The protagonist of The Year Between isn’t a very likeable character. But Alex Heller, who wrote, direct and stars as Clemence asks us the audience to think out of normal cliched movies about bipolar characters. Heller, herself, suffers from bipolar disorder and this is somewhat semi-autobiographical.
Movies in which characters have mental disorders are often like Benny and Joon where for 30 years, people have debated if Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson) was schizophrenic or autistic. Then, you have the terrible Music in which poor Maddie Ziegler played up every cliche. The Fabelmans had Michelle Williams pulling off a good performance as someone dealing with a mental disorder but no one wanting to admit it. Bradley Cooper in Silver Lingings Playbook gave another honest portrayal. But usually, it’s something that can easily be resolved during 100-120 minutes of screen time.
The characeters in Year Between do admit Clemence has bipolar, but Clemence also uses it as her crutch. When the movie opens, she’s being moved out of Western Illinois University after her roommate informs her mother, Sherri (J. Smith-Cameron). She’s moved to a room in the basement because her father, Don (Steve Buscemi in a very reserved role) has turned her old bedroom into his office. Her younger sister, Carlin (Emily Robinson), hates that she’s home and is counting the days herself until she can take her ACT and get accepted to a college and leave. Their younger brother, Neil (Wyatt Oleff), lives a timid existence at first and is obviously neglected without it being mentioned. The family obviously has a lot of problems without Clemence.
And Clemence is hard to deal with. She seems to dislike everything or have a critique of everything. Even after she’s diagnosed and given medication, she still goes and commits the old tired trope of cutting off her hair and shaving her head bald. I don’t know if Heller really has done this. But it seems a common cliche I wish she hadn’t included it. Either way, the bald head gets a lot of comments from people especially Beth (Kyanna Simone), a cashier at a bargain retail store where Clemence applies for a job.
Clemence gets the job and clashes with Beth who like Carlin just wants to get out of the midwestern Chicago suburb they’re stuck in. Needless to say that Beth and Carlin know each other. And if you can put two and two together, you know that Beth is also Neil’s girlfriend. Clemence starts up a relationship with a former classmate, Ashik (Rajeev Jacob), who sells drugs to the high schoolers.
The family drama is even more accelerated by the news Sherri has breast cancer and has to do a masectomy. This would seem like a soap melodrama if Smith-Cameron didn’t handle the roll with the same piss and vinegar that Heller does. While Don is a teacher who seems more passive in his demeanor, Sherri is the more assertive one who thinks her daughters need yoga at 7 a.m. each day to help them.
The movie follows episodic events as we look at this family deal with everything from Sherri’s surgery to Clemence’s problems. During one scene where Clemence tries to be sympathetic and caring, she comforts Carlin when she only receives a 28 on the ACT. She had wanted a 32 or higher. Clemence and Carlin’s bickering on college is somewhat honest as Clemence doesn’t think college is worth it while Carlin has delusions of grandeur that college will solve all her problems.
I give Heller credit for taking on a role considering she wears clothing that shows off her body fat and non-modelesque form. But all characters seem more realistic because of their brutal honesty. There’s something not quite right about Ashik as he obviously sees Clemence as nothing more than a booty call. But who is really the one wanting sex more – Ashik or Clemence? Neil makes a comment about Clemence toward the end of the movie that only the youngest sibling in a family will understand that even though it’s said as light humor, there’s a cold honesty about it.
It’s not a perfect movie, but I don’t think Heller went about making a perfect movie. Movies like this can end up being too sappy. It ends with hints that Clemence might be returning to college but there is no cure for her condition. Because just as in life, there are good days and there are bad days and we’re ending on one of Clemence’s good days.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 