Eden

This is a beautiful film about a woman escaping into a cycle of involuntary astral projection experiences and making the difficult decision of coming back to her body and her life. For anyone who has suffered through the limitations of physical disability or disease, this film is a gift. And it's recommended viewing for anyone who wishes to gain an understanding of illness and death. Should be seen by every medical practitioner in the country.

I recently discovered this film gem. It is a stunning portrait of a woman trapped both in her body and life circumstances--caged physically (by Multiple Sclerosis) and spiritually (by the constraints of pre-feminist 1960's social expectations). It takes place at a New England all-boys prep school (rendered here better than Dead Poets' Society). All three leads (Joanna Going, Dylan Walsh, and Sean Patrick Flannery) give performances they have yet to repeat. Howard Goldberg's writing is whip smart, yet his direction has a delicate touch which, no doubt, adds to the actors' superb, nuanced performances. This film can't help but resonant with any owner of a human soul, but certainly has acute resonance for anyone who has ever felt anchored to this earth by a physical challenge; an uncooperative body or a life path chosen in youth, haste, or simpler times. There is a caged bird metaphor which in the hands of someone less smart and perceptive as Goldberg could seem ham-fisted, and yet here literally and figuratively soars. There is nothing not wonderful about this film. I could not recommend it more highly. After seeing it, I felt that giddiness you feel when you feel like you and you alone have discovered something sublime.

This was an incredibly moving film. I had heard about it when it was at Sundance and waited to see it when it came out in theatres, but it never came to my area. Then, there it was at Blockbusters. I rented it and was thrilled. It was a moving and spiritual film with incredible performances (especially Joanna Going). It is a perfect evocation of the era (60s). The story, of a woman who has MS and starts to believe that she can leave her body when she sleeps, is a beautiful metaphor. Her dreams start to become almost like a heroin addiction -- a way for her to be able to deal with her life that she can't seem to come to grips with when she's awake. See it. I highly recommend it.

For me, the interesting thing about this film was seeing the possibility that while the woman was unconscious, she was actually having out of body experiences and feeling at peace in a beautiful spiritual cosmic sense. Of course, not everyone with MS is likely to be having the same experience but it had never occurred to me that someone with MS might be experiencing that. I've known people with MS who could no longer communicate and I sincerely hope they felt something close to that.

I watched this film this morning. What I saw was a woman finding the courage to live after the stoic "stay tough" attitude of her husband had pushed her so deep into herself she couldn't fight any more.

The husband's lack of understanding was so real to me, I too am married to someone physically disabled and it has been a struggle for me to get past that sometimes.

I wish there were more films about this subject, I don't feel quite so confused now...and I maybe I have a little bit more understanding of how he may feel sometimes. To me, that's what a movie like this is supposed to do, give us insight into our own emotions and enhance our understanding a little.