Looking at the films of the 1940’s. many of
these films featured high society types in zany situations, gallivanting
between set up and set up and setting up the lunacy of life as
something to mesmerize by the viewing public. Movies were
kind of like TMZ is today. In The Lost Weekend director Billy Wilder
gives us a look into the fall from grace of writer Dan Birnam (Ray
Milland) caused by his raging alcoholism. The title of the film has a
double meaning when watching the film. It could refer
to the weekend holiday planned for Dan and his brother Wick (Phillip
Terry) that Dan ruins by alienating his brother with his alcoholic ways
or, the more obvious answer, the fact that this weekend ends up lost to
Dan in an alcoholic haze. Even after all of
the turmoil and disheartening that’s caused by Dan’s dependence of the
bottle, his best girl Helen (Jane Wyman) still holds out hope that Dan
can be saved from his affliction, going so far as sleeping on the steps
outside his apartment that is financed by
his brothers charity.
This film is really about the fall and rise of
one man. Dan has been an alcoholic for six years and even though we
haven’t followed him that entire time, other than flashbacks to
watershed moments in his relationship with Helen that always
include a bottle or two, it’s this weekend that represents the fork in
the road that Dan has been working towards all of his life. The film
depicts how desperate a person can be in any addictions, not just
alcohol. Eventually the addiction even kills Dan’s
dreams and wants to the point where all he cares about are the rings
left on the bar top by his whiskey glass. Dan has pathetically hit rock
bottom.
Ray Milland deservedly won the Academy Award for
Best Actor for his portrayal of Dan. It’s a real haunting performance
that becomes the focus throughout the film. Everyone else is reacting to
Dan’s behavior and each of the personality types
are represented. The brother who gives up. The girl that stands with
him no matter what. The disagreeing, yet enabling bar tender. This film
is as much about following Dan’s story as it’s an examination of how
people react to an alcoholic, almost comparable
to the stages of grief if we compared it to anything at all. Some
people can take it and some can’t. This is Ray Milland’s film though and
he creates a presence where the audience feels those same feelings that
those in relationships with Dan feel. Anger,
disgust, sympathy, maybe a little guilt. It’s all there for us to
dissect in our heads.
Director Billy Wilder (who also won an Oscar, as
did the film itself as Best Picture of 1945) achieves a remarkable feat
when making this film. Dan, who is surrounded by the people in his life
and living in New York City is hopelessly alone
in his addiction throughout the film. There are times, especially when
we’re in the apartment, that Dan feels like he’s a million miles away
locked in a claustrophobic filled tomb of alcoholism. This really pushes
the film over the top into being a great achievement.
Instead of hazy shots and wobbly cameras, Wilder opts to go with the
feeling of being an alcoholic. Not the surface feeling of being tipsy,
but the never ending alone feeling that no drink can every wash away.
The Lost Weekend is one of the best films to
come from the 1940’s. It’s a tale about alcoholism and addiction, but it
doesn’t talk down to the audience. This is not a temperance sermon, but
an exploration into the soul of a man darkened
by drink. A true masterpiece.
