The Silver Linings Playbook, a movie about the true meaning of insanity, tells a story of a man after his recent release from a mental institution. The main character, Pat, focuses on reconnecting with his wife while his family encourages him to “let her go and move on”. He wife moved away and filed a restraining order after Pat found her cheating. Pat nearly beat the man to death, thus receiving a sentence to a mental institution for bipolar disorder. Pat comes home with a new philosophy on life, that in order to survive one must find the “silver lining” or good in ever experience. Pat meets Tiffany Maxwell, a women suffering from depression after the death of her husband, and they both help each other while practicing to participate in a dance contest.
The underlying story behind the main story follows the theme of insanity and irony. Throughout the film Pat fights his violent outbreaks with exercise and positive thinking. The irony in the film resides amongst Pats interaction with both his father and his best friend. His father’s superstitious tendencies about the Philadelphia Eagles leads Pat to tell his father “That he’s being Crazy”. His father believes that moving the remotes a certain way or holding a handkerchief will bring good luck and thus a win for the Eagles. His father also experiences anger outbursts, causing him to be blacklisted for life from The Link. Pat continuously questions though out the film why he is labeled as crazy but his father “the outburst guy” isn’t. His father’s violent temper paired with his OCD superstition about the Eagles causes Pat confusion as to why his one incident causes him societal unacceptance, but not his father. The realization from Pat analysis of his father raises the question of what society deems as mentally unstable and creates a sense of irony in the film.
The other ironic character, Pat’s best friend Ronnie, lives a life of lies. “I’m not okay. Don’t tell anyone.” Ronnie tells Pat. Ronnie lives a well off life with his wife and baby daughter. He pretends to love his life but constantly admits to Pat that he’s suffocating and desperately needs air. He pulls Pat aside and tells him how he feels as if life is gripping him around the neck, but then seconds later smiles for his wife. Ronny’s unhappiness and fake demeanor shocks Pat. This idea of hiding ones true feelings, a notion foreign to Pat who speaks his mind no matter what, finds Ronnie’s behavior insane. “I go into the garage. Metallica. Megadeath. Yeeaaah, Hurt my hand, start breaking shit” Says Ronnie to Pat, describing how he lets off steam from his life. Pat urges Ronny to tell his wife how he truly feels and to work on their marriage together.
Tiffany tells Pat, “We aren’t liars like them” referring to all the people caught up in the idea that life is clean and economic success means happiness. Tiffany shows Pat that a messy honest life beats that of a perfectly seeming fake life. The major theme that Life Doesn’t Always Go According To Plan plays into how people create an image of their ideal life in their head, and try so hard to obtain it that they miss out or forget what truly makes them happy.
Do you have any OCD superstitions for good luck?