The Lost Weekend

Rating

Director

Billy Wilder

Screenplay

Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder (Novel: by Charles R. Jackson)

Length

101 min.

Starring

Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling, Frank Faylen, Mary Young, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Lillian Fontaine, Frank Orth, Lewis L. Russell

MPAA Rating

Approved

Review

A bottle: symbol of everything the alcoholic holds dear. It hangs by a thread from the window of a supposedly-recovering addict. Can it be rescued by love alone or is it destined to smash into pieces on the concrete below. The Lost Weekend follows a man whose life is like the bottle he’s dangled from the sill.

Don Birnam (Ray Milland) is supposed to take a weekend with his brother Wick (Phillip Terry) away from temptation where he further try to recover from his addiction. His girlfriend Helen (Jane Wyman) hopes he can comeback to her a changed man. They hope that love alone will guide Don back from the brink of destruction. Don is hopelessly restricted by his love for alcohol but faces great scrutiny as he lies and cheats his way through his own perilous ordeal.

The Lost Weekend begins with a Don whose grip on reality has tightened. He’s managed to last for a short period of time with his brother watching like an eagle over his activities. However, alcohol hasn’t lost its hold on him. He’s taken to hiding bottles everywhere around the apartment in hopes that maybe one of his hiding places won’t be uncovered. Try though he might, Don can’t relinquish the control drinking has on him and, after one instance of self sabotage, he’s left at home alone to deal with his problems for the entire weekend.

Milland’s performance is unquestionably perfect. His miraculous descent into the dark places of alcohol addiction is mesmerizing. You want to hate him for what he’s doing to himself, recognizing all the signs of alcoholism but you also can’t help but empathize with his struggle. Wyman’s performance is still strong despite appearing in markedly little of the picture. Her ability to convey the love Helen feels towards Don fundamentally counter balances his rough ride.

Is love alone strong enough to prevent Don’s certain destruction or is the power of the addiction more than it can handle. The Lost Weekend explores in great detail this concept. While it’s more focused on the actual fall into the irretrievable abyss, it nonetheless makes potent statements about the peril of alcohol abuse.

Director Billy Wilder does marvelous things with his camera as he follows Don on his downward spiral. His collaboration with screenwriter Charles Brackett is no less intense. Based on the novel by Charles R. Jackson, The Lost Weekend grabs a hold of you at the start and never lets go. It does to the audience what alcohol does to the protagonist.

There’s no question that, hot on the heels of World War II, The Lost Weekend was a daring choice for Academy members. It isn’t the kind of film that brings joy or happiness to the viewer’s life. It only brings a harsh understanding of what a powerful substance like alcohol can do to a person’s psyche. The Lost Weekend remains one of the bravest choices in Academy history and is a must see for anyone who has a loved one with or is concerned about alcoholism.

Review Written

October 24, 2006