Dirty Filthy Love

The ever-impressive Michael Sheen plays Mark Furness. We meet Mark as he is just coming to terms with his illness: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Tourette's Syndrome. The increasing toll his illness takes is the breakup of his marriage and the loss of his job as an architect. He joins a self-help group where he meets Charlotte (played by Shirley Henderson) who clearly is the correct partner for him, who happens to be similarly afflicted, but he still obsesses after his estranged wife, amongst other things.

As someone with a close relative who suffers from OCD, I was suspicious of this TV film. I thought it may be either insensitive or on the other hand schmaltzy. I was pleased to find out that the film was neither. I suspect one or both of the writers and/or the director is familiar with OCD as the film is funny without being exploitative and heartbreaking without being schmaltzy.

The greatest credit has to go to both Michael Sheen and Shirley Henderson, the lead actors. Both were absolutely excellent when the temptation for some actors in this position could have been to go over the top. Michael Sheen is sure to be a big name soon.

I had been eagerly anticipating this one off drama special ever since ITV started the advertising campaign a few weeks previously. The story of a man whose life is torn apart by an obsessive compulsive disorder was certainly a break from the monotonous murder mystery garbage the channel usually churns out in the Sunday 9pm time slot.

However, I'm afraid to report that I was disappointed with the final result. Yes, Dirty Filthy Love was an impressive piece of drama. From the very start the audience was made to feel as in they too were in Mark's obsessive universe, due the intelligent use of camera angles. The viewer almost felt that character's own discomfort themselves. And yes, the central story of Mark's marriage to Stevie breaking down helped to create a genuine sense of sadness for the character & his plight.

However, the feeling created for Mark was one of sympathy, not empathy. I couldn't help but feel that by making light of OCDs, the film-makers had certainly spun out a confused narrative. Was it a comedy? Was it a drama? It was hard to know what the makers' intentions were. Were we supposed to be laughing at the illness, or feeling sorry for them?

Of course, I know the old saying - if you can't laugh at something all you can do is cry. And I know that being able to lighten up about a serious subject is a very healthy thing to do. And OCD is certainly an illness that creates plenty of opportunities for joke-making. I know because I am a sufferer of the condition myself. However, I just felt that there were sometimes were the makers should have resisted the temptation to go for the laugh-factor, & concentrated more on showing the true complexities.

The fact is OCD is a condition that can not be neatly tied up in a Sunday night prime-time slot. For most, there is no beginning, middle and end. Its something that can fester and fester for years, causing a secret, constant pain to the sufferer. The extreme outcome of Mark's case was most certainly done for drama purposes.

I hope that those who watched and had no previous understanding of the condition came away more educated. But I doubt that they did. For the most part I predict that the audience came away thinking, "Its so weird, I just don't get it. Chocolate powder on his face? But I liked him though, he was a nice character."

The thing is OCD is not just something that occurs in extreme cases. I'm sure that most people who watched & were baffled by the quirky behaviours actual have some small OCD 'quirks' themselves. Ask yourselves this - have you ever checked, doubled checked & checked again that all the light switches are off or that the bedside alarm is set correctly? Do you often ensure that everything around you is 'straightened' and tidied up before you relax on the couch? Have you ever been convinced that a particular item of clothing has been responsible for an occurrence of bad/good luck?

Maybe the issues at hand are closer than you may have realized.

The genre, Movies of the Afflicted, generally suffers from too much sentiment and too little cash. This TV production holds its own as a TV movie from the production standpoint. A bit choppy. A few too many loose ends, even for those of us without acute OCD. However, the efforts of Michael Sheen and Shirley Henderson give this film a lot of genuine heart. A somewhat sentimental portrayal perhaps, but with a sincerity that cannot be outweighed. The good that a production like this can do more than justifies the value of the project from the get-go, but this production manages to play better than a manual, aimed at adolescents. I think there is something truly unique in the British tradition of acting that raises productions like these a peg or two above their American equivalents.

"Dirty, Filthy Love" certainly serves the OCD and Tourettes suffering community well. It may be exaggerated with the coprolalia (ie, spontaneous swearing), but most people think that is what Tourettes is, anyway. I recommend this film. Other films that also help include: "The Tic Code", "Maze" and "Matchstick Men". In each case, the actors provide some dimension of reality to the afflictions. More humorous renditions include Jack Nicholson ("As Good as it Gets") and the television show "Monk" (Tony Shaloub). A primary value is helping the sufferer to explain the condition to others (read: family), which is hard for many people to understand. The educational value alone makes all these efforts worth while. I applaud the actors, directors, cast and crew of all these films.

At one level this is drama about self discovery and true love, which has been done a million times before. However, by giving the main character both Tourette's Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, it adds a twist which is enough to hold interest.

It would be interesting to hear the views of people with real experience of these conditions, to see if the portrayal is accurate. One scene is on a farm where a self-help group of OCD sufferers plunge their hands in manure to see if they can stand it. This surprised me because I thought this would be completely inconceivable for anyone who was a genuine sufferer. Also I couldn't help wondering if the script writers were mixing up different disorders. Maybe I am wrong, in any case it remains a well told story which is worth watching.