Helen

Writer-director Sandra Nettelbeck's Helen handles the issue of mental illness with sensitivity, compassion, and honesty—offering no glib answers or happy resolutions to the plight of its characters, most notably Ashley Judd's eponymous protagonist. Helen Leonard seems to have it all—solid marriage, loving child, good career (as a musician and teacher), but she also has a history of emotional difficulties that neither her husband David (Goran Visnjic) nor her daughter Julie (Alexia Fast)—from an earlier union—know anything about. When those problems resurface and Helen's world falls apart—leading to odd behavior at home, on the job, and with friends—David could hardly be more selfish or less sympathetic, blaming her condition on weakness instead of recognizing it for sickness. The situation only worsens from there, as Helen's ex claims custody of Julie, David has Helen committed, and she loses her gig, turns suicidal, and is told that the only relief may come in the extreme form of shock treatment. Only Mathilda (Lauren Lee Smith), a music student who's bipolar, seems to understand, and while the two become fast friends, Mathilda's own issues are ultimately even more challenging than Helen's. Judd is fine in a role that consists largely of hysteria, rage, and near-catatonic depressions, but as the movie drags relentlessly on, its message—mental illness ruins lives, destroys families, and forever looms over those afflicted—becomes almost too grim to bear. A strong optional purchase. (S. Graham)