Apparently I’m a lover at heart, despite my resolute and sometimes firm exterior, because I have to admit that I thoroughly revel in romantic comedies. Even though I’ve delighted in this genre for some time now, I’m not sure the film Love and Other Drugs would have made much sense to me in my early twenties.
Yet, when hubby (Joey) and I studied this e-motion-al picture over the weekend, it was a cathartic experience for each of us – both individually and as a whole. Not only did we understand the couples’ turmoil in dealing with chronic disease, we also connected with the strife they seasoned. Each of us shared qualities with both characters, so in many aspects we felt as though we were watching ourselves evolve on camera.
Granted once you get past the relentless sex scenes and blatant neked-ness – there were many raw (no pun intended!) and realistic experiences delivered in this movie. Those are the ones that I’m referencing… just to be clear!
First let’s review the summary, then I’ll explain what I mean…
Superficially, the film is essentially about a 26 year-old woman suffering from Parkinson’s who befriends (with benefits) a drug rep working for Pfizer against a 1990′s Pittsburgh backdrop. Additionally, Maggie (Anne Hathaway) is an alluring free-spirit who won’t let anyone – or anything – tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cut-throat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie’s evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.
That about sums it up for the average American, but not entirely.
For Joe and I, the characters in this movie demonstrated so much more than that – which brings me to our next observation…
There are two ways people typically respond to a chronic disease depending on their personality and type of diagnosis. There are those who seek answers and solutions, and there are those who assume or accept there is nothing they can do. The first are determined to solve their mystery while the others are he11-bent to live their life to the fullest – both are stubborn sun-of-a-guns.
Maggie (Hathaway) depicted the latter by engaging in pleasure-oriented activities, and doing what she loved with a hefty reliance on medication. On the other hand, her eventual boyfriend Jamie (Gyllenhaal) upon understanding the severity of Parkinson’s searched for answers, a cure, a medication – anything to prolong her functionality and improve her quality of life.
Meanwhile Maggie tried desperately to protect herself from Jamie and Jamie from herself. Her abundant pride refused to tie him down, a young attractive man in his twenties, from all the exciting activities typical twenty-somethings savor.
Jamie never saw Maggie as a burden since he valued their time together and found in Maggie a genuine reality he’d never known. Her belief in him as a man brought forth his most desirable traits. As a result, Jamie reached his full potential for the first time in his life.
At one point, a bad spell sent Maggie into an outrage while battling the severe limitations of her illness. With bitterness and rage she tried to push Jamie further away. He’d give her space and she’d lash out in an angry fit. At the climax of her misery, Maggie captured the familiar expression, “It just isn’t fair,” with the deepest sorrow. In a melt-down that was all too familiar, Jamie caught her in his arms and held her tight as she yearned for the life she once knew not-so-long-ago: painless, care-free, simple. Quite dramatic I know, but it had to be to accurately portray the struggle.
The next scene occurred in Chicago where Jamie had encouraged Maggie to accompany him to a pharmaceutical convention. There she wanders across the street to a Parkinson’s support group. While hearing from experienced survivors, Hathaway perfectly portrays the expression that one exudes when realizing, for the first time, that they’re not alone in the fight. In that moment she has hope, she’s inspired!
Meanwhile, Jamie is approached by a husband of a stage V Parkinson’s patient. When Jamie asks him if he has any advice, he says “pack your bags, leave a note and start over.” During this moment in the film, Joe and I looked at each other and shook our heads as if to say it ain’t so. That’s when the severity of Maggie’s disease finally hit Jamie precipitating his full out search for a cure.
Jamie’s reaction was especially interesting to observe. We noted how long it took this young man to process the repercussions of Maggie’s illness. With Joe’s background as an intensive care nurse and my experience as a clinical dietitian, we’ve both seen some pretty sick people. So we recognize that our adaptability to disease is unusual.
Instead we’ve witnessed first-hand, that many people our age aren’t able to fully comprehend a debilitating disease in little, if any, sense of the word. To no fault of their own, they simply lack the experience to comprehend something that’s so abstract in their world. As a result, they suspect a choice to isolate ourselves, when in reality our reality is entirely different with a unique set of choices.
And so the story continues…
When they travel across the country seeking the best medical care only to be cancelled upon (who hasn’t been there), Jamie loses his temper with the medical staff. In that moment, Maggie realizes that Jamie’s trying to “fix” her and she once again pushes him out of her life.
With time apart, Jamie comes to realize that Maggie makes him the man he wants to be but never knew without her. In the end he chooses a life with Maggie over a promotion in Chicago, and she inspires him to pursue his aspirations to attend medical school.
But before coming to this conclusion, they have THE talk. Jamie insists that Maggie is not a burden, that they both need each other – even if he’ll end up taking care of her sooner than later. Jamie’s love is captured for Maggie when he explains that they hypothetically could live a “perfect” life where their biggest concern would involve spending too much money on fancy vacations and feeling a sense of guilt for hiring a cleaning lady. But he says, “I don’t want that. I want this.”
Watching their imaginary story unravel was medicinal, in a drug-free sense, for my soul.
Joe and I were in awe of how everything – from the depiction of the pharmaceutical rep, to the physician’s predicaments, to Maggie and Jaimie’s journey – was honestly portrayed for a movie.. and that was refreshing.
It reminded us that we’re not alone, that others can relate and that a movie like that was created for people like us.
We recognized that to many, especially our peers, Love and Other Drugs might be a somber and depressing flick. But to us it was a figment of our beautifully often misunderstood reality.
It’s through some of the most surprising (and outrageous) films that we can attempt to shed insight on the many disentangled layers when dealing with ongoing tribulations.
If you’ve stuck with me this long, I hope I haven’t entirely ruined this flick for you. Honestly, my description doesn’t begin to do the acting justice. If you don’t quite understand what I mean, watch this movie with a desire to learn more about the trials faced when living with a chronic disease. Imagine that Maggie is someone you love and it might elicit a new perspective.
Return here to share your thoughts, I’d love to converse more on this topic.
If you found this conversation fascinating, please do hop on the mailing list…
Yet, when hubby (Joey) and I studied this e-motion-al picture over the weekend, it was a cathartic experience for each of us – both individually and as a whole. Not only did we understand the couples’ turmoil in dealing with chronic disease, we also connected with the strife they seasoned. Each of us shared qualities with both characters, so in many aspects we felt as though we were watching ourselves evolve on camera.
Granted once you get past the relentless sex scenes and blatant neked-ness – there were many raw (no pun intended!) and realistic experiences delivered in this movie. Those are the ones that I’m referencing… just to be clear!
First let’s review the summary, then I’ll explain what I mean…
Superficially, the film is essentially about a 26 year-old woman suffering from Parkinson’s who befriends (with benefits) a drug rep working for Pfizer against a 1990′s Pittsburgh backdrop. Additionally, Maggie (Anne Hathaway) is an alluring free-spirit who won’t let anyone – or anything – tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cut-throat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie’s evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.
That about sums it up for the average American, but not entirely.
For Joe and I, the characters in this movie demonstrated so much more than that – which brings me to our next observation…
There are two ways people typically respond to a chronic disease depending on their personality and type of diagnosis. There are those who seek answers and solutions, and there are those who assume or accept there is nothing they can do. The first are determined to solve their mystery while the others are he11-bent to live their life to the fullest – both are stubborn sun-of-a-guns.
Maggie (Hathaway) depicted the latter by engaging in pleasure-oriented activities, and doing what she loved with a hefty reliance on medication. On the other hand, her eventual boyfriend Jamie (Gyllenhaal) upon understanding the severity of Parkinson’s searched for answers, a cure, a medication – anything to prolong her functionality and improve her quality of life.
Meanwhile Maggie tried desperately to protect herself from Jamie and Jamie from herself. Her abundant pride refused to tie him down, a young attractive man in his twenties, from all the exciting activities typical twenty-somethings savor.
Jamie never saw Maggie as a burden since he valued their time together and found in Maggie a genuine reality he’d never known. Her belief in him as a man brought forth his most desirable traits. As a result, Jamie reached his full potential for the first time in his life.
At one point, a bad spell sent Maggie into an outrage while battling the severe limitations of her illness. With bitterness and rage she tried to push Jamie further away. He’d give her space and she’d lash out in an angry fit. At the climax of her misery, Maggie captured the familiar expression, “It just isn’t fair,” with the deepest sorrow. In a melt-down that was all too familiar, Jamie caught her in his arms and held her tight as she yearned for the life she once knew not-so-long-ago: painless, care-free, simple. Quite dramatic I know, but it had to be to accurately portray the struggle.
The next scene occurred in Chicago where Jamie had encouraged Maggie to accompany him to a pharmaceutical convention. There she wanders across the street to a Parkinson’s support group. While hearing from experienced survivors, Hathaway perfectly portrays the expression that one exudes when realizing, for the first time, that they’re not alone in the fight. In that moment she has hope, she’s inspired!
Meanwhile, Jamie is approached by a husband of a stage V Parkinson’s patient. When Jamie asks him if he has any advice, he says “pack your bags, leave a note and start over.” During this moment in the film, Joe and I looked at each other and shook our heads as if to say it ain’t so. That’s when the severity of Maggie’s disease finally hit Jamie precipitating his full out search for a cure.
Jamie’s reaction was especially interesting to observe. We noted how long it took this young man to process the repercussions of Maggie’s illness. With Joe’s background as an intensive care nurse and my experience as a clinical dietitian, we’ve both seen some pretty sick people. So we recognize that our adaptability to disease is unusual.
Instead we’ve witnessed first-hand, that many people our age aren’t able to fully comprehend a debilitating disease in little, if any, sense of the word. To no fault of their own, they simply lack the experience to comprehend something that’s so abstract in their world. As a result, they suspect a choice to isolate ourselves, when in reality our reality is entirely different with a unique set of choices.
And so the story continues…
When they travel across the country seeking the best medical care only to be cancelled upon (who hasn’t been there), Jamie loses his temper with the medical staff. In that moment, Maggie realizes that Jamie’s trying to “fix” her and she once again pushes him out of her life.
With time apart, Jamie comes to realize that Maggie makes him the man he wants to be but never knew without her. In the end he chooses a life with Maggie over a promotion in Chicago, and she inspires him to pursue his aspirations to attend medical school.
But before coming to this conclusion, they have THE talk. Jamie insists that Maggie is not a burden, that they both need each other – even if he’ll end up taking care of her sooner than later. Jamie’s love is captured for Maggie when he explains that they hypothetically could live a “perfect” life where their biggest concern would involve spending too much money on fancy vacations and feeling a sense of guilt for hiring a cleaning lady. But he says, “I don’t want that. I want this.”
Watching their imaginary story unravel was medicinal, in a drug-free sense, for my soul.
Joe and I were in awe of how everything – from the depiction of the pharmaceutical rep, to the physician’s predicaments, to Maggie and Jaimie’s journey – was honestly portrayed for a movie.. and that was refreshing.
It reminded us that we’re not alone, that others can relate and that a movie like that was created for people like us.
We recognized that to many, especially our peers, Love and Other Drugs might be a somber and depressing flick. But to us it was a figment of our beautifully often misunderstood reality.
It’s through some of the most surprising (and outrageous) films that we can attempt to shed insight on the many disentangled layers when dealing with ongoing tribulations.
If you’ve stuck with me this long, I hope I haven’t entirely ruined this flick for you. Honestly, my description doesn’t begin to do the acting justice. If you don’t quite understand what I mean, watch this movie with a desire to learn more about the trials faced when living with a chronic disease. Imagine that Maggie is someone you love and it might elicit a new perspective.
Return here to share your thoughts, I’d love to converse more on this topic.
If you found this conversation fascinating, please do hop on the mailing list…