Lost Weekend, TheLegendary director Billy Wilder (Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment) gives us his adaptation of a classic novel by Charles Jackson about an alcoholic’s wild spree over one destructive weekend. Winner of four Academy Awards including best picture, best actor and best director as well as Golden Globes and Cannes awards, this is a stunning tour de force by both Wilder and lead actor Ray Milland. Milland plays Don Birnam, an alcoholic would be writer struggling to overcome his addiction. He’s been clean for ten days now and is planning a weekend trip with his long suffering brother Wick (Philip Terry) who has looked after him, baby sat him and cleaned him up every time he’s fallen down. Wick has been helped by Don’s girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman) who sees something behind the drunken façade and is desperate to save Don despite his constant failure to save himself. This weekend turns out no different. Don manages to get rid of Wick and Helen for a few hours, steals the cleaner’s pay and hits the bar. With a couple of drinks in him Don is a silver tongued, languid, barfly sitting at the bar with barman Nat (played by Howard De Silva) telling him about the great novel he’s going to write, the great literary geniuses of the past and his plans for the future. Through a drunken haze we are given an insight into his relationship with Helen and his brother, into his drinking and the demons that haunt him. Wick gives up, leaves him to his drinking and goes away for the weekend but Helen stays to try and find Don, to try and save him if she can. Don avoids her calls, her notes, keeps drinking and soon finds himself in the alcoholic ward before escaping to face his demons and hallucinations at home. In a great scene we see Don crawling across his floor trying desperately to reach the chain on the door to prevent Helen coming in and finding him so bedraggled and lost. Although Wilder didn’t strictly follow the book (which you all should read by the way) he has captured the essence. Just what it is like for an alcoholic, needing and craving the drink while trying to hold on to dignity, the battle usually lost, the slow crumbling of morals and ideals as that thirst takes over. Wyman as Helen is good but doesn’t quite have enough to hold onto to show us why she’s still there, what she sees in Don to warrant this devotion. But then that is what it’s like, the long suffering partner who sees something no one else does under the whiskey fumes and stained shirts, the hangovers and the lost nights. Da Silva as Nat the barman is great as well, a real sterling performance as the barman who tries to help but is ultimately no help at all. At the time of the film’s release there were concerns apparently about the film’s message, wowsers fearing it would make drinking look attractive. I can’t see their concerns, Don Birnam comes across as a self centred, self absorbed bastard who will do anything for a drink and hurt anyone who gets in his way. A brave role for Milland and he delivers. All round a great film and though the “Hollywood” ending does leave a little to be desired, I thought Wilder and Milland captured the essence of Birnam (and all the ‘Birnams’ of the world) beautifully. I’m glad Wilder didn’t take the money that was apparently being offered around to prevent the film being released!
|
Disc Details:
Special Features:
Recommended Viewing:
|
