– By Cate Marquis –
“Touched With Fire” paints pretty pictures but sometimes inaccurate portrait of mental illness
Katie Holmes stars as a poet with bi-polar disorder who falls for another poet,who is also bi-polar, during a hospitalization in director Paul Dalio’s romance “Touched With Fire.”
While “Touched With Fire” is a lushly pretty, romantic film, filled with images of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” and literary references, it is an uneven film, swinging between an overly romanticized view of mental illness, embracing the old idea of a link between artistic fire and mental illness, and a more real-world of glimpse inside delusions, mental hospitals and the challenge of living with a bipolar disorder.
Struggling poet Carla (Holmes) is falling into a downward spiral as her bipolar illness resurfaces. After accidentally checking herself into a mental hospital, she meets another poet, Marco (Luke Kirby) who also bipolar. In manic phase, Marco’s encounter with police brought him to the hospital. In group therapy, Marco tells the group he prefers to be called Luna and recites some of his rap poetry. He has embraced the term “lunatic” and the old idea linking the full moon and madness, ideas he relates to Carla after discovering she is a fellow poet. Luna has the idea that he is not from this planet and longs to go home to the Moon. Soon, Carla drawn into his poetic delusion, and the pair start meeting in secret in the wee hours, where the shared delusion fuels mania in them both. Alarmed about how the dual delusion is feeding their manic illness, the doctors and their families try to pull them apart, as the couple battles to stay together.
The romance and mental illness are an old literary theme., although real mental illness is serious stuff. Still the film paints a visually appealing picture that captures the magical feel of any new romance, even though for Carla and Marc, their shared diagnosis is part of why they seem to really get each other.
The film makes reference to “The Little Prince,” starlight and theories linking artistic talent and mental illness. Luna’s delusion is so pretty, magical and romantic, it threatens to seduce the audience as well as Katie Holmes’ poor, lost character. But it is a false romance, something only real in fairy tales and romantic movies. While it captures the seductive power of a delusion, the film also seem to embrace its own delusion, which gives the film a disturbing undercurrent.
Unlike last year’s “Infinitely Polar Bear,” “Touched With Fire” too often wants to paint a rosy Romeo and Juliet picture of the relationship between these two people, whose illnesses become toxic for both when combined. There is a certain danger is painting this kind of rosy, romantic view of the very real problem of mental illness.
Some of what the film shows of treatment in a mental hospital is accurate but other scenes show things that would never happen in a real hospital. “Touched With Fire” seems unsure if it wants to be honest about mental illness or embrace its own fantasy about it as a magical adventure that frees the inner artist. Families who have had to cope with a bipolar loved one will recognize where the film rings false, but in it’s more romantic, seductive mode, it might seduce some dreamy young souls, which might not be a good thing.
© Cate Marquis
