The Academy loves the mentally 'different'. Dustin Hoffman bagged gold for Rain Man, as did Geoffrey Rush in Shine, and it almost worked for Jodie Foster's wild woodswoman turn in Nell. This is Sigourney Weaver's bid.
Functioning at the less severe end of the autistic spectrum, Weaver's Linda is capable of living alone but generally avoids human contact. She prefers to keep her home in meticulous order, munch snow and bounce on her trampoline. (Note to Academy voters: trampolining was a prominent motif in Shine.) Feeling responsible for the death of Linda's daughter, British gloombucket Alex (Rickman) comes to apologise. Linda allows him in simply so he can take out the trash. Alex sticks around and mystifyingly, he also grabs the amorous attentions of Linda's knockout neighbour Carrie-Anne Moss. The community doesn't approve of Maggie but she stays in town anyway. Strange.
Lightly dusted with wit and charm, this is a decent drama which is sympathetic to Linda's condition without being patronising (though her abruptness sometimes appears overly kooky). But while Weaver is consistently convincing, the script is not. Anyone familiar with autism will know that abstraction and fiction do not register in that world, which makes Linda's post-Scrabble flight of fancy highly unlikely.
The smalltown clichés are also disappointing (busybody neighbour, jealous cop who doesn't trust the outsider) as is the rather convenient explanation of how Linda got pregnant in the first place. That dramatic avenue is never explored. Ultimately, the film wants to have its snow cake and eat it.
Functioning at the less severe end of the autistic spectrum, Weaver's Linda is capable of living alone but generally avoids human contact. She prefers to keep her home in meticulous order, munch snow and bounce on her trampoline. (Note to Academy voters: trampolining was a prominent motif in Shine.) Feeling responsible for the death of Linda's daughter, British gloombucket Alex (Rickman) comes to apologise. Linda allows him in simply so he can take out the trash. Alex sticks around and mystifyingly, he also grabs the amorous attentions of Linda's knockout neighbour Carrie-Anne Moss. The community doesn't approve of Maggie but she stays in town anyway. Strange.
Lightly dusted with wit and charm, this is a decent drama which is sympathetic to Linda's condition without being patronising (though her abruptness sometimes appears overly kooky). But while Weaver is consistently convincing, the script is not. Anyone familiar with autism will know that abstraction and fiction do not register in that world, which makes Linda's post-Scrabble flight of fancy highly unlikely.
The smalltown clichés are also disappointing (busybody neighbour, jealous cop who doesn't trust the outsider) as is the rather convenient explanation of how Linda got pregnant in the first place. That dramatic avenue is never explored. Ultimately, the film wants to have its snow cake and eat it.