Silver Linings Playbook's director David O. Russell doesn't make watching Pat (Bradley Cooper), a man trying to get his life back in order whilst struggling with bipolar disorder, comfortable. His use of long silences, unflattering close-ups of Cooper's pained and panicked face, and his blunt and unself-conscious script is painfully bleak and uncompromising. What brings warmth and humour to the film is Cooper and Lawrence, whose flawed and down-to-earth romance is both charming and touching. Cooper is surprisingly convincing as a terminal loser, utterly deluded in his determination to win back his wife. Jenifer Lawrence's portrayal of Tiffany, a girl with problems of her own, is truthful and poignant, without pandering to what the audience want to see. Russell gives mental illness humanity without making it clichéd, he makes Pat's journey touching without patronising him. It is rare and refreshing to find a movie which explores something so sensitive with such frank directness.
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