This excerpt from David Foster Wallace’s sprawling novel Infinite Jest starts to describe suicidal ideation in a manner that most depressed people inherently understand. To non-depressed people, the suicide (or weeks spent in bed with the thought of bathing being far too painful to even contemplate) and this quote have no relevance. All My Puny Sorrows is Michael McGowan’s new Canadian film which fills the gap between those who comprehend suicide and those who do not; it is one of the best films on depression for years.
All My Puny Sorrows is based on Miriam Toews’ partially autobiographical book about a family that gets it, when it comes to depression and suicide. The Von Riesens have lost many members this way; their misery has been like an ax that has felled their family tree only leaving some few broken branches lying on the ground in leaves. These are Lottie (Mare Winningham) and her daughters, Elf (Sarah Gadon) and Yoli (Alison Pill), along with Aunt Tina (Mimi Kuzyk). Their father Jake (Donal Logue) committed suicide when they were little girls, hence the family has learned to live with his loss.
All My Puny Sorrows throws its audience into decades of despair where author Yoli is dealing with a divorce while Elf remains a talented but hopeless pianist. In fact, Pill and Gadon are so good here that there seems to be something automatic about their chemistry such that viewers do not need any time before acclimatizing themselves. Perhaps this is partly because these two actors grew up together; they went to school together at one point, appeared in a movie together, and actually know each other since childhood – besides, letting such things detract from how very well both performers bring audiences into their lives right away.
Soon after Elf tries killing herself again as she had done before. This sets off an interesting exploration of the ‘nature v. nurture’ question in many aspects of the movie, such as; how much of Elf’s will-to-death is chosen and how much is it merely hereditary from a line of loss?
Nevertheless, Yoli makes her way back to her mom and sister’s home and rediscovers the past she left behind. The family has been plagued by tragedy like a ghost; thus their outlook on life and temperaments has changed too. Therefore, most of the film revolves around these individuals rather than its plot or story, as these are an intellectual family who continually allude to poets, musicians and books but they are actually trying to keep reality out.
Several conversations throughout this film will have great meaning for anyone who has known depression either first hand or through someone else; they are not only a very real depiction of depression and suicidal thoughts but also incredibly intelligent and often funny since sarcasm remains among the most resilient defenses against pain for one suffering from depression.
The entire ensemble is fantastic, including an outstanding performance by Mare Winningham, who demonstrates why she has seven Emmy nominations to her name, not to mention the Golden Globe and Oscar nods. Logue is a revelation in a bit part while AmyBeth McNulty is adorable as Yoli’s daughter Nora. This duo give their best performances ever in this film and their instinctual onscreen chemistry helps make it work, but it’s really a sensitive screenplay from McGowan (and original words from Toews) that builds the dynamic.
Pill and Gadon have superb interactions together which delve into much more than what they are about; also depression itself as well as suicide nature. The hospital conversations between Elf and Yoli are arguably the most powerful and captivating parts of the film; in a way, each of these scenes could be treated as duels where the words are swords with ideas serving as guns, Yoli championing life while Elf champions non-existence.
The reason ‘not-life’ instead of ‘death’ is used here is because death or suicide isn’t glamorized in any way by the movie; Elf does not want to die like many suicidal individuals she just doesn’t want to live. To someone depressed life might be associated with severe suffering, constant pain and death seen as the only way out which can only be understood by one thinking of committing suicide. As Wallace writes in Infinite Jest:
Elf feels burning flames and should jump. Though neither feel burning flames nor quite understand Elf’s point of view completely, Yoli and her mother are very interesting people – they feel terrible heat. They’ve had depressions; they’ve buried loved ones even; much better idea than other people about depression or suicides. In fact, their talks capture readers’ attention through sheer magnetism alone. It goes without saying that they love each other deeply like sisters do yet still manage some kind of mutual respect that is tinged with resentment for the pain they have caused each other. “I hate you!” is shouted in the suicide ward and then a bleak joke runs through the flickering lights. They’re related.
One of the great things about All My Puny Sorrows is that it shows depression is not ‘someone’s fault’; no one necessarily chooses how they feel, be it nurtured or inherited. Depressed people are often branded by society as ‘lazy’ or ‘just not trying’. This convenient lie is defied by Elf, who gives a concise description of nihilism frequently associated with depression, regardless of how hard someone may strive:
“There’s something so selfish about it,” one character in All My Puny Sorrows says, totally at odds with painful but honest truths elsewhere in the movie. In some ways, this character stands for society’s typical reaction to suicide along with those she resents that equate intelligence with optimism and enthusiasm for life. This kind of thinking could potentially change after watching McGowan’s movie albeit sad magic.
All My Puny Sorrows is a masterpiece (in the truest sense) because of its great direction, script and cast; with every actor giving his/her best shot. Yet, it does not take an explicit or too direct stand but only questions, empathizes and even argues for euthanasia in some way. In other words, All My Puny Sorrows avoids sitting in judgement of people who have been through tough moments thus qualifying it to be classified as a quiet masterpiece because it can cause one to look at things differently and put out some flames.
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