Mozart and the Whale (2005)

Too much of everything

Awesome Movie

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

"Mozart and the Whale" is a weak, saccharine love story revolving around Jerry, an autistic maths genius, and Mary, a talented musician with Asperger syndrome. The film was written by Ronald Bass, writer of "Rain Man", another film supposedly about mental illness. His "Mozart and the Whale" script was once set to be directed by Steven Spielberg, who ditched it in favour of a couple of even more saccharine scripts.The film somehow manages to both trivialise mental illness and glorify it, our inordinately photogenic heroes magically imbued with savant-like super powers specifically because of their illness.The film is "about" the troubles those with "autism" have when socialising, but its plot is too sugarcoated and negates all insight. The film is too quirky, too heavy-handed, is constantly telling instead of showing, lacks subtlety, and is approaching its material from two almost contradictory positions, wanting to at once be a fairy-tale romance and a gritty, grungy drama.Amongst the cast, a much hated Josh Hartnett stands out. He's been criticised, but it's a poor director and poor writing which makes the cast look bad. The film is highly regarded by people with Aspergers and those who are married to or know people with autism (it's a comforting fantasy, despite the film implying that our couple won't last). On IMDb, the film seems to disproportionally appeal to women. In real life, the divorce/virginity rates of those with autism/Aspergers are well above national averages. I watched this film with a young woman with Aspergers. She doesn't behave like anyone in this film. When it was over I asked her what she thought of it. She described it negatively. Which films portray Aspergers correctly? According to her: "The 40 Year Old Virgin", "Snow Cake" and "Punch Drunk Love". Two of those films aren't officially about Aspergers. 5/10 – Worth one viewing.

Having Asperger's Syndrome basically means that you're born without emotional intuition (which includes emotional empathy) and while the symptoms that are a consequence of this are largely the same among most (if not all) individuals, there is nevertheless a significant difference in intelligence and personality between people with Asperger's Syndrome."Mozart and the Whale" focuses on two extremes within the diverse ranges of people with Asperger's Syndrome, this being the quiet introverted conventional guy and the loud extroverted anti-conventional woman, both having higher than average intelligence. As a man born with Asperger's Syndrome, I recognize myself for about 75% in Isabelle (we even have the same laugh) and about 25% in Donald and I regard both of them as very accurate representations of Asperger's Syndrome.For me, this makes "Mozart and the Whale" a very personal movie. It's not a perfect movie by any standards, but it's a great movie for those who like to see how people with Asperger's Syndrome can function in society and have a meaningful relationship in spite of their social difficulties.

This film is basically about a romantic relations of individuals who suffer from Asperger syndrome and they run into some conflicts cause of there syndrome. Although at some points it seems exaggerated, it works okay. The support group scenes was sort of disappointing and not very creative and although Radha Mitchell was pretty decent Josh Hartnett wasn't that convincing even if it's good to see him in a role where he doesn't act as cocky. It's a average romantic movie cause they throw Asperger syndrome in there. It wasn't a bad romantic movie but it just wasn't that good either.6.8/10

Josh Hartnett has always been an extremely good looking actor but he hasn't always had the most talent showing roles. But in this film he truly shows his acting chops. You soon forget that he is a big name actor and he truly becomes his autistic character.Radha Mitchell delivers a fantastic performance as the quirky Izzy in this heartfelt romantic comedy. She and Hartnett make this film a very lovable and believable film.Not only did the main stars do an excellent acting job but so do the supporting stars. All of the members of the Autistic support group make you smile, laugh and cry through out the movie with their touching performances.