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About four million people in Germany suffer from depression. It is a disease that is omnipresent at the same time, and yet it is often unrecognized, which is also often met with incomprehension. Director Sandra Nettelbeck has been planning a film about the disease and its effects since the depression-related suicide of a childhood friend in 1995. In view of the gloomy subject, the project was only financed after the success of Nettelbeck's melancholy comedy Bella Martha: at the Sundance festival in early 2009, the Hamburg-based filmmaker was finally able to present her drama "Helen" after more than ten years of creation. In her first English-language production, Nettelbeck succeeds convincingly in her first English-language production on the tightrope walk between a massively cushioned, simplified view of a complex problem and an overloaded film of theses that suffocates from its own claims. In spite of the not always successful plot structure, “Helen” is a medically and psychologically coherent portrait of a sufferer and her environment. The factuality of the clinical case study is sustainably enriched with emotionality through the sensitive staging and an outstanding portrayal of Ashley Judd in the title role.The pianist and music professor Helen (Ashley Judd, Heat, Twisted, High Crimes) seems to lead a picture-perfect life. She is happily married to lawyer David (Goran Visnjic, The Deep End, Elektra) and has a well-off 13-year-old daughter in Julie (Alexia Fast, Fido). But existence in prosperity and contentment begins to deteriorate. Helen is increasingly gripped by sadness, tiredness and listlessness. She begins to withdraw and her behavior leads to an argument with David. After finding her collapsed one day in the bathroom and taking her to the hospital, the husband learns that his wife is physically healthy but suffers from depression. Helen is initially treated with medication, but these have dangerous side effects. The crisis worsens and family tensions increase. The risk of suicide makes a stay in psychiatry inevitable. Only her manic depressive student Mathilda (Lauren Lee Smith, Pathology, One Way) lets Helen get close to her.Ashley Judd herself received treatment for major depression a few years ago. That may explain the almost frighteningly real-looking representation, but the performance is not surprising anyway. Already in films such as The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisters and Bug, the actress showed a special talent for expressing mental disorders. As Helen, she conveys the whole spectrum of mental states without forcing or exaggerating. Anger and apathy, physical and mental exhaustion, inner emptiness and deep despair: Judd hits every nuance and, above all, makes the imperceptible transition from seeming normality to illness in need of treatment mandatory. Everyone knows exhaustion and listlessness from everyday life, as Judd and Nettelbeck make these first signs clear, but not overemphasized, one of the greatest difficulties in dealing with depression is brought to the point. From stream movies online without ads , these symptoms seem as ambiguous as they can be misunderstood, the insidious thing about the disease is that it usually lacks a clearly identifiable cause.Helen is sick, not unhappy. This insight is difficult for friends and family to internalize. Nettelbeck demonstrates this with David and Julie. The husband seeks explanations where there are none and visibly suffers from Helen's rejection. Again and again he believes that his wife's will could bring improvement. Goran Visnjic also proves himself to be a figure of identification in the schematic episodes, for example when it is shown in passing that his work is suffering from the situation or when the affection of an understanding colleague beckons. The actually very harmonious relationship between mother and daughter is also resolved by Nettelbeck without glossing over. With the interest in life the concern for one's own child threatens to die out, an unbearable as well as incomprehensible mood for the teenager Julie. Alexia Fast, like Visnjic, succeeds in making the extreme strain noticeable despite the tight appearances. Nettelbeck clearly focuses on Helen's perspective; the scenes without her therefore seem to arise from the need for a comprehensive presentation of the subject rather than a dramatic necessity, despite all the coherence in the individual.The only other fully developed character besides Helen is the fellow sufferer and lifesaver Mathilda. Lauren Lee Smith is a wonderful addition to Ashley Judd. The one in one
