Mysterious Creatures (2006)

Really Surprised!

Am I Missing Something?

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Individually, Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn are usually worth watching. Put them together and as long as the script doesn't let them down, they should be tremendous. It doesn't and they are. This is a drama based on a true story. But it is the drama of despair, there's no feel-good factor or happy ending. This is the tale of a severely dysfunctional family that love each other, but are destroying each other. It's not quite about Asberger's syndrome, nor about mental illness, Lisa's condition remains undiagnosed. It's more about how a family with problems can fall through the cracks between the different agencies set up to care for just such a situation. Bill and Wendy have been coping with their daughter for years. But her demands drive them to attempting suicide. It's only then that the mental health and social services agencies realise that there's a problem. But the reason for Lisa's behaviour appears to be partly due to the way her parents are treating her. Rebekah Staton is definitely one to watch.

This was an outstanding drama which depicted how life was for the Ainscows, a family living with their daughter's condition which they found difficult to have diagnosed by medical and mental health professionals.The story was written based on the accounts of Mrs Ainscow, (played by Brenda Blenthyn). And while it's gritty portrayal of Lisa may not leave you full of empathy for her as the user above has stated, I don't believe that is the responsibility of the drama. It does however display the real life difficulty the family faced and what led Mr and Mrs Ainscow to do what they felt they had to.The performances were excellent by the three lead characters, Brenda Blethyn gave a performance reminiscent of her turn as Cynthia Purley in Secrets and Lies and Rebehak Staton is an actress to watch for in the future.While at times harrowing to watch it was truly gripping and one of the best things on TV for a long time.

R.D. Laing in his books exposed the massive influence of dysfunctional families in creating schizophrenia. The same analysis could be done in this film of how the family creates Lisa's disorder...I only hope that Lisa can read Laing, as no-one in the film was really offering her this perspective and it could help. Yes, she has been hysterical and shown no care for her parents at times, but this bad behaviour looks like part of a cycle ... after all, her mother's equally desperate approach to life is when she suggests seriously that the way out is a suicide pact for the whole family. Deeply scary and so sad.Neither mother nor daughter is helping the other to live and it's hard to take sides as to where the fault lies, but I think - if they wanted to live - someone would have to help each of them to entangle the deathly games they are embroiled in. They are toxic for each other!

The film 'Rainman' and Mark Haddon's book 'The Curious Incident of the Dog - ' helped one empathise with people with Asperger's Syndrome, but this high profile TV film made Lisa, the 32-year old daughter of middle-aged parents (played by Timothy Spall, at his glummest, and Brenda Blethyn, at her most irksome) a manipulative monster. Her parents are driven to joint suicide attempts twice by her impossible demands, and at the second attempt her father successfully removes himself from the scene, leaving her mother to continue to collude with her insatiable child. As usual, psychiatry and social services are made to seem flummoxed (though it's refreshing when a Birmingham Social Worker finally confronts Lisa with reality). Rebekah Staton may well be brilliant as Lisa - I can't tell because I found her so detestable! How on earth could this film help anyone associated with this distressing disorder?