Stephen Whitty from the Star-Ledger summed up this movie as “Really-it’s depressing”…and “isn’t very good,” but the New York Times gave it a good review…
from Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
Opening with a sobering quotation from Andrew Solomon’s 1998 confession of suicidal depression in The New Yorker, “Helen” dives into this painful mental illness with sensitivity and grace. As Helen, a successful music professor and contented wife and mother, Ashley Judd is, initially, gleamingly serene. But as the first ripples of sadness swell to a paralyzing crescendo of distress, she never loses her grip on a character that is unrelentingly embattled. Unable to communicate with her appalled husband (Goran Visnjic, tone perfect) and teenage daughter (Alexia Fast), Helen finds comfort only in the company of a self-destructive student (an excellent Lauren Lee Smith) who is struggling with her own psychological demons. Drawing inspiration from the suicide of a childhood friend, the writer and director, Sandra Nettelbeck, orchestrates a story that somehow avoids punishing the audience as much as its heroine.
Stephen Whitty from the Star-Ledger summed up this movie as “Really-it’s depressing”…and “isn’t very good,” but the New York Times gave it a good review…
from Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times Opening with a sobering quotation from Andrew Solomon’s 1998 confession of suicidal depression in The New Yorker, “Helen” dives into this painful mental illness with sensitivity and grace. As Helen, a successful music professor and contented wife and mother, Ashley Judd is, initially, gleamingly serene. But as the first ripples of sadness swell to a paralyzing crescendo of distress, she never loses her grip on a character that is unrelentingly embattled. Unable to communicate with her appalled husband (Goran Visnjic, tone perfect) and teenage daughter (Alexia Fast), Helen finds comfort only in the company of a self-destructive student (an excellent Lauren Lee Smith) who is struggling with her own psychological demons. Drawing inspiration from the suicide of a childhood friend, the writer and director, Sandra Nettelbeck, orchestrates a story that somehow avoids punishing the audience as much as its heroine.