How Easy Is It To Fall For A Manic Depressive?

Pretty darn easy when they’re as utterly disarming as Mr. Jones, embodied so perfectly by Richard Gere that I was riveted to the screen the entire 114 minutes. I’ve never studied the mental disorder where victims experience wild euphoria for a while, then tumble helplessly into deep, horrifying depression. I don’t even remember seeing a movie or TV show about it until Gere’s very chilling portrayal in 1993, probably because not many actors could pull it off so brilliantly.

In the Mike Figgis-directed film, Mr. Jones, though, Gere, also executive producer, once again proves that he can use his natural charisma and good looks to help and not hinder, although some jaded critics have argued otherwise. If Mr. Jones wasn’t equally as convincing when depressed as he was when euphoric and wanting to fly, then I could see their point, but he was. I have heard about the terrifying, overwhelming feelings of depression, but never understood it until now. Everything changed about Mr. Jones. The glow on his face was replaced by confusion, blankness, pain…and when he lashed out in frustration, you only wanted to grieve with him and get him the chemical help he needed.


The Story


As the movie begins, we meet a good-looking, mid thirtyish man high on life. He’s screaming the lyrics of James Brown’s “I Feel Good,” while contorting just like the singer as he moves down the sidewalk. After persuading a construction site manager (played respectably by Bill Pullman) to give him a day’s work as a non-paying trial, he makes a friend who worries about him for the rest of the movie, Howard, courtesy of Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X as a manic depressive), and is so carried away by being on the roof overlooking San Diego with jets flying low overhead that he boldly steps out to the very edge of a board sticking out past the roof.

I was gripping my seat! Gere not only researched for the role by hanging out with manic depressives, but he did his own death-defying stunts. He also impressed me with his somber piano-playing at a huge piano store and other places, representing a musical genius very well. After being taken to a hospital, sedated and released upon his wishes after seventy-two hours, he takes a blonde he meets and has fun with at that piano store and a hotel to the opera.

The symphony isn’t playing Beethoven’s “Ode To Joy” fast enough for him and so he strides down to the stage flailing his arms in the conductor’s flustered face. Again Mr. Jones (no other name offered) ends up at the hospital with the same doctor, thoughtfully mused by the beautiful Swede Lena Olin (Romeo Is Bleeding). She falls for him despite knowing that she should not and in spite of his not wanting to be anyone different than who he is.

How independent Mr. Jones, the compromising doctor Libbie and their forbidden relationship turn out is for you to enjoy discovering!


Final Comments


If only I had watched the DVD version of this movie, I know from a review online that the hard-to-catch dialogue and dulled photography in my VHS copy was corrected substantially to be crystal clear and mesmerizing. I actually missed a quarter of dialogue even with the volume cranked up as far as possible! Lena Olin reminds me of Barbara Walters sometimes in the way she talks, unfortunately, but Gere in his low cycles or when sedated was impossible to understand, too.

I cannot fault the acting by the main characters or the minor, especially Oscar-winner Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker) as Libbie’s concerned boss, Lauren Tom (The Joy Luck Club) as another likable manic depressive and Tom Irwin (The Haunting) as a business-like doctor who worked with Libbie. They taught me a lot about how the disease manifests itself and the uphill battle doctors have in educating people about it and treating it.

Photography, much improved on the DVD’s anamorphic widescreen presentation, was gorgeous by Juan Ruiz-Anchia (The Jungle Book); the story by Eric Roth (The Insiders) and screenplay by him and Michael Cristofer hooked me immediately; the music, besides the James Brown song a few times, had the right touch by Maurice Jarre; and the direction by Mike Figgis (Internal Affairs) used fade-out between scenes, but it moved along well.

The biggest reason why you should see Mr. Jones, I contend, is to better understand what an untreated manic depressive must live with every day of his life. They are in and out of hospitals, suicidal much of the time, unable to sustain relationships and either gregarious and hyper or quiet and barely able to move. The love story takes second billing in my opinion, but it’s realistically-written, knowing that Libbie has recently been dumped and how attentive and sweet Mr. Jones can be. I’d fall for him, too.

Rated R for a glance at Mr. Jones buck naked on a shower chair, pubic hair even showing, implied sex and violent, scary situations, it’s one of those movies that don’t come along too often and should not be missed, but preferably on DVD. I’ll be checking it out for what I missed, to be sure!