The blooming film of Perks of Being a Wall Flower

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2019)

The topic of mental health in films is a touchy one because either the film hits it on the nose and portrays the mental illness accurately or it is inaccurately depicts mental illness. However Stephen Chbosky who wrote and directed The Perks of Being a Wallflower does an exemplary job at depicting the effects mental illness has on people. This is shown through the dynamic characters, Charlie who's played by Logan Lerman, Sam by Emma Watson, and Patrick who is played by Ezra Miller. Another movies that does an amazing job at depicting mental health in a film is Silver Linings Playbook which also uses dynamic and relatable characters that accurately depict the effects mental illnesses have on the ones around them in their lives. This overall idea of how mental illness affects your actions and the effects it has on the people around them.
We first see this this in the character Charlie who is a freshman in high school who is trying to get a foothold in the new school. While in the meantime he trying to cope with his friends suicide and the death of his Aunt Helen, one solution to lessen the blow was to write things down in order to express the way he feels. Charlie soon befriends his English teacher Bill Anderson who's played by Paul Rudd, and they instantly connect for their love of literature and writing. We are later introduced to Patrick and Sam who Charlie meets at a football game and they instantly accept him into their little circle of friends. At the game we learn that Patrick and Sam are step siblings. After they accept him into their group Charlie becomes more comfortable with his new friends and opens up more with them. However all the emotional turmoil oil he's been through has a deep effect on him and his relationships with everyone. The first instance of this shown is when Charlie begins to form feelings for Sam but feels he can't express them because he isn't ready mentally for a relationship. This shows how the death of his Best friend Michael and the death of his Aunt Helen have had on him. It also makes Charlie to hesitant to open up to them right away however when he does it's about Michael's suicide and it shocks Sam and Patrick. But being the good friends they are they instantly are there to support him. Which demonstrates the effect friendships have on one's life, which is only one of the many ideas Chbosky highlights in this movie. We will later see how much of an impact this tight group of friends have on each other and how it evolves throughout the film. Whether it be supporting each other emotionally or defending their friends physically. However this new improved life of Charlie's where he has a mentor in Bill and his new found friends you can still see the effects his mental health has on him. Chbosky does this too accurately show the mourning process everyone has and how to affects the person whether it be there thought process or their overall emotional and mental stability. The feelings that Charlie portrays Meeks this character very relatable for the audience in order to empathize with him and allows more character depth. Charlie's isn't the only character that has a lot of depth and relatability, his friends all have stuff they are dealing with whether is be Patrick's struggles he's facing for being gay and his complicated relationship with Brad the Varsity quarterback who still hasn't came out. Which helps the LGBT audience relate to those circumstances whether it be coming out and being embarrassed for the possible repercussions or fully accepting their sexuality. Another character who is very relatable to the audience is Sam who was sexually abused while she was younger. This helps those who have also been sexually abused empathize with her and makes the audience connect more with her. Chbosky does an excellent job through his depth of characters whether it be the main characters or the side characters. For example Charlie's sister who is in a very abusive relationship and is too scared to leave, she makes her relatable in the sense that she is relatable to whoever is in a toxic relationship or used to be and can relate to the situations Charlie's sister is in. Chbosky's ability to have relatable characters throughout the entire film helps the audience connect to the characters and his ability to flesh out both main and side characters is a great achievement because some films often fall short of this feat. Chbosky also accurately depicts the effects addiction and mental health can go hand in hand. This is really shown through Charlie who as we've said is mentally in a dark place gets introduced to drugs becomes more and more attracted to weed because it helps him somewhat ignore the harshness of reality. This shows how one's mental health can affect the actions and thought process of people. Another film that does this really well and with similar depth of characters is in Silver Linings Playbook through the affects their mental illnesses have on they're relationships with family, friends, and Luther loved ones. In The Perk of Being Wallflower we see how Charlie's mental health affects his relationships in his life whether it be with his parents or his confidence to start a romantic relationship out of fear he might get hurt again and just lack of self esteem he has during his grieving process. Not only does Chbosky use dynamic characters to make this film so incredible he also uses a lot of popular music which is shown through mix tapes which play a big role in the movies tone. Each mix tape is used to portray the way characters are feeling. For example when Charlie is lonely and sad, quieter music is played but when he's having fun with Sam and Patrick upbeat and fast pace music is playing. This and relatable characters are aspects that make this movie such an incredible movie.
In conclusion Chbosky's movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower accurately and almost perfectly depicts mental health in a movie and common issues that face many people across the world. Whether it be the death of loved ones, coming to terms with their sexuality, physical and sexual abuse, and addiction and those are just the main social issues Chbosky tackles. What's even more incredible is that he doesn't this through different characters who exceed their role and really show the emotional toll it has on them through remarkable acting and the emotions the portray on screen. Finally all this is done smoothly and fleshes out all characters throughout the film making them relatable and also so real the audience can empathize with them. It also keeps the audience in suspense as to what each character will do next or what new thing we'll learn about their past or through their thought process.