Purely Joyful Movie!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Everyone has different perception and here is mine. I wouldn't say that this movie was very bad or boring. It was not believable in my opinion. If you decide to commit suicide in your own home, you make sure the doors are locked and nobody is going to visit you in the next few days. In this film she did not even pass out before someone was already banging on her door and how did they come in? Let alone how did they find out? From the email she sent in response to an advertisement? From that on things were becoming even less realistic. A nut house that looks like a retreat for super rich. Not sure why her parents were even brought into the story. The sudden transformation from hating life to loving it was unsubstantiated. A guy? A silent guy who was sitting on a tree suddenly made her realize that life is worth living? Quite a stretch after she was cynical about guys and marriage and family life in general. The performances were okay. I did not watch any of her other movies prior to this one simply because they are not the movies I watch.The final scenes, after the escape, were dull, pretentious and unrealistic. This film just confirmed that I stick to foreign movies, which almost never disappoint me. Force Majeure is the latest one I enjoyed.

English screenwriter and director Emily Young's second feature film which was written by American screenwriter, producer and director Larry Cross and screenwriter Roberta Hanley, is an adaptation of a novel from 1998 by Brazillian author, lyricist and musician Paulo Coehlo. It was shot on location in New York, USA and is an American production which was produced by producers Sriram P. Das, Jonathan Bross and Chris Hanley. It tells the story about a woman named Veronika Deklava who after having attempted to take her one life ends up in a coma and wakes up two weeks later at a psychiatric facility called Vilette where she is told by doctors that she has an incurable aneurism in the heart.Finely and subtly directed by British filmmaker Emily Young, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated by the main character and from multiple viewpoints, draws a heartrending portrayal of a woman in some kind of existentialistic crises who learns that she will die and that death might occur at any given moment. While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions, fine production design by production designer John Nyomarkay and cinematography by cinematographer Seamus Tierney, this narrative-driven story about a newly committed patient who begins changing her pessimistic views on life after talking to a psychiatrist named Alex Blake, depicts some empathic studies of character and contains a timely score by English composer Murray Gold.This quiet, at times atmospheric and modestly romantic drama which is set mostly at a privately funded institution near the Hudson River in New York where an assistant account executive becomes more aware of the greatness in living when she befriends a young man who has stopped speaking, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, endearing characters, witty use of music and the commendable acting performances by American actresses Sarah Michelle Gellar, Melissa Leo, Erika Christensen, American actor Jonathan Tucker and English actor David Thewlis. A reflective, humane and life-affirming character piece from the late 2000s.

This film is about a young woman who attempts to kill herself by an overdose. She is admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, and another chapter of her life enfolds.The book "Veronika Decides to Die" has a good word of mouth, and its author is world famous. So I thought the film would be good, and chose it for a film night with friends. It proved to be a disastrous decision. The film is so slow, tortuous and pretentious. There is so little material so they have to stretch everything to fill up the ninety minutes of screen time. I mean, how long do you have to watch the characters walking down a corridor or staring out the window? My friends started making excuses to leave about half way through, and one hour into the film, all seven friends have left. That's how boring "Veronika Decides to Die" is. My friends who have read the book said this adaption does not do the book justice, and there are seemingly pointless additions in the film. So, if you want yourself to be touched by the story, read the book instead.

I have actually signed up to IMDb today just so I could write this review. Veronika wants to die is a terrible film. I won't go into the ridiculous plot synopsis (incase anyone actually does want to watch the film), but it is one of the most contrived depictions of mental health I have ever seen in a contemporary film. The patients in the institute are the most one dimensional 'crazies'- catatonic, unintelligent, childlike, etc... It's only a film I hear you say, but with it's so called 'dark' subject matter and shaky hand-held camera I think this film is attempting at some sort of realism. It is anything but.It has the feel of trying - and failing - to be a film somewhat like Rachel Getting Married (Demme, 2008). However the characters lack depth and the plot (and consequently the ending) leaves you feeling cheated.The music that's played throughout the film is unnecessary, it distracts from the narrative and leaves you with a conscious feeling of emotional manipulation. There are many other reasons why this film is terrible, but as I am so enraged of wasting hours of my life watching it, I can't even think straight. I just hope someone else reads this review and doesn't make the same mistake I did.