“How daring can the screen dare to be? No adult man or woman can risk missing the startling frankness of The Lost Weekend!”
That was the tagline of Billy Wilder’s 1945 film, The Lost Weekend. The idea that alcoholism would be covered in a feature film was, in 1945 Hollywood, something rather startling indeed. It was up to Wilder (the impeccable director behind Sunset Blvd., The Seven Year Itch, Double Indemnity, Some Like It Hot, Sabrina, etc.) to frame this issue in as modern and serious a light as possible. Wilder accomplishes that and then some in this classic melodrama that focuses in on the character behind alcoholism and the desperation that follows the inexorable slide to personal despair.
Ray Milland, whose extensive performances credits include over 173 films and television shows from the 1920s to the 1980s, stars in The Lost Weekend as writer Don Birnam. Don is a struggling writer with not much to show for himself and very little confidence in his abilities. It is this lack of confidence that has driven Don to the bottle and, as the film opens, we discover that he has been drinking heavily for around six years. The Lost Weekend traces Don’s steps through a particularly tumultuous weekend, in which he skips out on a trip to the country with his brother and languishes around in the city in an alcoholic haze. Don’s girlfriend, Helen (Jane Wyman), tags along to support Don through thick and thin, but it’s clear that she doesn’t have any of the answers Don needs.
The film has taken some heat in present day for its oversimplification of alcoholism given our modern times, leading to many critiques that the film doesn’t age well. I beg to differ. Don and his girlfriend Helen don’t know how to handle alcoholism, that much is clear. Wilder’s film portrays them as a couple that is struggling with this problem and any appropriate avenues have not been explored by Helen or Don. See, the character of Helen is incredibly rich in that she believes that she can “cure” Don of his problem and will him out of it. This gleeful ignorance is demonstrated in the notion that she would rather have Don “drunk than dead.” This ideology is prevalent in the film, but not because of timeliness or outdatedness. Rather, this ideology is prevalent in the film because it represents who Don and Helen are as people.
It goes without saying that Milland’s performance here is tremendous. The part of Don is certainly not an easy role, especially given the context of film at the time. It was a risk for Milland to play this role in such an important film, without a doubt. Studio advisers even told Milland that taking this role would be the death of his career. Naturally, he had some reluctance to take the part, as it had been turned down by a significant number of actors. Paramount Studios, on the other hand, was convinced that the only way they could sell such a picture was with a known actor, like Cary Grant for one, in the lead role. Wilder gave in to this pressure, but only after it was revealed that his first choice for the role, Jose Ferrer from 1950’s Cyrano de Bererac, would not be able to take the role.
A lot of what stands out in the film is the soundtrack. The Lost Weekend would actually be the first film to use a theremin to make the wailing sounds heard in the soundtrack. These wailing sounds would later be heard in the majority of science fiction and thriller films to come out of Hollywood for the next two decades or so. The music in the film was composed by Miklos Rozsa, the Hungarian composer responsible for the music of Ben Hur and Wilder’s classic Double Indemnity. The rising tones of the music add to the film’s overall suspenseful aura, completing a touch that perpetuates the battle of one man against the demons within.
The Lost Weekend won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Leading Actor, and Best Director. It also was nominated for Best Black and White Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Musical Score. The film went on to win a pair of awards at Cannes that year, one for Milland’s stunning performance and an award for Wilder. It cleaned up at the Golden Globes, too. The reaction sent a clear message to Hollywood and demonstrated that the viewing public was ready for this kind of content and for Hollywood to tackle some of the more serious issues in human life. This grand tale of the human condition under addiction remains as compelling today as it was in 1945 and is a shattering film experience.
Milland’s acting is something that has to be seen, as his desperate and desolate performance is riveting and compelling in every way imaginable. The Lost Weekend is not dated, nor is it simplistic. It is, instead, a very real and a very human story of addiction, desperation, loneliness, despair, hopelessness, and the ability of every single human being in the world to say “no” to his or her demons and fight back.
8/10
