I just watched this yesterday, and what I really liked about it was that it almost seemed like a bad dream. Its not really as realistic as people make it out to be. The scene with Jack Lemmon drinking in the green house, screaming and ranting as thunder clashes nearby is downright scary, and Edwards seemed to be looking for a more dreamlike effect than one of realism. Anyway I just thought I'd share and se if anyone else agreed.
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While you are correct in what you've described, it perfectly conjures up what that feels like for the person going through it. And that's what makes it so powerful.
In my case, nickel, if you are dead, someone smoking a cigarette, was his mother.
It was the greenhouse scene that made me realize that people really can become addicted to alcohol and what it must feel like to crave or ache for a drink.
Keep in mind I was 17 when I first saw this movie and really had no idea that alcoholism was just as serious and harmful as any other drug addiction. This will always be 1 of my favorites…….
Sorry I'll try to clear it up. I mean that the things that happen in the film are realistic, but it is very stylized visually. So the film feels real, but not realistic, if this makes any sense. Maybe surreal is the word I'm looking for.
"Gee I wish we had one of them doomsday machines, Stainesy"
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Nothing in film is real, of course, but everything must be true to the universe in which the narrative takes place. That is why movies can safely navigate the boundaries between "realistic" and stylized" and still emerge as successful works of art.
Everything in The Days of Wine and Roses was truthful to its concept, which is why it works as well today as it did in 1962.
To God There Is No Zero. I Still Exist.
Despite being a fan of Jack Lemmon for a long time I’d never heard of it until last year and is the best film I’ve seen about addiction. Having lived with an alcoholic partner for many years this rang so true and the harrowing greenhouse scene encapsulates the drinker’s pathetic desperation.
share"Pathetic desperation"..
As a practicing alcoholic (i'll get good at it one day i suppose), those are words so true it stings...
well put.
-gami
I saw the film yesterday, and had no idea it was going to be so realistic in regards to showing withdrawal and the trauma of wanting a drink. It raised a lot of eyebrows in 1962. I did feel bad for the father-in-law to have his greenhouse destroyed like that.
shareTo me it's also horrifying because Joe had been doing so well. By tearing apart the greenhouse looking for his bottle, he systemically destroys his father-in-law's newfound trust in him. Addicts are very good at doing this to the people around them.
That scene totally resonates with me.
Was flipping the channels and came across that scene as it was playing. I was memorized at how hard hitting it was. Showed the brilliance of Jack Lemon's acting as well. Right in the Middle of that hard hitting gut wrenching Scene of tearing apart the Green House. Mr. Lemon was able to bring a bit of a Smile when he leans back on the door to the Green house and it opens and he falls through. Then without missing a beat right back into the dark process of tearing up the Green House. I had to turn it off only because I knew it was the middle of the film and want to watch it from the start.
There is more Gravy about you then the Grave. Scrooge.
Whilst the thunder is added for dramatic effect, the rest of the greenhouse scene is entirely realistic. Alcoholics would really ravage a room, if they knew there was a bottle hidden somewhere in it. There is a similar scene in The Lost Weekend, where the alcoholic is tearing down entire bookshelves because he has hidden a bottle and blacked out where he hid it.
shareTo this day, I find that scene very difficult to watch because it's so sad. But I agree, Edwards did play up the melodrama.
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