Movie Analysis: The Silver Linings Playbook

In the movie Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper plays the main character Pat Solitano Jr. The movie starts off with Pat being released from a psychiatric facility. Pat’s time spent in the psychiatric facility was a plea bargain that his lawyer advised him to make. The court only mandated eight months of inpatient time, and against the will of the doctors in the facility, his mother is discharging him because she thinks that eight months is sufficient time for Pat to become well. On the drive home Pat wants to stop at the library so he can pick up a copy of all the books that his ex-wife Nikki has on her high school teaching syllabus, so that he can connect with her and get his job back. When they get back to his parent’s house it

The film I chose to analyze is Silver Linings Playbook because I was interested in the story when I read the synopsis of the movie. I thought that this would be a simple movie where the main characters would help each other because they had something in common. Reading the synopsis, I also thought that Pat would be back together with his wife, but at the end he found another love. In the next paragraphs I will show my knowledge on what I have learned this semester. On my analysis of Silver Linings, I will give examples that has the concept of language, nonverbal communication, listening, emotions, conflict, and close relationships.

In the movie Silver Linings Playbook, we follow Pat Solitano Jr., a man recently released from a mental institution (Cohen et al., 2012). He is a Caucasian male, likely in his early to mid-thirties and of Italian descent. He was a high school history teacher, living with his wife, Nikki, an English teacher. Upon finding his wife in the shower with another man, he nearly beats the man to death leading him to be sent to a psychiatric facility for eight months with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. In this essay I will support the diagnosis of a Bipolar I disorder. A diagnosis of Bipolar I disorder, has specific criteria in the DSM-V that have to be met. I will be listing the criteria and through examples of Pat’s actions, thoughts and behaviours, he meets the criteria.

In the opening scene of The Silver Linings Playbook (2012) the main character, Pat, was just being released from a court-ordered stay at a psychiatric hospital. After finding his wife cheating on him, with their wedding song playing in the background, Pat reacted by aggressively assaulting the other man. Unfortunately, because of this incident, Pat lost his job, his wife obtained a restraining order against him, and he was about to be sent to jail. However, rather going to jail, he took a plea bargain that sentenced him to eight months in a psychiatric hospital.

The narrative of Silver Linings Playbook is formed in the heart of Philadelphia around a middle class family at it’s breaking point. Pat’s, the protagonist, family has very much shaped his current situation; he has clinical bipolar disorder and struggles with stress-induced manic outbursts. After Pat’s release from a mandated rehabilitation center, he handles the next recuperating stage of his life in a similar way as a quarterback looking to make the next big play on the field; watching for possible blitzes and passes, anything to get the ball into the end zone, or in Pat’s case, to get in position for his life to get back on track, and

When watching The Hateful Eight it’s clear that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by John Carpenter’s The Thing. There are quite a few subtle nods to the classic horror film as well as some not so subtle similarities. One could watch one right after the other and immediately see the similarities between the two films. While most people would not consider The Hateful Eight a horror film it takes the greatest horror aspects of The Thing and uses them to its advantage. Quentin Tarantino took quite a few ideas from John Carpenter’s The Thing and modified them so they fit seamlessly in to his western film, including actors, characters, and even some music that was originally written for Carpenter’s film but was never used.

The analysis of the movie I chose was Silver Linings Playbook. This movie was a revamping of the publication Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. Patrick, known as Pat throughout the movie, Solatano, Jr. is portrayed by Bradley Cooper. Although it is unclear what is different about Pat in the very beginning, the story soon unravels his skeletons in the closet. The opening scene starts as Pat is being released from the Karel psychiatric facility in Baltimore. Pat was institutionalized after he walked in on his wife and the history teacher having an affair in the shower, blacked out, and beat the man nearly to death. He is ordered to attend therapy as part of his plea bargain and release deal. Even though medication is almost required to treat his condition, Pat decides it is better to change his outlook on life and find “the silver linings," he even shouts his motto “excelsior” meaning “always upward” (Excelsior dictionary definition). To me this meant, finding the positive in every negative situation. However, even though it sounds good on the surface, it can also be used as a crutch to fuel self delusion. Pat ends up being set up on a dinner date in order to get over the fact that his wife has since moved. After the dinner date, Pat finds himself spending much time with Tiffany, another main character with a mental illness, who he enters a dance competition with and ends up falling for. This analysis will cover the symptoms/diagnosis, nature versus nurture,

Silver Linings Playbook begins with the one of the main characters, Pat Jr., being released from a mental hospital by his mother. He has been institutionalized due to his bipolar disorder, because he severely beat the man his wife was cheating on him with. Pat later meets his love interest, Tiffany, through his best friend at dinner. Viewers are able to assume that Tiffany suffers from a borderline personality disorder due to her actions throughout the movie. Pat’s father, Pat Sr., also seems to show signs of OCD even though he is not diagnosed with this disease in the movie. Different types of medication and therapy are given to both Pat and Tiffany to help with their disorders, but it seems that something unexpected “cures” them of their psychological diseases.

Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of Jamal, a boy from the slums of

The good lie is a movie about a refugee family from war ridden Sudan. They begin as children trying to fight for their lives on the way to safety, losing a brother along the way to a group of soldiers. When they finally reach the refugee camp they find: a safe place to stay, warm food, and new clothes. Shortly after their arrival they lose yet another brother. They patiently wait for a plane ticket out of Sudan, and after thirteen long years, they get their chance. They bored the plane excited to see what is in store only to find out their sister will not be staying with them. The three brothers depart from their sister with a lady named Carrie Davis. They face many new challenges together along with any

The movie, The Breakfast Club, is a movie about five students who get Saturday school and become friends as a result of it. The characters were: Allison, the quiet girl who would sit in the back and refuse to talk; John, the troublemaker who always talked back to the teachers; Claire, the popular girl who always got what she wanted; Brian, the nerdy student who only cared about having good grades; Andrew, the wrestler who was only focused impressing his father. While watching the movie, I mainly related to Brian. He is pressured to have good grades by his parents and is labeled as the nerd because of it. I am also pressured to have good grades; however, I am labeled as the smart kid in many different classes, but I’m not classified as a nerd.

Silver Linings Playbook is about a man named Pat and his struggle with life and being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He was recently released from a mental health facility and living under the care of his mother and father. He is determined to reconcile with his estranged wife, regardless of her restraining order against him. Prior to being in the clinic, Pat found his wife having an affair with another man in their house and in a fit of rage attacked the other man nearly to

be in a legal dispute with the clinic on whether or not he is eligible to leave, from a

Novels are always better than films because they have more details than a film. While reading a novel the readers can imagine the scenes with details it gives. Meanwhile, in films, the reader doesn’t get the whole effect on how a character feels. The Fault in Our Stars novel is better than the film itself. The Fault in Our Stars is a story of a young sixteen-year-old named Hazel Grace who is a survivor of cancer. Grace meets a young boy named Augustus Waters at the cancer support group. They fall in love. Grace feels like this boy understands her and have so much in common. Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace go to Amsterdam to meet Peter Van Houten. He is a famous author who wrote a novel called “An Imperial Affliction,” While Grace and Waters are at Amsterdam, they fall in love. They continue on going to dates and being with each other the most they could. Augustus knew he was going to die soon. He planned his funeral and dies days later. The Fault in Our Stars novel is different from the film. For example, in the novel, the author talks about how Hazel visits Isaac at the hospital often because his eye surgery, Hazel notices Augustus staring at her during the support group meeting, and Hazel drives to Augustus house to pick him up before their trip because she overhears him arguing with his mother

The movie Silver Lining Playbook portrays two primary characters, Pat Solitano and Tiffany Maxwell. Both of these characters have psychological disorders that they struggle with. Pat who was a teacher finds