A straight-complex story

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2007)

Stranger Than Fiction is one of those movies that keeps you thinking about for some time after you leave the cinema.
The acting is quite good, (I especially liked Maggie Gyllenhaal), and the representation of what is happening in the main character's head it is well conveyed as well.
*******MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD********** There are two parallel story lines in the movie: One) Harold hearing the voice of a writer in his head, and trying to come into terms with his existence. Two) Kay struggling with her existence and trying to come to terms with her psychiatric illness and her role as a writer.
I particularly found the second more interesting. I believe that Harold is a fictional character, struggling to open up (to connect) and it is through him that we get a certain perspective into the writer's mood.
Early in the movie, Kay (Emma Thompson as a writer) appears to be on the edge of a building contemplating suicide but also looking/imagining the characters-to-be of the ending of her book. Penny drops in just in time and introduces her self as an "assistant" that came to help her finishing her book.
Throughout the movie Kay wears the same clothes and looks disheveled. She keeps smoking and saving her cigarettes in a tissue paper. Her loft is white, clean and in an old building. We and Kay see a loft, but it is likely to be a psychiatric hospital. Penny is introduced to us as a "assistant", but she comes across as a very firm nurse.
Professor Hilbert, who is a professor in literature, is a great support for Kay. It's him that tells Harold (that is Kay) to take the plunge, to go ahead with her ideas. He has been in contact with her by sending letter to her for the past 10 years, and it is to him that she looks for help when she is struggling to finish her book; in this way Professor Hilbert has been a life saver for Kay, and I think this is represented by him having a "second job" as a lifeguard (in the scenes where Harold is looking for some advice regarding what to do).
I really enjoyed it, and will see it again in a few years time!!