Dirty Filthy Love (2004)

Welsh-born actor Michael Sheen gives a flat-out bravura performance in Dirty Filthy Love, as a talented man who finds his wife, job, and friends falling away when the symptoms of Tourette's Syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder take over his life. During his downward spiral, he's spotted as a fellow sufferer by a humorous, numbers-obsessed woman (Shirley Henderson) who drafts him into her support group—at least, temporarily. A love story emerges from this, albeit an extremely offbeat one. It sometimes seems that the OCD angle is the only new thing carrying the movie, which makes it feel like a low-budget Woody Allen outing with a more severe neurotic diagnosis. Still, Henderson (Wonderland, Wilbur) is always good, the London locations are quietly atmospheric, and the stocky dynamo Sheen doesn't try to sweeten up the less savory aspects of his character. Every twitch and bark come from some specific place of anguish. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

Dirty Filthy Love- a film worth watching

Dirty Filthy Love, a BBC television movie directed by Adrian Shergold and co-written by Jeff Pope and Ian Puleston-Davies is a superbly played portrayal of life with faulty brain wiring. It is billed by some as a comedy, but that is a misnomer. In our daily negotiations with spouses, roommates and bosses, there are funny moments and ridiculous interactions and these are seen in the film. But the script doesn't play out for laughs, and the humor arises from the natural foibles of being human. Underneath it all, there is a painful, sad fact: perfectly intelligent, good people have brains that don't work right. It is important to watch this film-- if only to remind us that mental illness is nothing more or less than brain disorders that can treated.

Suffering from a failing marriage, Mark (brilliantly portrayed by Michael Sheen) is awakening to the realization that his day to day rituals are ruling his life. As his anxieties grow, he suffers from increasingly debilitating OCD and tourette. Writer Puleston-Davies, who has OCD and mild Tourette, draws from his own experience: Mark goes to the doctor and says he has his severe depression narrowed down to "three things: meningitis, early senile dementia or a brain tumour." In real life, Puleston-Davies's doctor diagnosed the OCD, and helped him get cognitive behavior therapy. In the film, Mark is simply prescribed and dismissed with anti-depressants. His saving grace comes from co-patient Charlotte (played by the absolutely delicious Shirely Henderson), who educates him, and us, by putting a name to Mark's disorders, and leading him through a weekly support group.

This is an engaging film, one that deals with mental and physical challenges that are both uncomfortable and painful. Sheen's perfect rendition of Tourette-- ticing that is raw, unseemly, and underscores how well he knows his craft--and OCD are uncanny. The only thing I found disturbing, however, was the portrayal of tourette as an ever-evolving disorder. In this film, the tourette seemed to come on only after his life was crumbling. In actuality, tourette manifests in early age--roughly about 7 years old or so--the same as when Mark discovered his OCD while playing ball with his mates. It rarely first manifests in adulthood, and it doesn't evolve from one extreme form to another. The initial ticing (his wife asks "what is wrong with your throat" as if she never heard it before) is the extent of tourette for many people. He then goes through copraphagia (only a minority of people with Tourette have this), barking, mimicking--the entire gamut. Whether this is for dramatic effect or to somehow show the full extent and severity of Tourette----it still isn't true to the syndrome.

Many famous and successful people have OCD--David Beckham, Justin Timberlake, the movie's author. Their lives are like this movie--not purely comedy, not totally drama, and not fully a love story. Rather, this is a cautionary tale that if you win the genetic lottery of misfiring brain neurons, it takes genuine compassion and diligence to survive.
July 27, 2008

Dirty filthy love

I dont see many movies I just have to have. But every once in a while one comes along that is outstanding. With a title like 'Dirty filthy love' one could be forgiven for thinking this was a porn movie. Far from it, this movie is acting at its very best. Michael Sheen has the viewer captivated and sharing so many human emotions. Its a clever clever little movie refreshingly different about obsessive compulsive disorder with a comedic slant. Shirley Henderson as only she can do makes it even more addictive watching. When the main character finds out he's not clinically depressed as his Doctor suggests but suffers from O C D and Tourettes syndrome he joins a self help group of fellow sufferer's. Fantastic casting. Its an eye opener as to what these poor people actually think will happen if they perform the simplest of tasks. His obsession with his estranged wife finds him living an existence incongruous with who he once knew himself to be and confronts him with who he really is. This is a fascinating human experience. Its touching, intense, funny, sad, and satisfying. See it! July 8, 2008

okay movie

Kind of disturbing. The movie itself is okay if you are not personally affected by somebody with TS. For me it was too personal as I have a child with TS and it seems "gloom and doom" If you do get it and you have a teen with TS, I wouldn't let them watch it. June 21, 2008

You pervert!

You saw that title jump off the shelf and you said "ooohh". Sorry, no nastiness in that vein. Rats. But what you get is the story of a poor soul tormented by the twin afflictions of Tourette's and OCD(they do stem from the same brain problem evidently) who is trying to get over his divorce. It's alternately comic and tragic as we watch Mark lurch from healing to dementia when he meets Charlotte, a fellow OCD sufferer who coaxes Mark into a self-help group composed of other OCD patients. A real knockout performance by Michael Sheen worthy of higher accolades, but hey, he ain't Tom Hanks and the studio doesn't have enough juice for a big run so this little film will undeservedly go ignored.

What I find hard to believe is why his doctor doesn't notice the nature of his illness and is trying to work the depression angle. I guess perhaps the setting of the film is 1980s? Only then could a doctor not notice obvious obsessive-compulsive symptoms-no one could watch a man have tics and fits plus compulsion and try to throw Paxil at it and send him on his way without nailing the problem now that these diseases are better understood. So, I guess we needed some sort of deux ex machina(an unrealistically oblivious psychiatrist) to move the plot along to have Charlotte be the person who understands him and tries to save him. Well and good; the performances are well worth the mild disbelief. August 11, 2007

Sheen of Reality

Michael Sheen, so good playing Tony Blair in THE QUEEN, is even better here as an architect who goes over the edge as OCD and Tourettes Syndrome tighten their grip on him. In a last desperate attempt to save his career and his marriage (to Stevie, played by Anastasia Griffith in a sort of combination Kari Matchett-goes-ABBA blonde hauteur), our boy joins a self-help group run by Charlotte (Shirley Henderson), herself a girl with plenty of neurological problems all her own. The movie is a bit of a mess, earnest, mawkish and nervous all at once, but it rewards attention especially if you like a good love triangle and don't mind some extremely inventive profanity.

The film is a litle bit like THE MIRACLE WORKER, in that our hero Furness is really living life at the extremity of sanity when Charlotte finds him. He's given up, he's filthy like a pig, he no longer knows how to cope with the detritus of living. Somehow though she recognizes his big heart and gets him to snap out of it, at least to the extent of cutting his hair, taking a shower, and trying to rejoin the human race. The scene where she asks everyone on the bus to give her their wet-wipes is hilarious and sad at the same time. She might as well have asked these poor people to part with their souls, it would have been easier for them to let go. Why is OCD so involved with cleanliness? It would take a Mary Douglas to give the picture a full cross cultural anaylsis, but on its own, the growing attraction Charlotte feels for Furness, as he shapes up and begins to resemble his former, mildly handsome self, is quite winning, even though the audience wonders, how can this come to a good end when we know he's still carrying a huge torch for Stevie?

Shirley Henderson's big black wig is like something Cher wore in her "Sanctuary" catalogues, but her voice is like liquid honey; in fact it's the same voice Joan Greenwood used to have in the Ealing comedies of the late 1940s, early 50s, like satin on sandpaper. It is idescribably bewitching, even when she's screaming abuse at Mark. Henderson has played many great parts in recent UK films, from BRIDGET JONES to TOPSY TURVY to the Harry Potters, but this vehicle is tailormade--it's the kind of part that Audrey Tautou had in AMELIE, except with more grit. She could have been a household name had this film been promoted properly. But that's OK, we her adoring fans can keep her to ourselves, a wonderful secret of modern cinema. March 9, 2007

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