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Mental Major 
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TITLE |
Benny and Joon (1993) |
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DIRECTOR |
Jeremiah
Chechik
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NOTES |
If you like
a romance, if you like good acting and if you can |
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accept a
certain detachment from reality you should enjoy this |
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The story is
no more removed from reality than a classic 40s |
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romantic
comedy but it is trying to say something about a |
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young woman
who has a mental condition. To my |
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recollection
the word 'schizophrenic' is never mentioned in the film though
most reviews refer to that as her condition. |
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Forget the
label, look at Mary Stuart Masterson's portrayal of |
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someone who
is disturbed, not all the time just some of the |
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time. A
portrayal subtle enough that you're never sure what to |
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expect of
her, what are her feelings to another person, even |
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whether or
not she is capable of romantic love. |
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Her
condition is focused, firstly by her brother Benny (Aidan |
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Quinn) who
plays a normal guy with normal desires which are |
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basically
messed up by his caring for and devotion to his |
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sister. This
looks the easy part to play yet is perhaps the |
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most
difficult. He's not so selfish as Cher in 'Masked' but he |
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is torn
between the abnormal life at home and the normal life |
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he seeks
outside. Hence we might compare his schizoid |
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condition
with his sister's. |
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Then along
comes Sam (Johnny Depp) like a visitor from |
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another
planet. His behaviour and a self-absorption as |
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intense as
Joon's sets up the assertion that two outsiders |
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might have
something in common. We are rooting for this but |
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with neither
Sam nor Joon can we be certain of what is |
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possible
between them. We are continually kept off balance |
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so that
while we wish them well we also empathise with the |
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apprehension
of her brother Benny. |
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Depp's
performance is superb, so good that like all great |
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performances
we couldn't imagine anyone else in the part. |
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His
character is generally referred to as eccentric, goofy, |
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freakish,
whimsical . . . He is not mentally disturbed by any standards of
medical terminology. We are consequently drawn to consider what is the
defining nature of Joon's mental condition because some of her
behaviour could also be thought whimsical (e.g..... the weird drink
she makes in the blender).
We might also recall that the film is called 'Benny and Joon', not
'Sam and Joon'. The director is focusing on both Benny and Joon
finding romantic love and 'normal' lives. This is not simply the story
of a mentally disturbed young woman. |
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Notes
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