today's weather: S L I G H T D Y S P H O R I Aanxiety : 0 (the antihistamines have succeeded in softly lulling me into a pleasant silence)
agitation : 1
today's unwanted guests: the sniffles, drowsiness dues to antihistamines
Another movie about mentally interesting people.
I recently watched a Christian Bale flick from 2000 entitled American Psycho. While I do not recommend other people to watch that movie [violence, nudity, sex scenes and lots of blood], I quite liked it. I liked it - not just because Mr. Bale looked utterly gorgeous in there (though I must admit it was certainly more enjoyable to watch an absolutely attractive man in a psycho role) but because I found it a well-made movie with a clever script.
It's not a comedy - not even close; it's classified under suspense and/or thriller - but it really got me laughing. I had to pause it several times just to laugh out loud; there were other times I had to rewind just to see it again and laugh at it again. I suppose it's because I was in a manic dysphoria (if not a slight elevation) when I watched it. I didn't find it suspense-full at all, since there was something predictable about it. I guess it was generally thriller-ish, though my twisted mind thought several parts of it hilarious.
But I think if I had been moderately to deeply depressed, I likely would not have had the stomach to watch that movie.
Image from here.The main character, Patrick Bateman, played by Christian Bale, is an interesting stewing-pot of psychoses. He kinda reminds me of Alex Delarge in A Clockwork Orange (Burgess' book version, not the Kubrick film version). Intelligent, cultured and narcissistic, as well as neurotic and sociopathic, with a taste for the high life, and the occasional appetite for murder.
This guy happened to date a girl played by Samantha Mathis, who was herself mentally interesting. She was dependent on Lithium and Xanax, which made me think she was supposed to be a type I bipolar. I have this thing for taking note of bipolars in movies, so I paid attention to her character as well.
I found the few minutes of her performance spot-on. The way she was drug-addled was charming, not at all stereotypically flat and zombie-ish. She was so cute. There was a scene in which she was so dulled by Lithium that she was detached from her environment; she believed Patrick Bateman when he said they were in her preferred restaurant while they really weren't, though she noticed something amiss. She sat like a drowsily pleased rag doll while Patrick told her what she was going to have for dinner. And then she leaned back as if to sleep. So cute.
That scene made me giggle because I've done something like that - particularly when very depressed, on lithium, or merely on antihistamines (I'm probably not half as prettily poised though, hee hee hee). There have even been times when at I would fall asleep in front of others - yes, at dinner; and yes, even in a restaurant. Some people thought I was narcoleptic.
I had an awww, sweet moment watching Christian Bale's character dictate to Samanta Matthis' what she was going to have, and how she was going to enjoy it. That's probably an extension - rather, an imposition - of Patrick Bateman's self-centered neurosis, but I thought it was sweet. It's not necessarily caring, but he did it so smoothly and artfully - though imposingly - it was thoughtful in that particular situation.
(I'm not saying I like being told what to do - because I don't. But I think it's really nice when the Hubby takes charge especially when I can't function. I must state: It's not something I appreciate when done by other people).
I don't know how to end this, so I'll just end it by saying Christian Bale was so gorgeous in that movie.
