Date: 2009
Now I don't know much about the autistic spectrum, and I can't say it really featured all that much in life for me. That was until I read 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' by Mark Haddon. I won't ruin the story, because I think it's one of those books that aught to be in the top ten of any 'books to read before you die' lists.
If you're someone who tends to judge a book by its cover (we've all done it!), then you'll glean little from this one, even the description on the back does little justice to the overall film. As the title suggests, our protagonist is Adam. He's 29, and up until six weeks ago, lived in a neat and tidy little world with his father in the big city. The film opens in his father's funeral, as Adam tries to come to terms with having to fend for himself, we the viewers begin to learn of his little nuances, All Bran for breakfast and then Mac&Cheese and broccoli for dinner, every single day.
He scribbles 'dad's chores' from the rota on the fridge, a move which I found particularly poignant, after-all, to Adam this is just fact. He picks up the broom and takes on-board his father's duties as simply as if he were putting on a tie. There is an overlying feeling of melancholy throughout this film, you fall in love with Adam, who is played by Hugh Dancy, so well in fact that the storyline draws you in, and holds you there until the very last second, and you're left with a quite sense of peace as the credits roll and the music plays.
But getting back to the film, we meet Beth. She's a little like Adam in her own way. Having recently come out of a messy breakup, she meets Adam in the laundry room of the building they share. A little scatterbrained, but quietly curious she accepts Adam as he is, and when she learns of his Aspergers syndrome simply takes it in her stride. Both Adam and Beth help draw each other our of their shells as the story progresses. One evening, Adam tells Beth he has something to show her, and takes her to Grand Central park, where he shows her two raccoons living in the bushes. As Beth is a writer this inspires her to write a story about the raccoons.
There is occasional narration during the film, by both Adam and Beth, which helps to give an insight into what they're thinking. I wonder if this is because neither of them will ever know what the other one is thinking, and this is an ongoing issue for Beth, the one piece of narration that really gets me is right at the beginning, where Beth says:
"My favourite children's book is about a little prince who came to Earth from a distant asteroid. He meets a pilot whose plane has crashed in the desert. The little prince teaches the pilot many things, but mainly about love. My father always told me I was like the little prince, but, after I met Adam, I realised I was the pilot all along."
I think we're all the prince, and the pilot. To our parents perhaps we teach them about a different kind of love. But then when you go out into the world, and you meet someone special or have children of your own you realise that it is your turn to be the pilot.
Although never conventional, their relationship has a certain innocence to it, when she is sad after learning her father has to stand trial for something we never really come to understand, she has to explain to Adam that hugging is considered the norm when your other half is sad. This is another endearing part of the film.
Not far into the film, Adam is sadly fired from his job working as an electric engineer at a toy company, and while looking for another job, Beth pretends to be the interviewer so Adam can understand the process and learn to interact as NT's would (neurotypicals, or people without Aspergers). At the same time Adam is offered a job on the otherside of the country, Beth's father is found guilty and sent to jail for two years. Unable to give her an answer when she asks him why he wants her to move to California with him, Adam is forced to do something terrifying and move out alone.
The film fast-forwards a whole year and we see Adam delivering a tour to some very bored looking school-children and talking about telescopes and how a large image of space is made up of lots of smaller images from multiple scopes. He stops himself from talking too much, a residual part of Beth's teachings from earlier in the film. When a colleague tells him that he has a package, he offers to help her carry the boxes, another mirror from the beginning of the film as Beth struggled up the steps to the apartment with heavy groceries and is ignored by Adam.
Finally, on opening the package it is a book entitled 'Adam' written by Beth about a family of raccoons living in Grand Central park and the film ends.
I quite simply love this film, the only downside that I can find is that the Americans pronounce Aspergers like Ass Burgers, which is quite distracting!
9/10.
