Out of Darkness

I didn't realize I was watching Diana Ross when I saw this. She is very good.

The movie does an extraordinary job of conveying what psychosis is like. Been there, done that. What's even better is that it shows, in realistic ways, what it is like to cope with psychosis.

Too many films romanticize psychosis - madness is enticing if horrifying, a voyeuristic thrill for the presumably sane. In this film, it is humanized. Paulie struggles to "ride it out", to have a plan to cope, to cope, and to go beyond coping to living a full life, while managing her own condition. Tremendously empowering.

This film lacks syrup, and while it is dramatic it is not generally melodramatic. Paulie's work to trust others so that she can heal, to rebuild relationships with her family as she does, to face the real, irreparable changes that 18 years of poorly controlled schizophrenia have had on her child, her family & herself is so well portrayed that it merits a run-on sentence.

9 stars.

Diana Ross is gripping as a 42-year-old woman just finished with her third year of medical school who is sidelined by a particularly destructive bout of paranoid schizophrenia, a condition she's aware of and has lived with since her mid-20s. The delusions and voices come and go, but when a kindly doctor intervenes with a new drug, Ross has a chance to actually rebuild her life. A sensitive, educational TV-film that strives--and perhaps stresses a might too hard--to teach the viewer something about mental illness (as well as the shame family members feel about the disease, and their eventual acceptance of it). It's a heady acting vehicle for La Ross: she takes on this highly dramatic, unglamorous (and some may say well-trodden) role and gives it bitterness, rage, confusion and, finally, hope. The narrative is engineered to relay the overall goodness of our medical community (which may seem like a stretch to Ross' character, having been hospitalized over 40 times), while the writing is occasionally too flowery. Still, a disturbing and moving effort, with a gem of an ending.

I remember when I first saw this and thought this is the piece that will re-energize Diana Ross' acting career. An argument can be made that it is her best acting performance ever! even better than "Lady". For the simple reason is that there was no singing, or music for that matter in this film. Diana had to draw on other things to pull this off. And pull it off she did.. Why she didn't receive major accolades for this role is perplexing. Also this made for t.v movie has been locked in a vault somewhere for the last decade. I can't recall ever seeing this replayed again on t.v. The subject matter is very serious and reaches millions of people. It was handle well and with integrity. And the lead performance was as strong as any seen on the small screen.. So why has this performance and film been socio overlooked over the years? Very disappointing...

Diana gives a wonderful performance in this very important work. Before I saw this, I hadn't thought much about mental illnesses - I found her portrait to be vivid and honest. This is a difficult subject matter, and I thank Diana for having the courage to do this disturbing work.

Having just retired from working in a forensic psychiatric facility, I can attest that the performance I saw last evening on the Lifetime Movie Network, Out Of Darkness, is about as real as it gets. Most patients are very much aware of their illness and very aware of their treatment and the drugs they take for this illness - Paranoid Schizophrenia. Their auditory and visual hallucinations are truly real to them and control their everyday life. Clozoril, which is the drug Paulie took to experience normality, is the miracle drug used in the battle against this mental condition when other drugs fail. Although very effective, it has many, many adverse side affects.

Diana Ross should definitely have been given an Emmy award, at the very least, for her portrayal of an individual stricken with this disease. She played a Paranoid-Schizo to a tee. I don't know how I missed seeing this movie all these years. A truly remarkable performance from an individual who is a multi-faceted entertainer. A singer/actress who has had to fight her own demons and I'm sure drew on those experiences to portray Paulie Cooper. Does anyone know if this movie was in part based on a true story?