SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Manthast Absolutely amazing

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

wizard1704-297-747433 I saw this film yesterday evening on TV and I must say it is very beautiful and painful at the same time. You must be in the mood for this kind of film. Acting is excellent by all of the actors, but Ashley is simply brilliant – she could easily be nominated for Oscar. It is not an everyday story and topic is very hard and demanding, but directing and the tempo of the film is perfect, so you can easily follow the story and feel the pain of all the participants in the story. Goran Visnjic and Lauren Lee Smith both gave one of there best performances by my standards. I recommend this film to all the real movie fans who can appreciate the story and acting without a bunch of special effects.

rooprect At first I didn't like this movie a whole lot. As other reviewers have already pointed out, it's merciless in its stereotypical portrayal of people: every character in the movie is a royal jerk except for the 2 depressed people, and it gives the impression that all doctors are cold-hearted sadists, all spouses are selfish psychos, and people in general are totally apathetic.But hold on...Then it suddenly dawned on me, duh, that's exactly how one views the world when one is in the throes of depression. I believe it wasn't the filmmakers' intent to make an objective film. I think they were out to show us a somewhat skewed perspective through the eyes of a depressed person. At that, it's very successful.So yes, this is a depressing movie. It's dark. It's irritating. It makes you feel like the world is a sucky place. But if, for some bizarre reason, you want to know what it's like to be depressed, then this is the movie for you.I can't say that I "enjoyed" it (I'm no masochist!) but I can say that it's very well made, with excellent acting, effective cinematography (good use of focus & blurring), and a fitting musical score. Just as "Peewee's Big Adventure" takes us into the mind of a manically happy person with its cartoon colours and bouncy pace, "Helen" shows us the opposite side of the coin with its darkness, bleached visuals and monotonous presentation. If you want to know what it's like to be bipolar, I suppose you could watch the 2 movies back to back.Movies like this: "House of Sand and Fog" (or as I like to call it, "House of Sand and Why Don't We Just Slit Our Wrists and Save Ourselves the DVD Rental Fee") and "Leaving Las Vegas". All of these are excellent films. But wow, hide the sharp metal objects before viewing.

rps-2 As a survivor of severe clinical depression --- yes, it can be a killer --- I had a special interest in this film. I could relate to much of it. Yet I'm not sure I would recommend it to someone in the middle of depression. It is very much a "downer." Indeed my wife's comment was "I don't want to look at it. I've been through it." Having said that it is an extremely well executed film in all regards. Someone without any history of depression might not understand it or might think it exaggerates. To someone like myself, it was all too realistic. To someone in the middle of depression, it could push them over the edge. Clinical depression is right behind heart disease and cancer as a killer except that its victims die of suicide. Certainly anything that focuses attention on it such as this movie is good. In addition to its horror, depression too often is a "closet" disease in which the victim feels hopelessly lonely as was evident here as Helen tries unsuccessfully to fake normalcy. (Been there...done that...) I believe this film can be useful to the family of anyone suffering depression because it illustrates the despair of the victim and the immense stress on family and professional life. But it could be dangerous for the actual victim. But thank you for tackling a subject that too often is taboo.

Hesse-02 Having worked in the mental health field for many years I can tell you this film does an outstanding job both in script, directing and acting with portraying a woman with major depression and suicidality. The performances by Ashley Judd, Goran Visnjic and Lauren Lee Smith (also Alexia Fast) were at least Oscar noteworthy. Why has this film not gotten more attention? And I am surprised by the rather mediocre vote average on this website. Most likely because it is portraying DEPRESSION and BIPOLAR DISORDER in all their worst forms and that isn't easy to watch. It isn't easy to live with nor is it easy to watch the deterioration of people you love. Ashley Judd does an outstanding job playing Helen, a twice married woman and mother of a teenager daughter who suffers a relapse of her Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Goran plays her lawyer husband who has no knowledge of her previous psychiatric experiences and must watch his wife sink into the abyss. What I didn't understand were the reactions of Helen's students at the college. They wouldn't have known what was affecting her, it could be cancer so would they have walked out? I think someone would have inquired on her medical condition. Also you cannot terminate someone with a medical problem or can you?Mental Illness is a subject we don't discuss but with the prognosis that in 10 years it will be the number one common health problem in the world and is the leading cause of disability with Bipolar Disorder are number 6th as leading cause of disability and then you have ADHD, Autism and the Pervasisve Developmental Disorders which affect 1 in 110 children, then you see the responsibility and need for film makers to make these films. *********SPOILER************** Also portrayed in this film is Ashley Judd's character Helen getting treatment called Electo Convulsive Shock Therapy which is a very real treatment and performed in local hospitals all over the world. What the movie doesn't show and is the really ugly side of Major Depression are those young men and women who chronically try to commit suicide in various ways. I had a patient whose wrists were so heavily scarred from slicing it made me wince to look at them and she could take a light bulb or a jar of cosmetics and break it in a second to slash.