A Bit Foggy

Rating: 4/10 (18 July 2006)

After reading the many user reviews, I think it's great that the movie has made more people appreciate Rachmaninoff's music. And I'm glad this movie made people appreciate how fragile the mental psyche can be. I had some challenges, though, getting past the basic premise of the movie.
It has been proved, medically, that a traumatic event, or series of traumatic events occurring close together, can trigger a build up of serotonin or other chemical that can cause (in a highly susceptible individual) what would have been called - in those days - a mental breakdown.
But the movie shows such ranging symptoms and treatments, it's difficult to understand exactly what happened. Maybe the symptoms changed from adolescence to adulthood? It was like night and day. I would have liked to have understood what happened better, and lacking that information, I found the inconsistent symptoms distracting.
I'm sure many will disagree, but I also have to say, many of the children born to WWII survivors and veterans grew up in what would be considered inappropriate or volatile households today. Counseling came in the form of a casserole in those days. The WWII survivors are the lost generation - growing up in an atmosphere of war and terrible fear - and often themselves just a bit mental after all they had been through.
As a result, with corporal punishment considered the norm, an overbearing (WWII veteran/survivor) parent was not unusual. What was unusual was how the child reacted.... if the child was predisposed to mental fragility and broke down.
I have no quibble with the acting (although I think Noah did the lion's share of the emotional scenes, while Geoffrey did the virtuoso scenes, so I'm not sure who deserved the Oscar more); all were excellent. The filming was lush, the music was quite good. I have gotten to the point where I just want to hear Sir John read the phone book and I'll gush adoringly. Lyn was awesome, Nicholas Bell was excellent, Armin was great.
If the script has just given a bit more detail, provided a bit better understanding, I might have been less distracted and more supportive of the character. It was difficult for me to enjoy the movie as a whole because I could not understand the character.