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`` Silver Linings Playbook `` Essay

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“Silver Linings Playbook” is a film about a man, Pat Solantro Jr, who after losing his wife and his job for assaulting his wife’s lover, is sent to a mental institution. After completing his court ordered minimum stay of eight months, against medical advice, his mother discharges him. The conditions of his release require him to reside with his parents in their home in Philadelphia as well as attend mandatory therapy sessions. Upon returning home Pat learns that his father, who is obsessed with the Philadelphia Eagles, has lost his job and has resorted to becoming a bookie to make money. Through one of Pat’s therapy sessions we learn that during the eight months he was in the mental institution he was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Although Pat has been prescribed medication to help with the treatment of his disorder, he refuses to take it because of the way the medication makes him feel. Pat feels that he can manage on his own through healthy living and looking for the “silver linings” in his life. By doing this Pat believes that he will ultimately be able to regain his job as a high school teacher but, most importantly, he will win back, the love of his life, his wife Nikki, who because of Pat’s arrest and institutionalization has since moved and obtained a restraining order. One night while having dinner with his best friend Ronnie, Pat meets Ronnie’s sister-in-law, Tiffany Maxwell, who is a widow, a recovering sex addict and has also just recently lost her job.

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