Mysterious Creatures

The film 'Rainman' and Mark Haddon's book 'The Curious Incident of the Dog - ' helped one empathise with people with Asperger's Syndrome, but this high profile TV film made Lisa, the 32-year old daughter of middle-aged parents (played by Timothy Spall, at his glummest, and Brenda Blethyn, at her most irksome) a manipulative monster. Her parents are driven to joint suicide attempts twice by her impossible demands, and at the second attempt her father successfully removes himself from the scene, leaving her mother to continue to collude with her insatiable child. As usual, psychiatry and social services are made to seem flummoxed (though it's refreshing when a Birmingham Social Worker finally confronts Lisa with reality). Rebekah Staton may well be brilliant as Lisa - I can't tell because I found her so detestable! How on earth could this film help anyone associated with this distressing disorder?

This was an outstanding drama which depicted how life was for the Ainscows, a family living with their daughter's condition which they found difficult to have diagnosed by medical and mental health professionals.

The story was written based on the accounts of Mrs Ainscow, (played by Brenda Blenthyn). And while it's gritty portrayal of Lisa may not leave you full of empathy for her as the user above has stated, I don't believe that is the responsibility of the drama. It does however display the real life difficulty the family faced and what led Mr and Mrs Ainscow to do what they felt they had to.

The performances were excellent by the three lead characters, Brenda Blethyn gave a performance reminiscent of her turn as Cynthia Purley in Secrets and Lies and Rebehak Staton is an actress to watch for in the future.

While at times harrowing to watch it was truly gripping and one of the best things on TV for a long time.

Real life is not as cut and dry as the murder mystery cop shows I mostly watch on acorn. This film showed me what acorn and great actors can do with a real life family drama. I often muse that family is a cult and this one proves it. All three leads were great as was the supporting cast who all seemed familiar as bbc cop show casts. The daughter reminds me most historically of Lizzie Borden. I believe we are all neurodivergent. I also believe sociopaths allowed to run around unchecked is why the world seems to be run by sociopaths. Suicide by capitalism isn't talked about enough. Suicide by child is wild and this is the first time I have ever seen it addressed anywhere. A really amazing film with done truly amazing performances. More and more I feel like acorn is where the most interesting stuff can be found l.

Whilst the film 'Rainman' and Mark Haddon's book are both primarily works of fiction, this film is a dramatisation of a true story that, at the time of writing, is still going on.

The fact that psychiatrists and social workers seemed flummoxed is the centre of this tragic tale. Without a proper diagnosis - a label - Lisa and her family receive little help. This is not about Asperger's. The medical teams decided it was not 'just' Asperger's, but they couldn't decide what it was and this condemned the family to the life they had and which the film tried to portray.

Rebekah Staton was very good as Lisa. If she seemed detestable then that is the point. Difficult to love her, but still unconditionally loved by her mother in the only way she knew how. Difficult for her to show love, but she did in her own way by demonstrating an overpowering need for her mother to be around, to 'look after her' and not to 'spoil her day'.

It's not an easy film to watch. Life is not easy sometimes. I thought it was well done. I don't like 'wobblevision' but its use when Lisa was being sectioned highlighted her panic, fear and confusion. The stark quality of the film was enhanced by the brave decision of the producers not to have incidental music, so well done to them! I don't think the point of the film was to help anyone associated with Asperger's. If there was a point in showing this story at all, maybe it was that we can't help those we can't label and that we should open our minds to understanding people when they are in distress, for whatever reason and however unpalatable.