Veronika Decide Morrer

This is a story about a suicidal girl. At first I was enjoying it because I could relate to it. Veronika is institutionalized for wanting to commit suicide. Inside she rebels and tries to reject everyone around her. She plays the piano and this attracts a resident that is usually very solitary. With her music, she seems to reach something inside of him that might help bring him out of his shell. By feeling needed by someone else, we can all see value in our own lives and we can stop living for what we can do for ourselves, but what we can do for others and we can start to see our value and maybe what some of our talents are capable of. Veronika seems to come to these realizations as she explores reaching out to this male resident.

For years I had a soft spot for the novel 'Veronika Decides To Die', perhaps because Coelho approached the subject material with verve, originality, sensitivity and the understanding that comes only from having lived through something similar.

When I heard of the movie, I was hoping it was going to be handled with the same deft of hand the author had used with the original incarnation of the work. I was worried that a movie of this novel would be haphazard, overtly-dramatic and, frankly, a botched effort. So when Sarah Michelle Gellar became attached to the project I was seriously relieved. Here's an actor who is so under-rated, Gellar has a considerable talent: the ability to transcend genres as an actor and succeed at it. Why she has remained so under-rated in her industry I honestly can't understand.

Her interpretation of Veronika Deklava in Veronika Decides To Die, I'm sure will be defined as being the role of Gellar's career thus far. Gellar makes this movie. Most actors have previously taken similar roles and gone for the overtly-melancholic, Hollywood-style "despair" and self-loathing, making it fraught with unreal overtly emotional behaviour that anyone who has suffered severe depression/mental-illness can tell you is usually not accurate. What Gellar does here is employ subtly, strength and honesty. Her interpretation of Veronika's despair smacks of someone who knows what she's dealing with, or at least has studied the realism of such suffering with consideration: in real life, severe depressives almost always strive to hide their despair from most of those around them. Veronika does this in the novel, and Sarah Michelle Gellar uses her talents to do it with her approach to her role in the film, and the result is an astonishing performance from her.

Gellar's Veronika is somehow far more real and affecting a character than anything thrown out in the last twenty years (e.g: Girl, Interrupted/One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and to lesser degrees movies such as Thirteen, House of Sand & Fog, The Hours...). The movie is slow, but never does it bore, or seem sluggish. I sat rapt with attention, moved to tears and frequently wishing the movie were going at a slower pace due to the astonishing performance of Gellar & indeed the rest of the cast. If you look at the novel itself: this is about Veronika, and how she effects those around her, and this is what the movie focuses on and does so almost flawlessly.

A previous reviewer described Gellar's acting here as a tour-de-force performance, commanding the screen with a subtly, sensitive touch, fraught with mixed emotion, confusion & strength. The rest of the cast are equally on top form, Erika Christensen is sad yet charming, Jonathan Tucker and particularly Melissa Leo are great and highly memorable in their supporting roles.

Not for one second did I think Gellar's Veronika was "void of emotion", on the contrary it's a performance filled with clearly conflicting emotions, broiling beneath the surface, always just a moment away from bubbling to the fore yet nearly always controlled- it's clearly a thought out, hard-worked at performance and having been in Veronika's position, having felt those emotions myself, I can see it in Gellar's performance. Her acting skills get a full workout here, she excels herself and has, I think, raised the bar for other actors in portraying hopelessness, disillusion and mental illness on screen in a way that perhaps only Bjork did in a similar way with her quietly charming but clearly sad, disillusioned yet hopeful portrayal of Selma in Dancer in the Dark.

Alright things are missing in the movie that may have helped, but what they did here was concentrate on the core idea: Veronika. They took it in the right direction and truly, this film shines because of it. The outstanding, subtly & strength of (all) the acting, the beautiful cinematography, the perfectly suited soundtrack and a refreshingly intelligent, honed script have made Veronika Decides To Die not only one of my personal favourite films, but also undoubtedly one of the best movies I have seen in several years. See it, if not for your love of the novel, but for the performances, you will be rewarded.

It has no doubt set the bar for future movies dealing with similar subject material, it shows you can make films about depression and suicide without the irritating emotional circuses previously done in the industry. Coelho, no doubt is very proud- and I'm sure relieved! Sadly I think though it is certainly Oscar worthy stuff on display, I'm not sure due to its rather scattered release, the fact it is independent and unlikely to get as broad a release and publicity as is needed for Oscar contenders generally, it would be tragic if all the bloody great acting on show here does not get its deserved recognition. If I had not already been a major fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar's work before, I certainly would have been after this.

See it!

I have read the book, and this film adaptation seems to me to be something average, I didn't get much pleasure from viewing this film, somehow it looks too formal, sometimes illogical, as if some pieces of the film are missing. My recommendation is to watch the Japanese version, in my opinion it is a real masterpiece, that touches the soul.

5 May 2015. There's not a lot of movies that really reveal the more grim prospect of early death and its impact on human life. Veronika offers another look at residential mental institutions but with a particularly heart wrenching but inspiring look at them. Sandra Bullock offered up 28 Days (2000) with her comedy-drama version of an alcoholic in denial, a mainly mainstream and entertaining look at mental illness. There's a rather quick but powerful look in Helen (2009). Angelina Jolie presented Girl, Interrupted (1999) with strong drama and mainstream popularity.

Yet its with Sarah Michelle Gellar, we find a more biting and bittersweet look at mental health, recovery, and inspiration in her performance as well as the plot outline that offers a more refined tone and a less glossy look at mental health. This intriguing movie turns not on its dramatics, but on the more subtle theme of mental illness and simple yet layered efforts at human interaction and mental growth.

So I finally watched Veronika Decides To Die. Brilliant! I expected an 'okay' film after seeing some of the reviews from where it came out, but I honestly loved it. I have not been this moved by a film in a long time. Having not read the novel from which it is based on, I am sure the film stayed true to the essence and theme of the novel. It is a slow film, sometimes too slow for the 'mainstream' audience, but I was never bored. I have seen films with messages like this before, but somehow Veronika Decides To Die felt authentic, maybe because there has not been a film like this in a very long time. The writing is strong, giving Veronika and the supporting characters real backstory and depth. The director, Emily Young, should direct more than she does. She knows how to really command a scene. There were some flaws, for example the parents felt too one-dimensional, probably because of their small amount of screen time, and the actors that played them were not that great. However, in the acting department, they were the only flaws. Tremendous acting in this film! The star of the film, Sarah Michelle Gellar, really captures an inside look into her character's mind. I feel Gellar is strongly underrated as an actress, but I have always felt that she knows how to play subtle very well. The only other performance besides this where she really fleshed out her acting skills was in the disappointing The Air I Breathe, and the reason she was ignored was probably because the film was less-than-spectacular. However, here she gives her best performance, a tour-de-force performance that is quiet and subtle in the way she approaches the material. I was very impressed, because never did I think she was capable of making a performance this strong and subtle, however good I always knew she was. Melissa Leo and Erika Christensen also deliver first-rate performances. Christensen is charming and amusing, while Leo is powerful (no surprise since she was nominated for an Oscar last year). David Thewlis and Jonathan Tucker are also great, but to a lesser extent. The cinematography was beautiful. The camera-work gives the film a realistic feel to it, and there are some very beautiful images in the film. I have also heard complaining about the ending. I LOVED IT! It really made me happy seeing that this film actually had an optimistic and happy ending, one where Veronika's life is still moving on.

Overall, I could not have been more pleased with Veronika Decides To Die. There is not a reason why anyone should not see this film, unless they are too 'bored'. This film also holds one of the greater themes about life- live it to the fullest, because you never know when you may not even have the option to.