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Silver Linings Playbook

Decent Essays

Silver Linings Playbook was first released in 2012. The film was originally adapted from a novel written by Matthew Quick however this American comedy is directed by David O Russell. The film tells the story of a young man Pat Solitano, who has spent several months in a mental institution due to his bipolar disorder. He has lost everything as a result he moves back home to live with his parents and is determined to reunite with his ex-wife. Along the way Pat meets Tiffany who recently lost her partner, their relationship grows stronger as they both help each other with their problems.

This essay will discuss the opening sequence in more detail from 0.30 until 2.20. It will examine both cinematography and mise-en-scène and why they have been …show more content…

Russell manages to portray both elements in relation to character development quite well in this opening …show more content…

Both elements work well together as they are used to develop the character of Pat. Both the camera framing and movement allow the audience to form their own relationship with Pat, however the camera never has a long enough close up to him to allow the audience to form a very strong relationship with his character, this helps in suggesting that he is shy and troubled and that he possibly has relationship issues.

It is hard to tell whether he wants to improve or not, he’s not taking his medication yet he continues to work out and go to the meetings. This continuous change of mind may all relate back to his bipolar disorder. There are a number of shots that lead the audience to believe he has taken his pills however a few moments later he spits them straight out. This makes it hard to trust his character as he now comes across rather sneaky. Throughout the duration of this extract the camera focuses mainly on Pat, he almost makes it into every shot, implying that he is the main character throughout the entire film and that the story is focused on him more so than any other character. Through the use of camera the audience have been allowed to follow Pat on his journey through

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