DP/30 @ TIFF 2012: Silver Linings Playbook, actor Jennifer Lawrence
As Jennifer Lawrence has quickly rose to Hollywood stardom ever since The Hunger Games came out in the past year, she has been kept in the spotlight. She’s garnered a huge fan base, ranging from tween fans of The Hunger Games to 60-year-old Oscar voters–and it isn’t only her Oscar-nominated performances or magazine-ridden cover shoots that people love her for, but also for her unfiltered conversation on loads of topics, as she’s been the so-called “queen of Hollywood real-talkers”.
But, there’s something particularly intriguing about this girl. I’ve grown to have a lot of respect and adoration for her over the year–she’s a complete ‘loser’ like me in the sense that exaggerated successes really mean nothing to us and we just want to do our jobs and be homebodies. Also, being so young and being such an old woman at the same time creates a sense of humor in the entertainment today’s youth finds joy in.
As her role in Silver Linings Playbook has been, by far, one of my favorite characters I’ve seen in such a long time–her complexity, brokenness, and dark humor create a reality for me–I’ve grown to really become almost unhealthily obsessed with this movie and her role. Plus, she’s got a good head on her shoulders as I find her smarts of this whole business extremely comforting…
Do people ever get comfortable with fame?
“I can’t tell if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, to finally get used to [fame]. I mean… Fame is such a predictable, simple thing that it’s hard to be awestruck by it. It doesn’t impress me at all, it’s a very predictable thing—you put somebody’s face on a billboard and everybody thinks that, you know, they’re an alien, and treats them differently and thinks that they’re special and they’re not. You know, if we put your face everywhere and you came out with a movie and everybody started, it would be the same thing for you. Like, it’s not… I’m not special. It’s just–that’s how fame works.”
Are you concerned about it going away, or…?
“No, that’s actually a peaceful thought for me… when I start to get anxiety. You know, it’s not easy for a girl–you know–a young girl to look in her rear view mirror and be chased and followed by fifteen men even when you know that they’re not–you know that it’s safe–but I think your body doesn’t really… It’s scary. I always knew it’d be annoying but I didn’t think it would be scary. And the only thought that comforts me is that it can’t be relevant forever.”
On Jennifer Lawrence’s character Tiffany Maxwell in Silver Linings Playbook
Tiffany: I was a slut. There will always be a part of me that is dirty and sloppy, but I like that, just like all the other parts of myself. I can forgive. Can you say the same for yourself, fucker? Can you forgive? Are you capable of that?
I think I am so drawn to her character Tiffany in this movie because, for all of the “craziness” society bestows on her, she owns up to all of it. She admits she’s slept with people in her office because she was depressed her husband died. So, people call her a slut. She reacts with “So what?” We’ve all got problems. So why do we judge people? She tells Bradley Cooper’s character Pat that he’s so afraid of accepting the joy he finds in hearing her sleeping with men and women in her office because people will think of him as a perv. So, why do people submit to how society sees us? Though she may seem so crazy and unconventional, there’s a dazzling truth in what she says that we all are so afraid to own up to. She pushes us to ask ourselves why we have conformed so much to society’s expectations of us.
She is also an artistic soul at the same time. Even though she knows she isn’t a great dancer, she likes to dance because she purely loves it for how it makes her feel–it’s her therapy. She finds beauty in feeling and in emotion, and thrives on that. She only wants Pat to connect with that, because having a feeling or emotion or being vulnerable is completely okay. Why should we hide how we feel? Own it, she encourages.
There is a lot of engaging dialogue between the two that really makes their screen-time shine. These characters are so broken and dynamic but so blessed at the same time; the silver lining really is in the beauty of these seemingly hurt characters, who are probably like a lot of us at the same time.
There’s something extremely comforting and brilliant about finding a film and character you connect to, in some way or another. Maybe it be her rashness, her boldness, her dark humor, her brokenness, her doing things for others and getting nothing but emptiness in return, her attractiveness that makes her tired of men trying to pursue her, or what-have-you… It’s all one and the same. This feeling is like seeing yourself in another person that makes you feel less alone and more connected to someone out there who may be feeling the same way, or going through the same things.
I just loved this movie, my goodness. Read my first write-up about it here. I loved it so much I had to see it twice.
beauty within 
I love this
Thanks for reading 🙂
Pingback: FMS85C Week 7: Is there Authenticity in Celebrity Stardom? | rachelannc·
J Law is such a force of nature!it’s so relieving that she didn’t get Isabella Swan’s role…look at her choices now!Silver Linnings Playbook,Serena&East of Eden…excellent!
I couldn’t agree with you more! With her indie-film background, she’s always been careful with the roles she’s picked… She’s a great eye, picking roles and stories, she herself even says, she absolutely loves and can even resonate with. That’s why I love her.
Okay, so all of this is from a while back, almost “old news” now that our girl tripped at the Oscars for the second year in a row…
but you’re entirely on the mark about the film, about Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Cooper.
And David O. Russell.
I was going to post something about “Silver Linings Playbook” in my blog page on Mental Illness after having very closely watched the film for the fourth time.
Patrick was “undiagnosed bi-polar” per his doctor.
We never got a referral to a diagnosis for Tiffany Not even a vague reference. I Binged “Tiffany Maxwell Silver Linings Playbook diagnosis” and bingo … here I am.
The thing is, I think Jennifer perfectly portrayed a girl (and I say “girl” because with Tiffany’s age in the picture, she is less than 25, and that’s how long it takes for someone’s brain to fully develop) with a specific illness I have had contact with. Perfectly portrayed right down to every look in her eyes, every nuance in every movement.
And in the process, read your posts and just wanted to pay my respects, say “Howdy” and let you know I thoroughly enjoyed what you’ve had to say.
Take care,
Harris