of autism. Bjarne, I didn't know. And both made several references to dysfunctional parenting.
The movies I'm going to use for comparison dealt with physical/developmental disabilities rather than mental health, but I think horrific parodies like "The Ringer" (Johnny Knoxville infiltrates the Special Olympics) or "Bubble Boy" (a remake of "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble") are a different breed of "comedy" than "Elling." The latter was intended to tell a story of personal growth among two characters despite their obstacles, even if at times we laughed along with those obstacles.
Movies like "The Ringer" and "Bubble Boy" are meant to mock people with challenges for an audience laugh, but put a Band-Aid on their purpose with a feel-good, now-average-Joe-gets-me ending.
Anyway, I was comfortable with the film in that respect.
The situation with Bjarne was unclear, yeah. But with Elling, I definitely got the impression that his home life and his relationship with his mother contributed greatly to his problems. Like he what he needed really was a kick in the pants.
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